Taliban insurgents entered Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan on Sunday, bringing the Islamist militants close to taking over the country two decades after they were overthrown by a U.S.-led invasion. It was not yet clear where Ghani was headed or how exactly power would be transferred following the Taliban‘s lightning sweep in recent weeks across Afghanistan. Their advance […]

U.S. embassy says airport security not stable The Pentagon authorized another 1,000 troops to help evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghans who worked for them from Kabul, a U.S. official said on Sunday, after the embassy warned the security situation at the city’s airport was changing quickly. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the addition brings the total number […]

The spokesman for the Taliban‘s political office told Al-Jazeera Mubasher TV on Sunday that the war is over in Afghanistan and that the type of rule and the form of regime will be clear soon. Spokesman Mohammad Naeem said that no diplomatic body or any of its headquarters was targeted, saying that the group assures everyone it will provide safety […]

‘Highly unlikely’ Taliban will overrun Afghanistan, Biden said in July When President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by a September 11 deadline, the president told reporters in July that it remained “highly unlikely” the Taliban would take control of the country. “The likelihood there’s going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning […]

The historical vectors are moving with conviction and purpose; the weak and lacking in conviction are in retreat and the gun is doing the talking. The government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the security services and the Afghan National Army, seem to be either huddled in despair, capitulating or fleeing before the inexorable advance of the Taliban. They have the […]

On August 11, 2021, Pakistan’s Prime Minster Imran Khan said, “I tried to persuade the Taliban… three to four months back when they came here…The condition is that as long as [Afghanistan’s President] Ashraf Ghani is there, we [Taliban] are not going to talk to the Afghan government.” Three days later, news has arrived that Ghani is pondering over resignation, […]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Taliban has left Afghanistan, just hours after the insurgency’s forces surrounded the nation’s capital city of Kabul Sunday — all but ensuring the collapse of the national government and a return to rule by the insurgent group for the first time in two decades. Ghani and his immediate team have left the country, according to Afghan […]

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as Taliban militants entered the capital city of Kabul. Ghani flew to neighboring Tajikistan, a senior Afghan Interior Ministry official told Reuters. However, the Afghan president’s office said it “cannot say anything about Ashraf Ghani’s movement for security reasons.” “That’s it. It’s over,” a U.S. official told Fox News regarding the […]

With the Taliban sweeping through provincial capitals, and massing near Kabul, the Afghan government is thus far vowing to resist. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts Laurel Miller and Andrew Watkins explain that outside powers’ priority should now be to minimise further human suffering. Have the Taliban won the war? The war is not over, but the past week’s events […]

The administration of President Ashraf Ghani vowed Friday to defend its capital, Kabul, from the Taliban, while efforts by Abdullah Abdullah, head of the country’s National Reconciliation Council, to strike a political deal with the group seemed be gaining momentum. “It was decided with conviction & resolve that we stand firm against Taliban terrorists & do [everything] to strengthen the […]