Thousands of Afghans have fled to the Kabul airport in an attempt to leave Afghanistan a day after the Taliban seized control of the country. On Sunday, Taliban fighters entered the gates of Kabul and quickly took control of the presidential palace, just hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan, flying to Tajikistan, saying he left to, quote, “prevent a flood of bloodshed.” Just hours after Ghani left, Al Jazeera aired video of the head of the Afghan presidential security guard shaking hands with a Taliban commander inside the presidential palace.
One of the Taliban fighters inside the palace said he was a former prisoner at Guantánamo. Kabul fell a day after the Taliban seized the key northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Over the past 10 days, the Taliban has captured 26 out of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals. Some fell without a fight as the Taliban reached deals with local warlords.
The Taliban offensive came as the United States is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war and occupation. The Biden administration is
— source democracynow.org | Aug 16, 2021