NewsGate Press Network

By Vineet Dikshit

(UPDATING earlier post) ..

It was confirmed late on Sunday night  (15 August 2021) that Afghanistan government has fallen to the hardliners Taliban.

Various warlords of Taliban groups are the new rulers of Afghanistan taking full control of their beleaguered nation.

The US State Department announced that it is sending 6000  troops to the Afghan capital while ensuring safe passage of all its interests.

Nearest available location where US has sizable military presence is in Kuwait where its 82nd Airborne Division is stationed.

Ashraf Ghani, now a former president, has fled to Uzbekistan along with his family with senior officials who are still loyal to him.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced that he has constituted a Coordinating Council along with Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Peace Council and Gulbuddin Hetmatyar, leader of Hesi–i-Islami party, for smooth transfer of power to the Taliban.

Escape of Ashraf Ghani to Uzbek territory is seen as an act to avoid bloodshed on the streets of Kabul.

Ghani had resisted calls throughout the weekend to unilaterally step down before being provided with a plane to fly out of Kabul.

It appears that Taliban did not encountered any recognizable resistance to over run the entire Afghanistan.

The former US base at Bagram near Kabul  was also captured.

The speed at which Taliban achieved a total occupation of Afghanistan has not only stunned the United States but everybody else.

And all this happened on a day when India was celebrating its 75th Independence Day with a historic speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered at the ramparts of the Red Fort in Delhi.