(CNN)The American flag at the US embassy in Kabul has been taken down, marking a final step in the evacuation of the embassy, days earlier than US officials initially projected, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The US scrambled to evacuate embassy staff and top officials from its diplomatic compound in Afghanistan Sunday as Taliban fighters entered the city, Afghan government officials fled the country and gunfire was heard at Kabul airport, multiple sources told CNN.

Early Sunday, two sources familiar with the situation told CNN that the plan was to pull all US personnel from the embassy in Kabul over the next 72 hours. Hours later, most US embassy staff had been moved to Kabul airport for flights out of the country.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told House lawmakers Sunday that the evacuation was a "highly dynamic and very risky operation," even as he and other senior US officials worked to project a sense of control.

"This is not Saigon," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," when asked about President Joe Biden's July assertion that under no circumstances would US personnel be airlifted out of Kabul in a replay of the US withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975.

'Deliberate, orderly'

Blinken said on ABC that instructions to diplomats to destroy documents, US flags or other items that could be used in Taliban propaganda are "standard operating procedure." Echoing Austin's talking points, Blinken added that the evacuation "is being done in a very deliberate way, orderly way. It's being done with American forces there to do it in a safe way."

At the same time, the US military is considering the possibility of sending additional US forces to Afghanistan, according to a defense official and US official familiar with the ongoing discussions. Both officials caution no decision has been made.

The defense official said the "current plan" is that as long as any US diplomats maintain a presence at the airport, there will be a contingent of US forces there to protect them. But the official acknowledged that if the Taliban are essentially in charge, the "reality" of keeping diplomats and troops at the airport may not hold.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of US Central Command, arrived in the Persian Gulf region Sunday to directly oversee the situation in Afghanistan, according to the defense official. The official declined to publicly name McKenzie's location, but said the general is not in Afghanistan.

In the coming hours, a military team is expected to arrive and set up its own air traffic control system at the airport in Kabul in order to increase the number of evacuation flights out of the airfield. This type of capability is routinely maintained by the Air Force so it can operate at airfields in remote or war zone environments.

"We are going to ramp up flights," the defense official said.

This official added that "the current situation is going south pretty fast" and that from the outset, in the view of some, "there was no assessment pessimistic enough."

The rushed withdrawal of embassy personnel and the rapid military deployment to protect US personnel marks the acceleration of a process that had only been announced on Thursday.

On Sunday, the embassy issued a security alert saying that it was exploring options to help US citizens leave the country on charter flights. It also issued instructions to US citizens in the capital to shelter in place Sunday.

The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport. There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place," the security alert said.

In another reflection of the widespread uncertainty, other US allies and NATO members, including Canada and Denmark, announced they were suspending embassy operations or moving them to the airport.

Most of the American diplomats who have been moved to the airport in Kabul were slated to then fly back to the US, sources told CNN. A small number of core personnel, including the top US diplomat in the country, will remain at the Kabul airport for now, the sources said.

As of Sunday morning, it seemed clear that the Afghan government was ceding control to the Taliban. A source at the Afghan presidential palace told CNN that eight or nine representatives of the Taliban's delegations from Qatar -- where talks for a solution to the conflict are ongoing -- were inside the palace as of Sunday morning.

An Afghanistan senior official and a senior diplomatic source told CNN Sunday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled Afghanistan. Afghan Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah also said in a video statement that President Ghani has left the country, referring to him as "former President."

Blinken defended BIden's decision to end the US' war in the country when pressed by CNN's Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday.

"The fact of the matter is had the President decided to keep forces in Afghanistan beyond May 1 attacks would have resumed on our forces. The Taliban had not been attacking our forces or NATO during the period from which the agreement was reached to May 1," Blinken said, in reference to the May 1 withdrawal agreement the Trump administration had brokered with the Taliban.

"The offensive you are seeing across the country now to take the provincial capitals would have commenced. We would have been back at war with the Taliban," he added.

The secretary also noted that the US plans to "keep in place in the region the capacity to see any reemergence of a terrorist threat and to be able to deal with it."

Blinken would not say if the US has offered the Taliban anything in exchange for promise of safe passage for Americans and others out of the country, telling Tapper that: "We haven't asked the Taliban for anything. We've told the Taliban that if they interfere with our personnel, with our operations as we're proceeding with this drawdown, there will be a swift and decisive response."

