Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

When the US and its allies went into Afghanistan in October 2001 they quickly realised they didn't really understand what kind of place they were dealing with.

They sent cultural anthropologists to remote military outposts in an attempt to understand tribal customs and dynamics.

Officers drank tea with local elders, and held endless jirgas - or legal assemblies - with village leaders.

I watched one in the hills outside Jalalabad. The American officer holding it was sincere, thoughtful and, I remember thinking, baffled.

The West thought that if it built enough bridges, sent enough girls to school, ploughed up enough poppy fields and, crucially, spent billions creating an army modelled in its own image, Afghans would be won over and the new government would be able to stand on its own two feet.

But the bafflement never really went away and the Taliban were simply biding their time, waiting for us to lose interest.

Sam Farzaneh
BBC Persian reporter

Shakila Enayat puts her left hand on her chest and tells me, in a broken voice, that she blames the international society for "abandoning Afghans".

At a protest in front of the White House on Sunday afternoon, almost 300 Afghans were chanting and listening to speakers from different Afghan ethnicities.

Shakila was a teacher back in Afghanistan. "My students contact me and tell me now they should stay home and do nothing," she says.

Many are worried that the Taliban will again limit women’s rights.

“I think all of us [Afghan women] were betrayed by the international community,” she adds.

Like most Afghans, these protesters blame Pakistan for the Taliban and were chanting “shame, shame, Pakistan”.

“Afghanistan is bleeding” was another chant. Every now and then someone would shout “down with Ashraf Ghani”.

Nazila Jamshidi, a human rights student in Washington says she is more concerned for girls who were born after 2001.

"We told them about equality and about a bright future and now they have to stay home again,” she says.

When I ask her how she feels now that Kabul is almost in the hands of the Taliban, she says, tearfully: "We had 40 years of war and instability and now everything has evaporated in a short time. I didn’t have time to process it yet.”

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has urged the Taliban and all others to "exercise utmost restraint in order to protect lives".

In a statement through his spokesman, Guterres said humanitarian needs, rights and freedoms of all people must be addressed.

"The Secretary General is particularly concerned about the future of women and girls, whose hard-won rights must be protected," the statement said.

Guterres is expected to address a security council meeting on Afghanistan on Monday.

A spokesman for the Taliban has told Al Jazeera: "The war is over in Afghanistan."

"We have reached what we were seeking, the freedom of our country and the independence of our people," he added.

The spokesman said the Taliban did not think foreign forces would "repeat their failed experience in Afghanistan again".

Earlier on Sunday, the Taliban were pictured inside the presidential palace. They claim to have taken control of 11 district centres in the capital.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

As we mentioned earlier, President Ashraf Ghani has fled Afghanistan.

Earlier reports suggested he had flown to Tajikistan. However, Al Jazeera is now reporting that Ghani, his wife, chief of staff and national security adviser have left the country for Tashkent, Uzbekistan. They cited a personal bodyguard of the president as their source however this has not been confirmed by the government.

In a Facebook post addressed to Afghan citizens, Ghani said he had made the difficult decision to leave the capital in order to avoid bloodshed.

We earlier reported on the chaos - including possible gunfire - at Kabul's international airport, where foreign evacuations are still ongoing.

There are reports now of civilians being injured on the tarmac. An eyewitness had told the BBC that the desperate attempts to flee at times resembled a stampede.

Now, if any Afghans there wish to return home, they must go through Taliban checkpoints, reports PBS's Jane Ferguson, external.

Journalist Bilal Sarwary shared a video of the airport in the early hours of 16 August.

Canadian ministers have announced the country is suspending operations at its embassy in Kabul because the situation on the ground there "poses serious challenges to our ability to ensure the safety and security of our mission".

Diplomatic personnel are on their way back to Canada as of this morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier today.

"Canada firmly condemns the escalating violence," he said. "We are heartborken at the situation the Afghan people find themselves in today."

Embassy operations will resume once the security situation in Afghanistan improves, officials say.

Like the US and other countries, Canada has also been scrambling to bring Afghans who assisted its troops into Canada as the Taliban advanced.

