Image source, Reuters

The Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan uprooted the US government's assessment, which said it would take 90 days for the group to take over Kabul.

The pace of its advance surprised many observers, but some believe it was inevitable.

Prof Amalendu Misra, who teaches politics at Lancaster University and is an author of a book on Afghanistan, believes that the Taliban movement was gathering pace for a while.

"They were making inroads into smaller towns and villages. And it seems they had support from people in far-flung areas - they draw their strength from such places," he told the BBC's Vikas Pandey.

Prof Misra also adds that the rapid decline of the Afghan Army also shows that there was no will to fight and in some cases their troops even looked sympathetic to the Taliban's cause.

He also points out that US troops started ending their combat roles in 2014 and were present in the country only as advisers and trainers.

"So what's happening now would have happened anyway. A new strategy from the US was needed but clearly that option was taken off the table much earlier."

The vast majority of spending in Afghanistan has come from the US.

Between 2010 and 2012, when the US had more than 100,000 soldiers in the country, the cost of the war stood at almost $100bn a year, according to government figures.

According to a Brown University study in 2019, which has looked at war spending in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US had spent around $978bn (their estimate also includes money allocated for the 2020 fiscal year)., external

But the study also notes that it is difficult to assess the overall cost because accounting methods vary between government departments, and they also change over time, leading to different overall estimates.

The UK and Germany - who had the largest numbers of troops in Afghanistan after the US - spent an estimated $30bn and $19bn respectively over the course of the war.

Here's more on the cost of the war.

Image source, Getty Images

US troops fired shots into the air at Kabul airport, according to AFP, as thousands of Afghans crowded the tarmac trying to catch a flight out of Afghanistan.

"I feel very scared here. They are firing lots of shots into the air," a witness told AFP.

Several videos have emerged of people running onto the airport runways and trying to board flights.

There are reports that US flights carrying diplomatic staff out of the country are being prioritised, causing anger and leading to more chaos and confusion.

Afghans are waking up to a new leadership hours after the Taliban seized the capital Kabul and claimed victory.

Here's a rundown of the extraordinary events of the last few hours:

• Afghanistan's government has collapsed, with reports that its president Ashraf Ghani has fled to Uzbekistan - former president Hamid Karzai is offering to lead the transition of power with the Taliban
• Thousands of residents and foreign nationals are trying to escape Kabul, with scenes of chaos and panic being seen at the airport since Sunday night
• Commercial flights have been suspended with priority reportedly being given to US military flights that are evacuating diplomatic staff

• Earlier today, the US completed the evacuation of its embassy and took down the flag at its diplomatic quarters
• More than 60 countries have issued a joint statement calling for security and civil order to be immediately restored, and asking the Taliban to allow those who wish to leave to do so
• Activists are expressing concerns for women in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban is already forcing changes to how they dress and their choice to work, in some parts of the country

One Kabul resident, student Aisha Khurram has tweeted about waking up today to shouting and gunfire at her family’s doorstep.

She says people presenting as Mujahideen fighters “went home by home and took people’s cars and belongings”, external, but ran away when they heard Taliban officials were on the way.

The Taliban, just in the past hour, has again reiterated that it has ordered its fighters to leave Afghan civilians alone.

Notably, the Taliban has sought to present a moderate face as it has entered Kabul.

In a video taken just weeks ago, there were scenes of thousands of people displaced and fleeing to the capital Kabul as the Taliban took over other areas of the country.

These were people who had had homes and jobs - all forced to leave everything behind.

One woman whose sons are in the army said only the poor were forced to fight while politicians watched.

She called on President Ashraf Ghani to come help - the president has now escaped the country.

One 10-year-old girl was taking her exams when the Taliban attacked.

"We escaped the fighting to come here," she said, adding that some of her family members were killed.

"I want to go back to my village... I wish for a better future"

Image source, Reuters

The Taliban arrived at the gates of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.

Hours later by nightfall, it was reported that the Afghan president Ashraf Ghani had fled the country. He posted on his Facebook page to say he was leaving to avoid a bloody battle in Kabul.

But many Afghans left behind say his departure amounts to nothing short of abandonment. He has been called a coward online and criticised for his failure to deal with the Taliban in preceding months as they made rapid gains.

Last night, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, the defence minister tweeted a damning criticism of Ghani. It came just three hours after he assured the Afghan people Kabul would be protected by the Defence Force.

“They tied our hands behind our backs and sold the homeland, damn the rich man and his gang,", external he tweeted. His tweet has been liked more than 20,000 times.

Another tweet heavily criticising Ghani with swear words was posted by the Afghan embassy in India before it was deleted. The embassy's press secretary later said it had been hacked.

A New York Times reporter in Kabul, Sharif Hassan tweeted that “Afghans will never forgive Ghani & his 2 minions, Mohib&Fazly” [two advisers].

This photo showing some Afghan girls going to school a day after the Taliban took over has gone viral on social media.

It's strangely comforting given the tumultuous situation in the country. But then it also begs the question: how long will such freedoms for women and girls last?

The Taliban have said that all sections of the society will have civil freedoms in their rule. But analysts say it's too early to trust such promises.

Meanwhile, many Afghan citizens have told the BBC that the next few months are going to be difficult and they don't know if something as simple as sending children to modern schools is going to be possible or not.

A number of major airlines have stopped using Afghan airspace.

United Airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have all said they are re-routing flights, with the US-India flight path particularly affected.

Many flights are now flying over Pakistan and Iran instead. Airlines and governments are more concerned about carriers flying over conflict zones after two deadly incidents involving surface-to-air missiles in Ukraine and Iran.

Commercial flights to Kabul have also been affected. Emirates has suspended all flights to the Afghan capital until further notice.

