KABUL: Taliban insurgents have entered the Afghanistan capital Kabul on Sunday, according to an interior ministry official, as the United States evacuated diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.
The senior official said that Taliban were coming in “from all sides” but gave no further details, according to Reuters.
A tweet from the Afghan Presidential palace account said firing had been heard at a number of points around Kabul but that security forces, in coordination with international partners, had control of the city, Reuters reported.
The report said that U.S. officials and diplomats were being ferried to the airport from the embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district.
More American troops were being sent to help in the evacuations after the Taliban’s lightning advances brought the Islamist group to Kabul in a matter of days, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, there was no immediate word on the situation from President Ashraf Ghani, who said on Saturday he was in urgent consultations with local leaders and international partners on the situation.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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