The Taliban has entered the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, the Associated Press reported on Sunday citing Afghan officials. The AP reported that the officials said there hadn't been any fighting yet. The Taliban fighters were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman, it added.
AP also reported that the Taliban did not immediately acknowledge their presence in the capital. However, government offices suddenly began sending workers home early Sunday as military helicopters buzzed overhead.
Also Read | Taliban at Kabul's doorstep, US embassy asks staff to wipe sensitive documents
Here's what we know so far in 10 brief points:
1 . Taliban entered the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday as the United States and other nations rushed to evacuate the city. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s office said national forces “have the city under control and there’s no need for the people to worry.”
2 . Taliban said in a statement they don't plan to take Kabul 'by force' as sporadic gunfire echoes in the Afghan capital, reported The Associated Press. “The Islamic Emirate instructs all its forces to stand at the gates of Kabul, not to try to enter the city,” the Taliban said in a statement, referring to the group’s formal name. “Negotiations are underway to ensure that the transition process is completed safely and securely, without putting the lives, property, and honor of anyone in danger.
{{/usCountry}}2 . Taliban said in a statement they don't plan to take Kabul 'by force' as sporadic gunfire echoes in the Afghan capital, reported The Associated Press. “The Islamic Emirate instructs all its forces to stand at the gates of Kabul, not to try to enter the city,” the Taliban said in a statement, referring to the group’s formal name. “Negotiations are underway to ensure that the transition process is completed safely and securely, without putting the lives, property, and honor of anyone in danger.
{{/usCountry}}3. The Taliban also seized the provincial capital of Maidan Wardak on Sunday, which is about 90 kilometres from Kabul.
4. Jalalabad, the last major city outside of Kabul, fell to the Taliban on Sunday, cutting off the capital to the east and tightening their grip on the nation as tens of thousands fled the rapid advance of the insurgents.
5. In merely a week, the Taliban has managed to defeat, co-opt or send Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swathes of the country. The development comes despite the US military providing some air support to the Afghan forces.
6. Quoting two officials, news agency Reuters reported that the United States has already started evacuating diplomats from its embassy in Kabul. "We have a small batch of people leaving now as we speak, a majority of the staff are ready to leave...the embassy continues to function," one of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
7. ATM machines in Kabul stopped distributing cash on Sunday as hundreds gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings. News agencies noted that thousands of civilians now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul itself, fearing the future.
8. Mazar-e-Sharif, the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan, fell to the Taliban on Saturday, thus handing the insurgents control over all of northern Afghanistan. Mazar-e-Sharif is the very city that Afghan forces and two powerful former warlords had pledged to defend. Atta Mohammad Noor and Abdul Rashid Dostum, two of the warlords Ghani tried to rally to his side days earlier, fled over the border into Uzbekistan on Saturday, said officials to the AP agency on condition of anonymity.
9. The United States was sending more troops to the encircled capital of Kabul to help evacuate its civilians, Reuters reports. The fall of Jalalabad has also given the Taliban control of a road leading to the Pakistan city of Peshawar, one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan.
10. All the provincial capitals now under Taliban control, according to the latest updates, are Zaranj, Sheberghan, Sar-e-Pul, Kunduz, Taloqan, Aybak, Pul-e-Khumri, Faizabad, Ghazni, Firus Koh, Qala-e-Naw, Kandahar, Lashkar Gah, Herat, Pul-e-Alam, Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad, and Maidan Wardak.