Afghans flee Kabul in panic as Taliban forces close in

Militants are seven miles from the capital as US marines fly in
to evacuate American embassy

Residents in Kabul were on Saturday night gripped by fear and a panicked search for escape routes from the bloodshed many fear could lie ahead, as the Taliban captured Mazar-e-Sharif, the country’s fourth largest city and the government’s last stronghold in the north, as well as two other provinces in the east as they tightened their grip on the country. Militants also launched a multi-pronged attack on Mazar-e-Sharif, the country’s fourth largest city and the government’s last stronghold in the north, as president Ashraf Ghani addressed the nation.

Kabul had been swirling with rumours that Ghani would step down as part of a peace deal to spare the capital and its population of over four million. Instead he said he would reorganise the military, and made vague reference to “starting consultations” across society and with international allies. He may not have long to make a decision. On Saturday the whole of Logar province, just south of Kabul and the capital of Paktika province on the Pakistan border were the latest areas to fall to the militants.

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