Taliban reach Arg Kabul as Ghani leaves Afghanistan
News Desk :
Taliban has taken the control of Kabul as Afghanistan’s embattled President Ashraf Ghani fled from the country. “Ashraf Ghani has gone out of the country”, Abdullah Abdullah was quoted by news agencies.
“He left Afghanistan in a hard time”, Abdullah said. Taliban fighters have been asked by the leadership to enter Kabul and take control of the security of the federal capital. The Afghan police and other law enforcement agencies have abandoned their check posts and reached their homes.
Taliban have also taken the control of Afghan Presidential Palace as Ashraf Ghani fled to Tajikistan. Ghani’s close aides Hamdullah Mohib and Fazili have also fled for Tajikistan.
Taliban announced a general amnesty
Taliban have announced an amnesty in the entire country and directed Taliban fighters not to enter in any home. After 20 years, the Afghan Taliban surrounded Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan on Sunday. They have asked the central government and Afghan forces to surrender unconditionally.
Talks are underway between the Taliban and the government over the future of the country. Afghanistan’s Interior Minister has said that Kabul would not be attacked and that there would be a swift and peaceful transition of power.
Most of the countries evacuated embassies staff after looming threat.
The beleaguered central government, meanwhile, hoped for an interim administration, but increasingly had few cards to play. Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.
Reuters quoted a senior interior ministry official as saying that President Ashraf Ghani “has left for Tajikistan”. No details were immediately available. The embattled President is yet to make any statement about the news.
In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban have defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even though they had some air support from the US military.
Why Afghan forces crumbled so quickly?
The lightning speed of the push has shocked many and raised questions about why Afghan forces crumbled despite years of US training and billions of dollars spent. Just days ago, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.
On Sunday, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera English satellite news channel that the insurgents are “awaiting a peaceful transfer of Kabul city”. He declined to offer specifics on any possible negotiations between his forces and the government.
But when pressed on what kind of agreement the Taliban wanted, Shaheen acknowledged that they were seeking an unconditional surrender by the central government.
For his part, Afghanistan’s Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal said government will enter into talks with the Taliban for the peaceful transition of power.
