Afghanistan: chaos then eerie silence in Kabul after capital falls to Taliban
- Sunday started with traffic gridlock and fist fights as residents rushed out to withdraw cash, and ended with a curfew and people staying home
- The Taliban said it aimed to preserve order and safety in the Afghan capital, but ordinary people spoke only of their fear
The day began with the blaring cacophony of traffic as people in Kabul rushed headlong to attend to last-minute business: a frantic search for an ATM still dispensing cash, a fruitless journey to a closed shop, a harrowing trip to the airport in hopes of escaping an advancing foe.
Kabul, transformed over the past 20 years into a cosmopolitan city of bodybuilding gyms and burger joints, gaudy wedding halls and frozen-yogurt bars, had fallen to the insurgents in the same manner as much of the rest of the country: with hardly a fight.
That surreal defeat – as if a film was suddenly fast-forwarded – seemed to herald a return to darker, more repressive times.
Within hours of the first Taliban fighters appearing early on Sunday on the city’s outskirts, President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country, signalling the government’s effective collapse. The US embassy was emptied of its staff; helicopters clattered overhead, carrying diplomats to the airport.