Officials said today that work "will continue and will remain a top priority".

Image source, Getty Images

Former US soldiers who fought in Afghanistan are expressing shock as they watch the country fall to an enemy they fought for 20 years.

"This one will hurt for a long time,” a former lieutenant colonel, who was deployed to Herat, told Military.com, external.

“A complete pull-out is not only unnecessary, it is sabotage," said Army Staff Sgt Seamus Fennessy, who fought in Ghazni province in 2010. “I am disgusted,” he added.

Christy Barry, who served as an air force officer, and later as a civilian adviser, said she looks back on her time in the country "with a sadness".

"You pour your heart into it, and at the time, it feels like you're doing something great and you're making a difference," she told the newspaper.

"And looking back on it now, I still feel that way, but it's with a sadness."

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The Pentagon is sending 1,000 more troops to help with evacuation efforts in Kabul, an official has told US media. They dispatched 3,000 troops earlier this week.

This brings the total number of US troops in Afghanistan to 6,000, at least temporarily.

At the height of the US occupation, in 2011, there were 110,000 American troops in the country.

The Taliban are on the cusp of taking control of Kabul for the first time in two decades. What might happen if they do?

The militants have ruled out a transitional government. They have said they plan to declare an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman told the BBC there would be "no revenge" on Afghans and property would be safe - but it's unclear what could happen at the airport, where foreign governments were evacuating their nationals.

The Taliban also said women's rights would be respected, but they must wear the burka.

However, reports from areas the Taliban have captured in recent days indicate women are not being allowed out of their homes without a male companion and that some female employees were told their jobs would now be carried out by men.

Nato has already promised to maintain a diplomatic presence in Kabul, and is helping with the chaotic situation at the airport.

On the streets of Kabul, there are many reports of confused and fearful citizens, with some trying to flee the city.

Image source, Reuters

The Taliban have made their way into the Afghan capital after President Ashraf Ghani fled amid chaotic scenes, two decades after the militants were overthrown by a US-led invasion.

Here are some of today's key moments:

• President Ghani said he fled Kabul to avoid bloodshed
• The Taliban are reportedly now inside the presidential palace in the capital
• The top US diplomat in Afghanistan fled the embassy, which is now empty and the American flag has been taken down
• Chaos has been unfolding at Kabul's airport as foreigners, Afghan officials and others try to leave; all commercial flights have been suspended
• Nations such as the UK, Germany, Canada and the US are using military planes to pluck their nationals out of Afghanistan, while scrambling to evacuate Afghans who worked with their troops, too
• UK PM Boris Johnson said the world should not prematurely recognise the Taliban as Afghanistan's new government, as he also cautioned the wartorn nation should not become a breeding ground for terror
• Activists are expressing concerns for women in Afghanistan amid reports the Taliban are already forcing changes

Al Jazeera has been screening footage of Taliban fighters apparently inside the presidential palace.

The video shows the militants wandering around the palace just hours after it was confirmed President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country.

Image source, EPA

Afghan Education Minister Rangina Hamidi has told the BBC that she is continuing to work - and will not give up the fight for women's education.

"So far, it's calm, and I'm in my home, and I guess I can say I feel relatively safe - as safe as I can be," she told the Newshour programme on Sunday.

Ms Hamidi says she doesn't know whether she is still a government minister, and has had no formal communication from her government - but she still went to the office on Sunday.

She said she remained determined her daughter and other Afghan women would have an education.

"I feel for her future - and I want her to have the future that I envisaged for her and that she is destined to have.

"If we survive this, of course, I will do everything and anything in my power to continue fighting - not only for her, but for the millions of daughters that I am lucky to call my daughters."

An eyewitness described the scene at Kabul airport:

"The departure hall turned into chaos after people said boarding passes were being printed secretly for officials and high-profile people who showed up at the airport.

I saw three former MPs, a few deputy ministers and some celebrities queuing up. Some didn’t even have a booking. We waited for almost eight hours, until airport staff started leaving their desks - first the check-in counters and then the migration and passport desks… different rumours created chaos. Some escaped from the airport and some rushed towards the gates.

