KABUL: The afghan Taliban strengthened their land control over Kabul on Saturday, as the refugees flooded the capital from the insurgency’s unrelenting onslaught.
Kabul has basically been the besieged last resort of government forces, who have provided little or no fight in another country with the second and third major cities falling into Taliban control.
Insurgent militants are now only 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, so the US and other nations scramble to take their fellow citizens away from Kabul for a fearsome all-out attack.
American embassy personnel were told to start shredding and burning of sensitive documents as scheduled re-deployment of 3,000 US troops began to arrive to the airport to secure and control the evacuations.
Many European nations – notably Great Britain, Germany, Denmark and Spain – announced on Friday the departure of staff from their embassies.
The prevailing atmosphere was a source of bewilderment and anxiety about what lies ahead to Kabul residents and the tens of thousands who sought sanctuary there these past weeks.
A local, Khairddin Logari, said to AFP, “We don’t know what is going on.
United Nations General Secretary Antonio Guterres declared he was “very troubled” by reports of impoverished women’s treatment in Taliban-stricken regions.
“The news of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women to be taken off is especially awful and heart-breaking,” added Guterres.
Afghans and the coalition, which is led by the United States, were astonished by the magnitude and speed of the Taliban assault after overthrowing the Taliban nearly 20 years ago in the wake of the September 11 attacks.