Chaos As Thousands Flee Afghanistan After Taliban Takeover

The U.S. State Department says Embassy personnel are now at the capital's airport, where U.S. troops are securing the perimeter.

Afghans rushed onto the tarmac of the capital’s airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed. Some clung to the side of a U.S. military transport plane before takeoff, in a widely shared video that captured the sense of desperation as America’s 20-year war comes to a chaotic end. The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing an end to a two-decade campaign in which the U.S. and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan. The country's Western-trained security forces collapsed or fled in the face of an insurgent offensive that tore through the country in just over a week, ahead of the planned withdrawal of the last American troops at the end of the month. In the capital, a tense calm set in, with most people hiding in their homes as the Taliban deployed fighters at major intersections. There were scattered reports of looting and armed men knocking on doors and gates, and the streets were eerily quiet for a city of 5 million people usually jammed with traffic. Fighters could be seen searching vehicles at one of the city’s main squares.