Biden announced on Saturday that he had authorized an additional direct deployment of 1,000 troops to Afghanistan "to make sure we can have an orderly and safe drawdown of US personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance."

The President's authorization of 5,000 troops on Saturday included 1,000 who are already on the ground in country, according to a defense official. A battalion of 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division were redirected to Kabul, instead of their original standby position in Kuwait. The Pentagon had previously announced 3,000 additional troops were on their way, the defense official said.

https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/15/politics/us-embassy-kabul-afghanistan/index.html

PEACE is all we want.

What if ............

Imagine this world without Islam

The end is near

Most of una sha wicked oo. Anyways, e no betah fo' that moderator wey ban me; e sure me dyeee... Most of y'all keep placing us on ban cuz we against the Buhari evil led administration... Ogun kee Buhari sef.

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

The world would be a paradise without islam

Live on BBC, Taliban has finally taken over Kabul. They r currently in the presidential palace of Afghanistan capital

May God be with afghans

helinuesIsaMumu:


The world would be a paradise without islam

I agree

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

The world will be boring. You need demons for entertainment purposes.

Fahdiga:
Because you haven't become a victim

I can't become a victim. If some bandits can survive bullets and blades, I have higher tendency to survive those weapons and unseen ones.

Argue as an atheist.

.

Who's next

HopeSpencer:



The world will be boring. You need demons for entertainment purposes.

Because you haven't become a victim

It seems Biden understand the situation in middle east than Trump.

With the power vested on me, I officially take off the Dot in a circle from Igbos And hand it over to the Afghanistans.

They've never been an important country or a country with value in the world so sadly no one cares. I obviously don't

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

You most probably won't be educated or dead at infancy. Read up on Ibn Sina for instance. I m sure you don't even know that 1 2 3 4 5 are Arabic numerals.

what's next for Taliban after this than to start killing each other.

Gbajure:


You most probably won't be educated or dead at infancy. Read up on Ibn Sina for instance. I m sure you don't even know that 1 2 3 4 5 are Arabic numerals.

Even Satan was once an angel before becoming evil

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

The world will be perfect without religion, well perfect might be pushing it but realistically alot better..

I said religion not God, even though God is biggest reason for division on earth.
He or She Created people with multiple languages and ethnicities and races
There are over a thousand religion and probably over 5000 Gods/gods, pick and yours and await dust.

Almighty US failed in Afghanistan, watch how fulani and their allies from where sun sets will be disgraced in my land

[s]

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

[/s]
I hope the PDP you support every waking moment learn first hand how corruption destroys government and entire country?
Imagine that $2 billion looted arms fund gig kept going what Nigeria would have become.

God bless PMB, PYO, BAT and all patriots who stood again Paliban Demo. Party and saved us from this sort of humiliation.

O

[s]

LokoH:
Almighty US failed in Afghanistan, watch how fulani and their allies from where sun sets will be disgraced in my land

[/s]

Imagine Abba Kyari overcame ipob hooligans without much fire power. Cownu was captured by a Kenyan Babe and handed for just a bottle of schnapps to Nigeria. God is not with evil people who cut the heads of sinless young girls just to wear bullet proof.

Pastor Righteousness2 what is the Biblical implication of this.

Is this related to Rapture?

ISWAP gearing up to take control of the north.

vedaxcool:
[s][/s]
I hope the PDP you support every waking moment learn first hand how corruption destroys government and entire country?
Imagine that $2 billion looted arms fund gig kept going what Nigeria would have become.

God bless PMB, PYO, BAT and all patriots who stood again Paliban Demo. Party and saved us from this sort of humiliation.

And what difference has the military made ever since APC took power 2015?? or APC have stopped budgeting funds to the military cuz $2B was stolen??

When is Buhari going to evacuate our brothers there?
Oh! Na even his brothers dey control Afghanistan now self

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

I belive u r more renowened than this!

But truth is, religion has done more worst to the world. World without religion in it, would av been a perfect place for all.

The end is near

Finally USA is retreating

Europe is taking over

China is lurking around

Nigeria is cursed with our darling president

Fahdiga:
Imagine this world without Islam

that's peace