Afghan president flees the country as Taliban move on Kabul

Asia-Pacific, News August 15, 2021 , by IRIA No Comments

President Ashraf Ghani left the Afghan capital for Tajikistan

Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani has left the country for Tajikistan as the Taliban announced to move towards Kabul, according to the country’s top peace negotiator Abdullah Abdullah.

“The former Afghan president has left the nation,” Abdullah, the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, said in a video on his Facebook page.

Ghani joined his fellow citizens and foreigners who fleed as the Taliban advanced in a city gripped by panic.

Several helicopters raced overhead throughout the day to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy, signaling the end of a 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Former Afghan warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Mohammad Noor, who command thousands of fighters, also fled the province, saying they “are in a safe place now”. In a social media post, Noor blamed the government forces, saying they handed their weapons and equipment to the Taliban.