Insurgents entered the presidential palace and took control of it, two senior Taliban commanders in Kabul said. The Taliban also said they had taken control of most of the districts around the outskirts of the capital. Taliban fighters reached Kabul "from all sides", the senior Interior Ministry official told Reuters and there were some reports of sporadic gunfire around the city. "Allowing passage to the Taliban was the only way to save civilian lives," a Jalalabad-based Afghan official told Reuters. Biden said his administration had told Taliban officials in talks in Qatar that any action that put US personnel at risk "will be met with a swift and strong US military response."

Source: Otago Daily Times August 15, 2021 19:52 UTC