Kabul’s sudden fall to Taliban ends US era in Afghanistan

Two decades after US troops invaded Afghanistan, the American nation-building experiment was in ruins

US Marine Lance Corporal Chris Sanderson, 24, from Flemington, New Jersey shouts as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province, Afghanistan February 13, 2010 . Credit: Reuters File Photo

Taliban fighters poured into the Afghan capital on Sunday amid scenes of panic and chaos, bringing a swift and shocking close to the Afghan government and the 20-year American era in the country.

President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan fled the country, and a council of Afghan officials, including former President Hamid Karzai, said they would open negotiations with the Taliban over the shape of the insurgency’s takeover. By day’s end, the insurgents had all but officially sealed their control of the entire country.

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The speed and violence of the Taliban sweep through the countryside and cities the previous week caught the US military and government flat-footed. Hastily arranged US military helicopter flights evacuated the sprawling US Embassy compound in Kabul, ferrying US diplomats and Afghan Embassy workers to the Kabul military airport. At the civilian airport next door, Afghans wept as they begged airline workers to put their families on outbound commercial flights even as most were grounded in favor of military aircraft.

Amid occasional bursts of gunfire, the whump of US Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters overhead drowned out the thrum of traffic as the frenzied evacuation effort unfolded. Below, Kabul’s streets were jammed with vehicles as panic set off a race to leave the city.

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Two decades after US troops invaded Afghanistan to root out al-Qaida terrorists who attacked on Sept. 11, 2001, the American nation-building experiment was in ruins — undercut by misguided and often contradictory policies and by a relentless insurgency whose staying power had been profoundly underestimated by US military planners.

Now, Afghans suddenly face the prospect of complete domination by the Taliban again. In areas the insurgents have recently conquered, there is no sign they have turned away from the harsh Islamist code and rule by intimidation that characterized their government in the 1990s.

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The US Embassy, the epicenter of American nation-building efforts, was shuttered by the end of the day on Sunday after sensitive documents had been shredded or burned, officials said. The US flag was lowered and transferred to the military airport staging area.