KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s embattled president has left the country, joining his fellow citizens and foreigners in a stampede fleeing the advancing Taliban.
The exodus signals the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. The Taliban said they would hold talks in the coming days aimed at forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government” after moving into the city.
Kabul is gripped by panic, and helicopters raced overhead to evacuate personnel from the U.S. Embassy. Several other Western missions also prepared to pull their people out.
Afghans fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country as well.
