In Pictures

In Pictures: Taliban mass ‘at the gates’ of Kabul

Taliban fighters patrol a street in the city of Herat. [Reuters]

By News Agencies

Taliban fighters surrounded Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Sunday as the world waited to see what negotiations around a transfer of power would result in.

The armed group seized nearly all of Afghanistan in just over a week, sending thousands of internally displaced people fleeing the fighting to Kabul, seeking safety.

In spite of hundreds of billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO to build up Afghan security forces, the Taliban swiftly defeated, co-opted, or sent Afghan security forces fleeing from wide swaths of the country.

Fighters remained “at the city’s gates” as sporadic gunfire was heard in streets that were largely quiet.

Taliban fighters and local residents sit on an Afghan National Army vehicle in Laghman province. [AFP]

A Taliban fighter stands guard in the city of Ghazni. [Reuters]

The Taliban flag is raised in the major southern city of Kandahar after the city falls to the armed group. [EPA]

IDPs from northern provinces, who fled the fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces, shelter in a public park in Kabul. [Hedayatullah Amid/EPA]

At least 244,000 people have been internally displaced since the beginning of May when Taliban offensives against the Western-backed Afghan government began. [Hedayatullah Amid/EPA]

Most of the IDPs come from northern and eastern Afghanistan. They lack adequate shelter, access to medical care, and sufficient food. [Hedayatullah Amid/EPA]

Afghan workers rush home after news broke that the Taliban had reached the outskirts of Kabul. [EPA]

Afghan security officials stand guard at a checkpoint in Kabul. [EPA]

Helicopters land at the US Embassy in Kabul as the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital. [Rahmat Gul/AP Photo]

Reports suggested Kabul would be surrendered to the Taliban on Sunday. [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]

Taliban capture of Jalalabad effectively leaves Kabul as the last major urban area under government control.

Taliban fighters patrol the streets in Herat on August 14, 2021. Herat is one of the 22 provincial capitals to fall to the group since August 6 [Stringer/ AFP]

US President Joe Biden says his administration warned Taliban against any action putting US personnel at risk.

US President Joe Biden says his administration warned the Taliban that any action against US personnel in Afghanistan would 'be met with swift and strong US military response' [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters]

The capital, Mazar and Jalalabad remain the only major cities still under government control as Taliban encircles Kabul.

Taliban fighters stand on a vehicle along the roadside in the southern city of Kandahar after they seized it [AFP]

‘This is the moment to avoid a prolonged civil war’ UN chief says in appeal to armed group sweeping through Afghanistan.

Taliban fighters are seen in a vehicle along the roadside in Herat, Afghanistan's third biggest city, after government forces pulled out the day before following weeks of being under siege [AFP]