No-one was in any of the passport check cabins and the QR scan doors were destroyed. There wasn’t a security check before getting to the gates.

We walked through and saw that the big glass doors between the gates and the airplanes were shattered. People ran towards the last plane (it seems the first plane, which was ours, was filled by officials and took off) and there was a second flight which people started to board.

It was almost a stampede.

We walked back and saw many hopeful passengers just sitting under the airplane near the runway. People were shocked and didn’t know what to do, running from one plane to the other.

We then walked towards the exit to get in the car. Armed men in plain clothes were guarding the airport.

People were very desperate, some were running towards the airport, some were escaping. In order to stop people from getting into the airport, the guards opened fire into the air.

When I was getting out, there was a guy shooting in the air. A few minutes away on the airport’s road, I saw several police vehicles left alone on the road with doors open.

I can still hear sporadic gunshots and helicopters."

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says he made the difficult decision to leave the country as the Taliban advanced in order to avoid bloodshed in the capital city of six million people.

Ghani made the comments in a Facebook post addressed to Afghan citizens. They are his first remarks since leaving the country.

Some reports say he has gone to Tajikistan.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Military aircraft are headed to Kabul to evacuate Germans and Afghan support staff, says Germany's foreign minister.

The planes will leave tonight for the Afghan capital and will bring passengers to a "neighbouring country". Civilian aircraft will then fly them to Germany.

A small team will stay in the embassy to assist in further evacuations.

The foreign ministry said on Friday that fewer than 100 German citizens were still in Afghanistan, alongside remaining government officials, Reuters reported.

Image source, Reuters

President Ashraf Ghani, who left Afghanistan on Sunday and is reported to be headed to Tajikistan, was twice elected president - first in 2014 and then, again, in 2019.

He is a former technocrat and one of the country's best-known academics, who spent much of his career outside Afghanistan, before returning to help the country rebuild after years of war.

When he came to office, he was seen as incorruptible and hands-on - too much so, some would say - but he was also noted for his short temper.

A member of the country's majority Pashtun community, Mr Ghani took office as most foreign troops were leaving in 2014.

He oversaw the withdrawal, as well as a fractious peace talks with the Taliban, who regarded his government as US puppets.

Read more here.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

Image source, Getty Images

It is simply dizzying the speed at which events are unfolding – earlier this week US officials were cautioning that it would be months before Kabul might fall. It’s turned out to be days.

And now, for all the diplomatic window dressing, this is turning into a scramble by the Americans to get out.

Officials at the embassy were told to destroy sensitive documents, helicopters are ferrying staff to the airport. The Ambassador has left, the US flag lowered.

And it’s left the Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, trying to put a brave face on events.

Arguments can be made about the US policy to pull out – there is a strong feeling that US involvement couldn’t continue ad infinitum.

But the manner of the withdrawal has been hapless, with a mass of miscalculation, warnings ignored, and – critically – a wild over-estimation of the capability of the American-trained Afghan armed forces.

The policy may have been framed by Donald Trump when he was president, but Joe Biden owns this unfolding chaos.

Most of the 600 British troops have now arrived in Kabul, UK defence sources have told the BBC.

They say the Royal Air Force has already flown out most of the UK embassy's staff on military flights.

However, the UK ambassador and a small number of embassy staff remain in the city to help British nationals evacuate, the sources say.

Image source, Facebook/Hamid Karzai

Afghanistan's former president, Hamid Karzai, has released a video on Facebook to tell his followers that he will remain in Kabul.

Standing with his three daughters, Karzai tells his "dear Kabul citizens" that he and his family are with them.

"We hope the issues of our country and of our capital are resolved in a good way and peacefully," he says.

"I call on the security forces of the Taliban Islamic Movement, wherever they are, to ensure the security of the life and property of people and pay attention to the life and property of people, both our security forces and the forces of the Taliban."

Karzai became the country's leader in 2001 - the year the US invasion began. He held the role until 2014, becoming one of Asia's longest-serving leaders.

Foreign governments had a low opinion of Karzai at times, criticising him for his failure to prevent corruption and to confront traditionalists in order to promote women's rights.