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Afghanistan: All stories
WorldRussia & Central Asia

Afghanistan: US lowers flag at Kabul embassy as Taliban seize power

  • Taliban retake Afghan capital after 20 years fighting the United States
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejects comparisons to 1975 fall of Saigon

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04:07

Taliban takes control of Afghan capital Kabul as President Ghani flees country

Taliban takes control of Afghan capital Kabul as President Ghani flees country
Agencies
The Taliban were in control of Afghanistan on Monday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and conceded the insurgents had won the 20-year war.
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The United States lowered the flag on its embassy in Kabul and relocated almost all staff to the airport, where US forces were taking over air traffic control.

“We are completing a series of steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights,” the Pentagon and State Department said in a joint statement on Sunday.

“Almost all” personnel from the embassy have relocated to the airport including the acting ambassador, Ross Wilson, who remains in touch with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a State Department spokesperson said.

“The American flag has been lowered from the US embassy compound and is now securely located with embassy staff,” the spokesperson said.

The closing of the American embassy, which was one of the largest in the world, comes nearly 20 years after the US returned following the defeat of the Taliban regime.

With stunning speed, the Taliban retook the country in little more than a week after US President Joe Biden began the final withdrawal of troops, closing America’s longest war.
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