After Quick Victory, Taliban Find Governing Is Harder

The two weeks since the fall of Kabul have been a scramble for Taliban officials, who are trying to take up the functions of a new government on the eve of its announcement.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Sitting in the home of the spy chief of the fallen Afghan government, cradling a Beretta submachine gun in his lap, Mawlawi Habib Tawakol recounted how he and his fighters were surprised at how quickly they were ordered to enter Kabul on Aug. 15, even after the Taliban’s rapid advance across Afghanistan. That morning, Mr. Tawakol’s Taliban unit arrived on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, expecting to camp out there possibly for weeks while a formal handover was negotiated. But there would be little waiting. President Ashraf Ghani and many other senior officials were fleeing, catching everyone off guard. “That afternoon, our leadership ordered us to enter the city in order to prevent looting,” he said. The Taliban intelligence chief, Hajji Najibullah, told him and his men to rush to the headquarters of the Afghan spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, to secure equipment and documents. Prison cells, offices, security posts — all had been abandoned.