The Taliban struck right at the moment when the Afghan government had loosened their grip. On the one hand, the pro-Western government was losing its power as the US-led forces withdrew the bulk of their troops in August and, on the other hand, for some internal reasons. In any case, the Islamic group launched an assault at the right time. Once the Taliban took over the capital city, the rest of the country gave in instantly without much fighting. Importantly, Kabul remained the only city beyond the Taliban’s control. Pro-American Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled from the country.
A great deal of the civilians are desperate to leave. The capture of the capital city played havoc with the local airport. Hundreds of residents were crowding to fit into US aircraft. As of August 20, the US air force reported that almost 9,000 Afghans had been evacuated from the country.
The new Afghan government declared that the 20-year war had been successfully over. Afghanistan had shown resilience to the Islamic extremist force for exactly two decades. Taliban fighters stated that the Islamic Emirate, as they call themselves, would introduce new laws and principles to rule the nation. Besides, the new authorities announced a nationwide amnesty.
The airport in Kabul is the only chance to exit Afghanistan. The land borders are seized and controlled by the Taliban. However, at present the civilians have no access to the airport as it is fortified by the US air force. The US deployed extra troops to help evacuate its diplomatic officials and military personnel. So, the chances of the Afghan nationals to leave the country are fading. Nevertheless, they are still making brave efforts to enter the airport.
By August 20, the media reported 12 casualties as a result of shooting and jostling through the crowd in the airport. This happened over the weekend after the Taliban had entered the capital city.
The Islamic group assures that they would not hurt the citizens who aimed to escape and got stuck in the airport.
Diplomats of the US embassy in Afghanistan were ferried to the airport. They embarked on aircraft provided by the UK and US air forces that had been already waiting for them at runaways. Apart from the US, Russia also aims to take out its citizens from Afghanistan. Moscow intends to arrange charter flights for Russian aid workers and officials.
As of August 21, it became known that the new Taliban-led government had encountered some troubles, for example, with the country’s treasury. The terrorist group is not able to gain access to the public funds being stored at the central bank. On top of that, the International Monetary Fund is not going to allocate any financial aid to the newly-proclaimed Islamic Emirate.
The billions of dollars, which the Taliban had been dreaming of, are supervised mainly by the US and the EU. So, the question is still open what fate lies ahead of the Afghan economy and the country’s 36-million population. 20 years ago when the Taliban was at the helm of the country, the Afghan citizens used to earn less than $1 per day.
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