Taliban take control of Kabul, storm presidential palace

SMA NEWS – KABUL

Taliban insurgents entered Kabul and regained control of Afghanistan on Sunday, 20 years after the US-led invasion that ousted them.

In chaotic scenes reminiscent of the fall of Saigon in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam war, American diplomatic staff were airlifted by helicopter from the US Embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district of the Afghan capital.

As Taliban fighters took over the presidential palace, President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and was thought to be in Tajikistan.

Ghani said he left to “prevent a flood of bloodshed” and that “countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be destroyed” if he had stayed behind.
“The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honor, property and self-preservation of their countrymen,” he said in a Facebook post.

He did not say where he had travelled to, but leading Afghan media group Tolo news suggested he had gone to Tajikistan.