Globalsecurity.org

More than 1,200 Afghans under a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program have undergone processing at Fort Lee, Virginia, since President Joe Biden announced U.S. troops would leave Afghanistan by August 31.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left country as the Taliban entered the outskirts of the capital, the only major city left in government hands.

The U.S. Embassy staff in Kabul are being moved to the airport amid the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, as Western states look to bring their embassy staff in Kabul to safety.

Albania has accepted a U.S request to temporarily take in Afghans who are fleeing their country in the face of the rapid Taliban advances.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected comparisons between the U.S. departure from Kabul and the chaotic exit after the Vietnam War, as the Taliban surrounded the Afghan capital.

The situation in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is changing rapidly as the Taliban has moved into the city and taken over parts of it, including the Presidential Palace. This happened as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and security forces in the city melted away.

Iran's Foreign Minister spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran five representative offices which used to scatter across Afghanistan are now pursuing their activities from the capital city Kabul.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he had authorized the deployment of roughly 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to support personnel drawdown, warning the Taliban not to put U.S. personnel and mission at risk.

The spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry says the country's embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul is still active, but has reduced the number of its personnel as Taliban forces are poised to take over the capital city of the war-ravaged country.

As the UK's collapsing position in Afghanistan worsens by the hour, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has recalled Parliament for the middle of next week to take stock of the developing disaster.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has rejected war and violence as a solution to the existing problems in the neighboring Afghanistan, reiterating Iran's support for the establishment of sustainable peace in the war-ravaged country.

The United States is reportedly removing all of its staff from the embassy in Kabul in the next 72 hours and closing the embassy as the Taliban appear to capture the seat of the central government.

Security sources informed with the matter have dismissed rumors that there have been clashes between the Taliban militants and Iranian border guards, saying there exists no problem at Iran's borders with neighboring Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman says the group expects a "peaceful transition of power" in the next few days after the militants entered Afghanistan's capital Kabul with little resistance amid evacuation of US diplomats from its embassy by helicopter.

The Taliban have reportedly entered the Afghan capital but the group said its militants have been ordered to wait at the city's gates and that they are not planning to capture Kabul "by force" shortly after they seized control of a strategic eastern city without any resistance.

US President Joe Biden has ordered the deployment of nearly 5,000 American troops to Afghanistan to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown" of US and allied personnel as well as "safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops" in wake of the persisting Taliban advance towards Kabul.

Earlier, according to reports, the Taliban took over the state television station in Kabul, calling on citizens to remain calm. The movement earlier asserted that it had established control over the Afghan capital, with videos surfacing online showing the militants in the presidential palace.

Earlier, media reports suggested that the former Afghan president had left the country on a jet soon after resigning from his post. He took this step in the wake of Taliban forces surrounding the capital and demanding a peaceful transfer of power from the government.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was reported to be willing to resign after the Taliban* surrounded Kabul and demanded a peaceful transition of power. He is said to have fled the country to Tajikistan.

Three prominent Tory backbenchers have criticised Prime Minister Boris Johnson for failing to oppose the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan and called for a new military intervention, even as talks on a transfer of power were underway in Kabul.