Vikas Pandey
BBC News

Zeb Hanifa* started her career as a PR consultant and writer in 2013 after finishing her college degree in the Balkh province.

Her first job "gave her wings to fly", she reminisces, adding that it was proud moment when she travelled to another country alone with the money she had saved. It was a proud moment for her mother too as she had never set her foot outside her hometown.

She says the next few years were amazing for her as got promoted and learnt new skills.

"It was like my mother was living her dream through me. But she used to have this constant fear of something growing wrong - she grew up in conflict. I didn't understand her then but I do now."

Hanifa was planning to take her mother on her very first foreign trip when the pandemic hit and now she is not sure such an opportunity will ever come again.

"I am broken. I am not sure if I will ever be able to work or do everything I wanted to do. There are so many young women like me - our dreams are shattered. And our hopes for a better future are fading fast."

*Name has been changed to protect identity

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, says a coordination council has been formed to manage the transfer of power, consisting of himself, Abdullah Abdullah -- a senior politician who's been leading peace negotiations with the Taliban -- and former warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

On Sunday, Mr Karzai posted a video on Twitter standing with his three daughters, asking government forces and the Taliban to protect the Afghan people.

The BBC's Persian service also spoke to him during which he said President Ghani had left a "vacuum" by fleeing the country and that as soon as he heard that President Ghani had left the country, he contacted former leaders to see what can be done to prevent "chaos".

President Karzai added that he hopes "the next administration takes over through the will of the people".

The Republican party has sharply criticised President Joe Biden for the rapid withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on Twitter.

Apart from a tweet from its official account, a number of Republican senators tweeted, blaming Biden for the situation unfolding in the country.

However, many users have been quick to point out that it was President Trump who had first approved the early pull-out of troops.

Image source, get

The Taliban emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan, following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

They quickly extended their influence, capturing various provinces - and eventually the Afghan capital of Kabul in 1996.

By 1998, they were in control of almost 90% of Afghanistan.

They introduced or supported punishments in line with their strict interpretation of Sharia law. Men were required to grow beards and women had to wear the all-covering burka. They also banned television, music and cinema, and disapproved of girls aged 10 and over going to school.

But the world really only took notice in 2001 when the Taliban were accused of providing a sanctuary to Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda movement. This led to a US-military coalition attack.

Here's more details about how we got to where we are today.

It's too early to believe that the Taliban will keep their promises of not indulging in retribution, a senior South Asia analyst has told the BBC's Vikas Pandey.

Michael Kugelman, deputy director at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, said the Taliban of 2021 appears to be different with its PR strategy. "The fact they have an English-speaking spokesperson for foreign media is a telling sign that they want to be accepted," he said.

But the global community needs to be cautious as these are early days, he added. "Also, it will be worth remembering that we are still talking about a brutal militant group which has a bloodied past."

He adds that one has to wait and see how different countries react once the Taliban start running Afghanistan. "We will see a significant shift in geopolitical alliances in the region and beyond."

Here's a glance at just how quickly Afghanistan has fallen into Taliban hands.

Just over a month ago, the Afghan government was largely in charge of all the country's major cities - fastforward to today, all that has been lost.

Acclaimed Afghan-American writer, Khaled Hosseini has weighed in on the situation unfolding in the country.

His debut novel, The Kite Runner, was a critical and commercial success and shone a spotlight on the horrific realities of Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Almost all his books are set in Afghanistan and have an Afghan protagonist. Many of them discuss women's rights in the country and helped bring the issue of the oppression of Afghan women into mainstream popular culture.

The US State Department has confirmed that it has evacuated all of its embassy staff to a compound at the Hamid Karzai airport.

The country is flying out its personnel from the beleaguered city in batches. It has sent around 6,000 troops to assist with the evacuation process.

Reports say that US soldiers are guarding the perimeter of the airport amid reports of intermittent gunfire and clashes from other parts of the city.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA

Peter Galbraith, a former UN special representative to Afghanistan has said Afghanistan's rapid fall reflects its peoples lack of confidence in the state and longstanding corruption in the government.

“The Taliban forces were significantly smaller than the government forces. They didn't have any of the modern weapons that the government forces had; they didn't have an air force," he told the BBC’s Global Newswire.

“But the government - the corruption was such that police and soldiers were not paid for months. They were not resupplied with bullets. They were not resupplied with food. And then when the collapse began, what was clear is that nobody wants to fight and risk dying in a war that is already lost.”

He also said it wasn’t “particularly productive” to debate which US president is to blame for the “colossal failure” of their 20-year military strategy. America’s Afghanistan problem stems back to the start “around when we intervened initially” - on behalf of local party the Northern Alliance to remove the Taliban, he said.

BBC Asia presenter Karishma Vaswani spoke to a US veteran who is worried about the lives of Afghans affiliated with the US that remain in the country.

"There's been door to door targeting of any interpreter or worker who has been affiliated with the US - they are being hunted down and in some cases executed," Kristen Rouse told the BBC's Newsday.

The US has said it will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of such Afghans who were eligible for special visas - saying that nearly 2,000 of these people had already arrived in the US over the past two weeks.

Good morning and welcome - its a new day in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has claimed victory after seizing the capital Kabul.

Here's what you need to know to bring you up to speed with the extraordinary events of the last few hours:

• Afghanistan's government has collapsed, with reports that its president Ashraf Ghani has fled to Uzbekistan
• Thousands of residents and foreign nationals are trying to escape Kabul, with scenes of chaos and panic being seen at its airport
• More than 60 countries have issued a joint statement calling for security and civil order to be immediately restored, and asking the Taliban to let those who wish to do so leave
• Earlier today, the US completed the evacuation of its embassy and took down the flag at its diplomatic quarters
• Activists are expressing concerns for women in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban are already forcing changes in some parts of the country