Taliban forces reached the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday after carrying out a lightning sweep of the country following US troops’ withdrawal.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan, effectively ceding power to the Taliban as they reached the capital to seal a nationwide military victory, AFP reports.
“The former Afghan President has left the nation, leaving the people to this situation,” Abdullah Abdullah, who heads the peace process, said in a video on his Facebook page.
Ghani’s departure from office was one of the key demands of the Taliban during the peace talks with the government.
The group first ordered its fighters to hold off on entering the capital, to later enter the areas deserted by Afghan forces to maintain law and order.
Fears of a security vacuum mounted in the capital as thousands of police and other armed services members fled their posts.
The speed and scale at which the Taliban advanced led the US-led alliance to deploy an additional 1,000 troops to help secure an emergency evacuation from Kabul of American diplomats and Afghan staff who might be targeted by the Taliban for reprisals.
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