Taleban enters Kabul; President makes exit

KABUL • Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani left the country yesterday after Taleban fighters entered the capital Kabul, capping their return to power two decades after being forced out by US-led forces.

American diplomats were evacuated by helicopter after the militants swept across Afghanistan in days with little resistance from local forces trained and equipped by the United States and others for billions of dollars.

The Taleban urged government officials to stay, but officials said Mr Ghani had left the country. It was not immediately clear where he was going: A senior Interior Ministry official said he had left for Tajikistan, while a Foreign Ministry official said it was not known what country he would land in.

A Taleban representative said the group was checking on Mr Ghani's whereabouts and that it was waiting for his Western-backed government to surrender peacefully. Some locals branded Mr Ghani a "coward" for leaving them in chaos.

"Taleban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

Many Afghans fear the Taleban will return to past harsh practices in their imposition of syariah, or Islamic law. During its 1996 to 2001 rule, women were not allowed to work, and punishments such as stoning, whipping and hanging were administered.

The Taleban has since sought to project a more moderate face, promising to respect women's rights and protect both foreigners and Afghans.

Another spokesman, Mr Suhail Shaheen, said the group would protect the rights of women, as well as freedoms for media workers and diplomats.

"We assure the people, particularly in the city of Kabul, that their properties, their lives are safe," he told the BBC, saying that a transfer of power was expected in days.

The government's Acting Interior Minister Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal said power would be handed over to a transitional administration. Three diplomatic sources said Mr Ali Ahmad Jalali, a US-based academic and former Afghan interior minister, could be named head of an interim administration.

But two Taleban officials told Reuters later in the day that there would be no transitional government and that the group expects a complete handover of power.

Taleban negotiators were headed for the presidential palace in Kabul to prepare for a transfer of power, the Associated Press said.

An Afghan government delegation was yesterday set to travel to Qatar to meet Taleban representatives, Ms Fawzia Koofi, a member of the Kabul negotiating team, told Reuters.

A source familiar with the matter said US officials would also be involved in the discussions.

The ease of the militant group's advance in recent weeks as the last of American troops withdrew, despite billions of dollars spent by the US and others to build up local government forces, has stunned the world.

Just last week, a US intelligence estimate said Kabul could hold out for at least three months.

Many of Kabul's streets were choked with cars and people either trying to rush home or reach the airport, residents said.

US officials said diplomats were being ferried by helicopter to the airport from its embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district.

A Nato official said several European Union staff had moved to a safer location in the capital.

Earlier yesterday, the insurgents captured the eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight, giving them control of one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan.

They also took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport the only way out of Afghanistan still in government hands.

US President Joe Biden on Saturday authorised the deployment of 5,000 US troops to help evacuate citizens and ensure an "orderly and safe" draw-down of military personnel. He said his administration had told Taleban officials that any action that put US personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response".

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

"An endless American presence in the middle of another country's civil conflict was not acceptable to me," Mr Biden said on Saturday.

REUTERS, BLOOMBERG