Taliban near gates of Kabul, embassies prepare for evacuations

Taliban insurgent fighters are camped just 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from Kabul and this development has prompted many nations, including US and India, to airlift their nationals out of Afghanistan’s capital city. 

New Delhi: The Afghan Taliban on Saturday (August 14, 2021) tightened their territorial stranglehold around the country's capital, Kabul as US Marines returned to oversee emergency evacuations and refugees rushed to safety.  As Afghanistan’s second and third largest cities having fallen into Afghan Taliban hands, Kabul has effectively become the besieged. According to AFP reports, the Taliban fighters are camped just 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from Kabul and this development has prompted many nations, including the US and India, to airlift their nationals out of Afghanistan’s capital city.  In recent developments, the United States has taken a last-minute decision to send 3,000 US troops to Afghanistan to help partially evacuate the US Embassy. Officials have stressed that the newly arriving troops' mission is limited to assisting the airlift of embassy personnel and Afghan allies.