KABUL — The Taliban entered Afghanistan’s capital on Sunday to negotiate a “peaceful surrender” of the city, a spokesman for the group said, as the U.S. rushed to evacuate all personnel from the country.
Three Afghan officials told the Associated Press that the Taliban were in the Kabul districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman. NBC News could not independently verify this claim.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement that the militant group’s fighters would “be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed.” In a separate statement to NBC News, a Taliban spokesman told NBC News that those entering Kabul were unarmed on instructions from senior commanders.
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U.S. forces were rushing to evacuate all staff from the city’s American embassy after President Joe Biden authorized the deployment of 5,000 troops to the country.
The embassy will be closing once all personnel are transferred out and there have been intense negotiations with the Taliban for safe passage, a person familiar with the situation told NBC News.
After two decades of war and just months since Biden announced the full withdrawal of U.S. forces, the president remained steadfast Saturday in spite of the Taliban blitz.
“One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country,” Biden said. “And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the militants encircled the Afghan capital as the group surprised Washington, Kabul and even its own fighters with the speed of the campaign.
The Taliban advance and ensuing collapse of the Afghan government has sent large numbers of civilians fleeing their homes, seeking refuge both from the fighting and the prospect of the Islamist regime that ruled the country before 2001 being reimposed.
In Kabul, thousands of people were living in parks and open spaces.
Hundreds of people also gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings, while some ATMs stopped distributing money.
On Sunday Afghan forces at Bagram air base, once a bustling mini-city that saw more than 100,000 U.S. troops pass through its gates, also surrendered to the Taliban, two U.S. defense officials told NBC News.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not officially authorized to comment, the defense officials added that the militant group had started to release prisoners from the Parwan Detention Facilty, some of whom were hardened Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters.
The insurgents also captured the eastern city of Jalalabad, giving them control of one of the main highways into landlocked Afghanistan. They also took over the nearby Torkham border post with Pakistan, leaving Kabul airport the only way out of Afghanistan that is still in government hands.
These came after Mazar-e-Sharif, the country’s fourth largest city, fell on Saturday to give the insurgents control over all of northern Afghanistan.
Ahmed Mengli reported from Kabul, Mushtaq Yusufzai from Peshawar, Pakistan, and Rhea Mogul from Hong Kong.
Courtney Kube, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed.