Afghanistan veteran Dave Watson has been sharing his thoughts on the Taliban resurgence with the BBC. He lost both legs and his right arm after stepping on an explosive device while on foot patrol in Afghanistan 2010.

He says: “It’s upsetting to see what’s happening now we’ve left that the Taliban have just moved in straight away. It just feels like, is it worth it? Was it worth going out there and all the families being hurt and lives being lost and guys like me getting their lives turned upside down?

“We did a brilliant job when we were out there and we saw it because the Taliban were moving away. We were protecting the villages. But it just seems like now after 20 years we were the bodyguards [for the Afghan army and police]."

He says UK and US troops had trained Afghan army and police officers to be able to withstand militant action in the future.

"I just don’t know what’s gone wrong because we taught them everything we know, taught them absolutely everything for the last 20 years... We’ve been teaching them all along it’s just hard and upsetting to see that its come to this."

The loss of Jalalabad overnight by the Afghan government means Kabul is the only major city not under Taliban control.

The city is a key eastern location and gives militants control of an important road connecting the country to Pakistan.

Reports from the city suggest it fell without resistance.

A local official told the Reuters agency that “allowing passage to the Taliban was the only way to save civilian lives” and confirmed the governor had surrendered.

"We woke up this morning to the Taliban white flags all over the city. They entered without fighting,” a local resident told AFP.

With the capital Kabul now the only major city still under Afghan government control, efforts to evacuate diplomats and international staff appear to be accelerating.

The AP news agency reports that helicopters could be seen shuttling to and from the US embassy on Sunday morning, along with armoured vehicles.

Smoke could also be seen from the destruction of sensitive documents by staff, according to anonymous military officials the AP spoke to.

President Joe Biden released a lengthy statement , externalon Saturday, clarifying his position on the Taliban advance.

He said he was closely following the security situation and had authorised the use of 5,000 troops to get US staff safely out of the country, as well as Afghans at risk for working alongside them.

Mr Biden said he had directed his secretary of state to support Afghan leaders to pursue a political settlement to prevent further bloodshed. The president also added that the US had conveyed to Taliban representatives in Qatar that any action endangering US personnel “will be met with a strong US military response”.

Image source, Reuters

The statement reflected on the last 20 years since the US went into Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks. Mr Biden said the US had already invested “nearly $1tn”, including training over 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police and providing them with equipment.

“One more year, or five more years, of US military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country,” he said.

The statement said he felt bound to either follow through with the Trump administration’s deal with the Taliban or ramp up military presence again.

“I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan - two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth,” he finished.

We will bring you the latest news from Afghanistan, where the Taliban have continued to make significant gains overnight.

In the latest developments:

• The capital Kabul is now the only major city left in government hands
• On Sunday the Taliban took the key eastern city of Jalalabad without resistance, hours after Mazar-i-Sharif - another major centre - also fell, largely without a fight
• The US is activating some 5,000 troops to help get its nationals and Afghans who worked alongside them out of the country. There are reports US embassy staff in Kabul are already being evacuated.
• President Joe Biden has released a statement defending his handling of the withdrawal and response to the Taliban advance.