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The Taliban’s reconquest of Afghanistan has accelerated over the past several days as the insurgent group overtook the national capital of Kabul. Following the immediate collapse of the government—and as the U.S. continued toward the end of its nearly 20-year war—the future of the country is even more uncertain.
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The end of the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis, as Afghans fearful of the future and potential retribution from the Taliban desperately try to flee via the city’s airport and through neighboring countries. U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday that he would re-deploy thousands of U.S. troops in order to ensure an “orderly and safe” drawdown of U.S. personnel and evacuation of Afghan allies.
On Sunday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the presidential palace, and Taliban officials entered it just a few hours later.
“The Taliban have won with the judgment of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honor, property, and self-preservation of their countrymen,” Ghani said in a statement posted to Facebook.
Photographs captured harrowing moments of the precarious situation in Afghanistan.
Pedestrians and motorists end up in a traffic grid lock trying to flee Kabul, Afghanistan before the Taliban takes over the city on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas in front of the Iranian embassy, in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)An Afghan family carrying belongings on their way to flee Kabul city, Afghanistan, on August 15, 2021. In a statement, the Taliban said they do not intend to enter Kabul “by force or war, but to negotiate with the other side to enter peacefully.” (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)The entrance gate of the Canadian embassy is pictured after the evacuation in Kabul on August 15, 2021. (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)A US soldier (C) point his gun towards an Afghan passenger at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)Afghan people climb atop a plane as they wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)Taliban members are seen near Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands of Afghans rush to flee the Afghan capital of Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16, 2021. (Photo by Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Afghan people sit along the tarmac as they wait to leave the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)
