Info4Now– The Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday to take full control of Afghanistan. It takes two decades to regain power having earlier been defeated by the U.S. military. They demand that they have captured the presidential palace and are on the verge of declaring a new “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”
President Ashraf Ghani leaves Afghanistan
Earlier America-backed President Ashraf Ghani, being panic-stricken, ran away from the country. President Ghani says on social media that he leaves the country to avoid bloodshed. “In order to avoid the bleeding flood, I thought it was best to get out,” he said. Abdullah affirmed Ghani’s departure. Local media reports that he, along with some of his comrades, has taken shelter in Tajikistan.
The emergence of the Taliban occurs throughout the country in a matter of weeks, surprising the world. As US group starts moving back, they encounter little resistance from the Afghan military while taking control of Afghanistan. And after that key cities including the capital succumb to this deadly group in quick succession. Taliban arrived on the outskirts of the capital early on Sunday. One day ago, they seized about half of Afghanistan’s provincial capitals. Now they have started to control the cross border movement. So it is only the kabul Airport which remains to be the only way to get out of Afghanistan. But the Taliban have affirmed that they will act properly following the swift collapse of the Afghan army.
People start leaving Kabul
Skies over Kabul looked busy on Sunday as U.S. military helicopters were ferrying passengers from the U.S. embassy. The American flag gets lowered at the embassy. “We’re relocating the men and women of our embassy to a location at the airport,” Secretary of State, Antony Blinken said on ABC. CNN told before that the U.S. would clear off all embassy officials by Tuesday, leaving a few staff to operate from the airport.
The U. S citizens were asked to take shelter in a place as the airport was taking fire late Sunday. Even thousands of Afghanis run towards Kabul as the Taliban march forward. They are found jostling with one another to collect cash and many move to the airport for booking a flight. For many people, Helicopters over Kabul were an echo of the Americans going away from Saigon in 1975, at the end of the Vietnam War. Although, Blinken is against that analogy. “This is not Saigon. We went to Afghanistan twenty years ago, with one mission, and that mission was to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11, and we’ve succeeded,” he said on CNN.
Biden defends his decision
Joe Biden, the US president defends his decision to withdraw their army from Afghanistan after twenty years. “I was the fourth president to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats”, Biden says. He adds. “I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a 5th.” On the other side of the coin, reaction starts flowing. “We watch in complete shock as Taliban take control of Afghanistan,” Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, said on Twitter.
By Sk Faidul Hosen