Afghanistan on brink of Taliban takeover; Ghani reportedly steps down, transitional govt set to take charge-World News , Firstpost

Afghanistan stands on the brink of a Taliban takeover on Sunday with sources telling CNN-News18 that Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani left the country after resigning on Sunday.

A new interim government soon take over. There are no reports of vice-president Amrullah Salleh leaving the country, as per sources.

However, the Taliban is yet to assume  formal control, sources added.

Power will be handed over to third parties for now and no violence is occurring in Kabul at the moment, sources earlier said.

Former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali is likely to head the transitional government, as per sources.

The Taliban has claimed that safe passage will be given to leaders in government including Ghani and Amrullah Salleh and that they have to decide their next move. “We are not ready for power-sharing,” the group had said while vowing not to do violence in Kabul.

Taliban wants peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan in ‘next few days’, its spokesman told AFP.

A former Ghani adviser, speaking to Al Arabiya, earlier said the president will be killed in “two days” if he does not resign.

Afghan #President Ashraf #Ghani will be killed in two days if he does not resign, his former adviser tells Al Arabiya.https://t.co/YQDnPtDk8g pic.twitter.com/beDSuolG4y

— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 15, 2021

  This came just hours after an Afghan official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Taliban negotiators were heading to the presidential palace. Follow all LIVE updates on Afghanistan crisis here Ghani earlier urged government forces to maintain law and order in the capital.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani urges government forces to maintain law and order in capital Kabul: AFP — ANI (@ANI) August 15, 2021

  CNN, quoting a source at the Hamid Karzai airport, reported that a number of high-ranking Afghan officials, including Ghani’s advisers, were waiting for a flight out with their destination not yet known.

A source at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul tells CNN a number of high-ranking Afghan officials, including some of President Ashraf Ghani’s advisers, have arrived and are waiting for a flight out. It’s not clear where they’re going. — Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 15, 2021

Speaking to the BBC, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the insurgents expected the process to take place “within the next few days”. He also claimed the incoming regime would “respect [the] rights of women”, but conceded they would be forced “to wear the hijab”.

Kabul. pic.twitter.com/RyZcA7pktj — Lotfullah Najafizada (@LNajafizada) August 15, 2021

Meanwhile, sources told ANI that India is closely monitoring the fast-changing situation in Afghanistan to decide on the evacuation of diplomatic personnel from Kabul.

People familiar with the development said the government will not put the lives of its staffers at the Indian embassy and Indian citizens in Kabul at any risk and plans have already been finalised in case they require emergency evacuation. “The government is closely monitoring the fast-paced developments in Afghanistan. We will not put the lives of our staff at the Indian embassy in Kabul at any risk,” said one of the persons cited above.

Specifically asked when the Indian staffers and citizens in Kabul will be evacuated, they said decisions will depend on the ground situation. It is learnt that a fleet of the C-17 Globemaster military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force is kept on standby to undertake evacuation missions.

Also on Sunday, Pope Francis said he shares “the unanimous concern for the situation in Afghanistan”. He spoke as the Taliban entered the outskirts of Kabul, the Afghan capital, and said they were awaiting a “peaceful transfer” of the city. From a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the pope asked for prayers “so that the clamor of weapons may cease and solutions may be found at the negotiating table.”

He added that “only in this way, may the battered population of the country, men and women, elderly and children, return to their homes and live in peace and safety, with full mutual respect.”

Residents race to leave Kabul

Back in Kabul, panicked residents raced to leave, with workers fleeing government offices and helicopters landing at the US Embassy in scenes reminiscent of the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).

In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban has defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even though they had some air support from the US military.

On Sunday, they reached Kabul. Three Afghan officials told The Associated Press that the Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman in the capital.

Later, Afghan forces at Bagram airbase, home to a prison housing 5,000 inmates, surrendered to the Taliban, according to Bagram district chief Darwaish Raufi. The prison housed both Taliban and Islamic State group fighters.

The lightning speed of the push has shocked many and raised questions about why Afghan forces crumbled despite years of US training and billions of dollars spent. Just days ago, an American military assessment estimated it would be a month before the capital would come under insurgent pressure.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Qatar’s Al-Jazeera English satellite news channel that the insurgents are “awaiting a peaceful transfer of Kabul city.” He declined to offer specifics on any possible negotiations between his forces and the government.

But when pressed on what kind of agreement the Taliban wanted, Shaheen acknowledged that they were seeking an unconditional surrender by the central government.

The negotiators on the government side included former president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, an official said. Abdullah long has been a vocal critic of President Ashraf Ghani, who long refused to give up power to get a deal with the Taliban.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the closed-door negotiations, described them as “tense.”

Acting defence minister Bismillah Khan sought to reassure the public in a video message. “I assure you about the security of Kabul,” he said. Earlier, the insurgents also tried to calm residents of the capital “No one’s life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk,” the insurgents said in a statement.

However, a voice message circulating social media purportedly from a Taliban commander also warned “no one is allowed to enter into Kabul province.”

Despite the pledges, panic set in as many rushed to leave the country through the Kabul airport, the last route out of the country as the Taliban now hold every border crossing. Rapid shuttle flights of Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopters near the embassy began a few hours later after the militants seized the nearby city of Jalalabad. Diplomatic armored SUVs could be seen leaving the area around the post.

