Afghan President Leaves Nation as Taliban Reach Kabul

Ashraf Ghani flies out with militants on brink of total takeover of Afghanistan
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 15, 2021 8:15 AM CDT
Updated Aug 15, 2021 9:55 AM CDT
Taliban Fighters Have Entered Kabul
Smoke rises next to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.   (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghanistan’s embattled president left the country Sunday, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban and signaling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan, per the AP. The Taliban, which for hours had been in the outskirts of Kabul, announced soon after they would move further into a city gripped by panic throughout the day as helicopters raced overhead to evacuate personnel from the US embassy. Smoke rose near the compound as staff destroyed important documents. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out. Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country as well, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.

President Ashraf Ghani flew out of the country, two officials told the AP, speaking on condition of anonymity. Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, later confirmed in an online video that Ghani had left. “The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation," Abdullah said. "God should hold him accountable.” In a stunning rout, the Taliban seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, despite the billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO over nearly two decades to build up Afghan security forces. Just days earlier, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure. On Sunday, the insurgents entered the outskirts of Kabul but apparently remained outside of the city's downtown. (More Taliban stories.)

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