Taliban head to presidential palace for transfer of power, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani likely to step down

The Afghanistan government official said that the goal was for a peaceful handing over of the government to the Taliban.

File Photo (PTI)

Kabul: The Taliban negotiators are heading to the presidential palace to prepare for a “transfer of power”, an Afghanistan government official was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

The official said that the goal was for a peaceful handing over of the government to the Taliban.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is likely to step down, according to media reports.

This comes after the Taliban fighters entered the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday (August 15, 2021) while panicked workers fled government offices.

The Taliban have said they don't plan to take the capital by force. Three Afghan officials said that the Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman in the capital.

“No one's life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk," the Taliban said.

In a nationwide offensive that has taken just over a week, the Taliban has defeated, co-opted or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country, even with some air support by the US military.

President Ashraf Ghani, who spoke to the nation Saturday for the first time since the offensive began, appears increasingly isolated as well. Warlords he negotiated with just days earlier have surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving Ghani without a military option. Ongoing negotiations in Qatar, the site of a Taliban office, also have failed to stop the insurgents' advance.

Thousands of civilians now live in parks and open spaces in Kabul itself, fearing the future. Some ATMs stopped distributing cash as hundreds gathered in front of private banks, trying to withdraw their life savings.