The US state department did not immediately respond to questions about the movements. However, wisps of smoke could be seen near the embassy’s roof as diplomats urgently destroyed sensitive documents, according to two American military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the situation. The smoke grew heavier over time in the area, home to other nation’s embassies as well.

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, which typically carry armed troops, later landed near the embassy as well. At least one attack helicopter could be seen overhead as helicopters launched flares to distract possible missile fire. The US decided a few days ago to send in thousands of troops to help evacuate some personnel from its embassy.

Thousands of civilians now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul itself, fearing a Taliban government that could reimpose a brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights. Some ATMs stopped distributing cash as hundreds gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings.

At Kabul International Airport, Afghan forces abandoned the field to Western militaries, said a pilot who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss security matters. An Afghan flight earlier landed at the airport from Kandahar loaded with troops who surrendered to the Taliban, even after taking shrapnel damage from a mortar attack, the pilot said.

Ghani, who spoke to the nation Saturday for the first time since the offensive began, appears increasingly isolated as well. Warlords he negotiated with just days earlier have surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving Ghani without a military option. Ongoing negotiations in Qatar, the site of a Taliban office, also have failed to stop the insurgents’ advance.

Jalalabad, Afghanistan’s last major city besides the capital not held by the militants, fell to the Taliban earlier Sunday. Militants posted photos online showing them in the governor’s office in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province.

Abrarullah Murad, a lawmaker from the province told The Associated Press that the insurgents seized Jalalabad after elders negotiated the fall of the government there. Murad said there was no fighting as the city surrendered.

The militants took also Maidan Shar, the capital of Maidan Wardak, on Sunday, only some 90 kilometers from Kabul, Afghan lawmaker Hamida Akbari and the Taliban said. Another provincial capital in Khost also fell to the Taliban, said a provincial council member who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The fall Saturday of Mazar-e-Sharif, the country’s fourth-largest city, which Afghan forces and two powerful former warlords had pledged to defend, handed the insurgents control over all of northern Afghanistan.

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 close to Dostum. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorised to publicly speak about his movements.

Writing on Twitter, Noor alleged a “conspiracy” aided the fall of the north to the Taliban, without elaborating.

“Despite our firm resistance, sadly, all the government and the Afghan security forces equipment were handed over to the Taliban as a result of a big organised and cowardly plot,” Noor wrote. “They had orchestrated the plot to trap Marshal Dostum and myself too, but they didn’t succeed.”

The Taliban also insisted their fighters wouldn’t enter people’s homes or interfere with businesses. They also said they’d offer an “amnesty” to those who worked with the Afghan government or foreign forces.

“The Islamic Emirate once again assures all its citizens that it will, as always, protect their life, property and honor and create a peaceful and secure environment for its beloved nation,” the militants said. “In this regard, no one should worry about their life.”

Despite the pledge, those who can afford a ticket have been flocking to Kabul International Airport, the only way out of the country after the Taliban took the last border crossing still held by the government Sunday at Torkham. Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told local broadcaster Geo TV that Pakistan halted cross-border traffic thereafter the militants seized it.

Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry reported Sunday that 84 Afghan servicemen crossed the border into Uzbekistan asked for assistance. Uzbek guards detained the group of Afghan military when they crossed the border.

The group included three wounded soldiers that needed medical help, the ministry said. The men were offered food and temporary accommodation in Uzbekistan, and the ministry was in touch with Afghan officials regarding the return of Afghan soldiers to their home country.

Countries evacuate diplomats

A US official says American diplomats in Afghanistan are being moved from the embassy in Kabul to the airport. The official says military helicopters are shuttling between the embassy compound and the airport, where a core presence will remain for as long as possible given security conditions. The official was not authorized to discuss diplomatic movements and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Relocating a core group of embassy staff to the airport had been a contingency plan as the Taliban made dramatic territorial gains over the past several weeks before the final withdrawal of US troops by 31 August. British media are reporting that the UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan is to be airlifted out of the country by Monday evening amid fears that the Taliban could seize the airport imminently.

Germany is sending military transport planes to Kabul to begin the evacuation of its embassy staff Monday. The German news agency dpa reported Sunday that the mission will include the evacuation of local Afghan staff working for the German embassy. A German official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to be quoted, told The Associated Press that paratroopers will secure the operation.

The military planes are expected to ferry evacuees from Kabul to a base in Central Asia, from where charter planes will bring them to  Frank Jordans in Berlin.

Italian media reported Sunday that most personnel at the Italian Embassy in Kabul are being transferred to the Afghan capital’s airport in preparation for evacuation. The report Sunday by Corriere della Sera said the move affects some 50 Italian staffers and 30 Afghan employees and their families, along with Carabinieri paramilitary police protecting the embassy.

Russia is working with other countries to hold an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan as the Taliban completes its military takeover of the country, foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov told Russian news agencies. “We are working on this,” Kabulov said, adding that the meeting will take place. Russia is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with the United States, Britain, France, and China.

Kabulov also said Moscow does not plan to evacuate its embassy in Kabul, saying the Taliban had offered Russia and other countries, which he did not name, security assurances for their missions in Afghanistan.

 

With inputs from agencies