According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, the Taliban have begun to enter the capital Kabul from all sides.
Chaos has prevailed in the Afghan capital since the morning and huge queues have formed outside banks as you can see in the video below:
In fact, since yesterday, chaos has prevailed at Kabul airport, with thousands of citizens fleeing Afghanistan after the events of recent days.
Huge queues of people looking for a safer place are crowded outside the capital's only passport office, desperately trying to secure travel documents.
Others run frantically around the center of Kabul, a city of about 5 million people, performing last-minute tasks before leaving their homes. Fear and panic gripped Kabul as the Taliban stormed the capital after a devastating, months-long military offensive during which they occupied most of Afghanistan.
In less than ten days, the Taliban have taken control of most of Afghanistan and managed to reach Kabul, which is surrounded on all sides.
In fact, the United States has begun removing diplomats from its embassy in Kabul. “We have a small group of people leaving now as we speak, most of the staff is ready to leave; the embassy is still open,” said one of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Jalalabad “fell”
Earlier in the day, the Taliban captured the strategic city of Jalalabad in the eastern part of the country without a fight, now taking control of the road network connecting Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials and residents said.
“There is no fighting in Jalalabad at the moment because the governor has surrendered to the Taliban,” an Afghan official in the city, the capital of Nangarhar province, told Reuters. Tradition “was the only way to save the lives of civilians,” he added.
A Western official confirmed the fall of the city.
“We woke up in the morning with Taliban banners all over the city. They have entered the city. “They entered without a fight,” Ahmad Wali, a resident of Jalalabad, confirmed to AFP.
According to another resident, the Islamist fighters entered the city at 06:00 (local time; 04:30 Greek time).
The Taliban announced that they had taken the city. “A few moments ago, the mujahideen entered Jalalabad (…). “All (her) zones are now under their control,” said Zambiola Mujahid, a spokesman for the guerrillas.
Now, only a few small towns are still under government control. But they are scattered and isolated and most do not have much strategic value.
Last Saturday night, the guerrillas announced that they had taken Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan's fourth largest city, the largest urban center in the north.
The Taliban launched a full-scale offensive in May when US President Joe Biden confirmed the start of the process of withdrawing the last remaining foreign troops from the country, 20 years after the US-led international coalition ousted the regime's overthrow. his refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. The departure is expected to be completed on August 31st.
They first occupied, meeting weak resistance, vast areas in the provinces, then turned against large urban centers, encircling provincial capitals. Their advance has accelerated dramatically in recent days, much to the amazement of many. Cities fall into their hands one after another, often easily.
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