President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as the Islamist militants entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.

“Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen.

“They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years,” Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, told Al Jazeera TV.

“Thanks to God, the war is over in the country,” he added.

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces trained for years and equipped by the U.S. and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.

Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of armed fighters.

Naeem said the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.

“We have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people,” he said, adding: “We will not allow anyone to use our lands to target anyone, and we do not want to harm others.”

A Taliban leader told Reuters the insurgents were regrouping from different provinces, and would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure.

The leader, who requested anonymity, said Taliban fighters had been “ordered to allow Afghans to resume daily activities and do nothing to scare civilians”.

“Normal life will continue in a much better way, that’s all I can say for now,” he told Reuters in a message.

Central Kabul streets were largely deserted early on a sunny Monday as waking residents pondered their future.

“I’m in a complete state of shock,” said Sherzad Karim Stanekzai, who spent the night in his carpet shop to guard it.

“I know there will be no foreigners, no international people who will now come to Kabul.”

The militants sought to project a more moderate face, promising to respect women’s rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for the Taliban to uphold human rights and said the world was watching: “It’s going to be all about the actions, not the words.”

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said early on Monday that all embassy personnel, including Ambassador Ross Wilson, had been transferred to Kabul airport, mostly by helicopter, to await
evacuation and the American flag had been lowered and removed from the embassy compound.

Hundreds of Afghans invaded the airport’s runways in the dark, pulling luggage and jostling for a place on one of the last commercial flights to leave before U.S. forces took over air traffic control on Sunday.

“This is our airport but we are seeing diplomats being evacuated while we wait in complete uncertainty,” said Rakhshanda Jilali, a human rights activist who was trying to get to Pakistan, told Reuters in a message from the airport.

U.S. forces managing the airport fired into the air to stop Afghans surging onto the tarmac to try to board a military flight, a U.S. official said.

Dozens of men tried to clamber up onto an overhead departure gangway to board a plane while hundreds of others milled about, a video posted on social media showed.

The Pentagon on Sunday authorised another 1,000 troops to help evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who worked for them, expanding its security presence on the ground to almost 6,000 troops within the next 48 hours.

More than 60 western countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, and Japan, issued a joint statement saying all Afghans and international citizens who wanted to leave must be allowed to do so.


Western nations, including France, Germany, and New Zealand said they were working to get citizens as well as some Afghan employees out.

Russia said it saw no need to evacuate its embassy for the time being while Turkey said its embassy would continue operations.

In a Facebook post, Ghani said he had left the country to avoid clashes with the Taliban that would endanger millions of Kabul residents.

Some social media users branded Ghani, who did not disclose his location, a coward for leaving them in chaos.

Many Afghans fear the Taliban will return to past harsh practices in their imposition of sharia religious law.

During their 1996-2001 rule, women could not work and punishments such as stoning, whipping, and hanging were administered.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all parties to exercise the utmost restraint, and expressed particular concern about the future of women and girls.

In Washington, opponents of President Joe Biden’s decision to end America’s longest war, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, said the chaos was caused by a failure of leadership.

Biden has faced rising domestic criticism after sticking to a plan, initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, to end the U.S. military mission by Aug. 31.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell blamed Biden for what he called a “shameful failure of American leadership”.

“Terrorists and major competitors like China are watching the embarrassment of a superpower laid low,” McConnell said.

Naeem said the Taliban would adopt an international policy of two-way non-interference.

“We do not think that foreign forces will repeat their failed experience,” he said. (Reuters/NAN)

tesseract:
Islam without war is like a car without fuel. Let's watch and see

yanabasee2:
Lol.... which war is over?


Because you mount power today doesn't mean that you won't be unseat by those you've unseated today...


Just like herdsmen going to people's farm to destroy their farm and the farmer fought back and kill two cows and the herdsmen fled and return after 10yrs to kill the people of that community... Upon fulfilling it's revenge on the attack tell the community people that the war is now over for killing and raping the community men, women and children..

Who says war is over?

Cholls:
my brother Lol! People are asking why the security forces are not putting up a defense... well you can't blame them the Afghan government is blatantly corrupt and gives little to no support to the security forces. Soldiers in many outposts get nowhere near enough food to sustain them, and yet they're expected to hold the line and defend a government that doesn't care about them. In return they don't care about the government and don't feel it's worth dying for. They might change their minds after the Taliban takes over.

yanabasee2:



Ofcoz there'd be consequences for not fighting back....

Their responsibility was to defend till death...


The security men were compromised and there was a news I read and had doubts that some Talibans were friending the security men... twas even reported that they sold out solid information to the Taliban...

We should try and get familiar with the things that tends to bring problems upon mankind....just a tip of advice given out to alot of people who are willing to make U-turn in their lives...the post below is a great eye opener for you

Cholls:
my brother there were news in 2012 we learned of a deadly attack on American Green Berets by a member of the Afghan National Police called “Green-on-Blue” attacks... The Taliban claim that every Green on Blue attack is from an insider that they infiltrated into either the Afghan National Army or the police.