Kabul residents withdraw money, flee city as Taliban advances

Many Kabul residents fearful as Taliban fighters enter the Afghan capital and President Ghani flees the country.

Hundreds of Kabul residents rushed to banks to withdraw money from their accounts, as Taliban fighters entered the city on Sunday demanding the unconditional surrender of the central government. Afghans and foreigners alike also raced to exit the city, signalling the end of a 20-year Western experiment aimed at remaking Afghanistan. Civilians fearing that the Taliban could reimpose the kind of brutal rule that all but eliminated women’s rights rushed to leave the country, lining up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings.