"We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates. Global, regional and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians", this is how Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai had reacted moments after the extremists' group has completely taken over the reign of Afghanistan after two decades as the rise of Taliban had dismayed beyond the Afghan territory with the appalling news of resurgence of the group. 

It's Talibanisthan now as the transition of power in Kabul had put the future of entire people of Afghanistan as their past. The precipice of the reign was made possible by the complete withdrawal of the US and NATO troops from the country, shouldering the baton of security on the shaky Afghan regime led by President Ashraf Ghani. The United States and the NATO allies had invaded Afghanistan twenty years back to degrade and destroy the Taliban insurgents after the group had provided a safe haven for Al Qaeda's Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of terror attacks in the US in 2001. 

The invasion has ousted the Taliban rule from Afghanistan and military and diplomatic exercises were unfolded to eliminate the extremists and establishing people's elected government in the country. However, the foreign troops had braced up a pile of setbacks in their tenure of invasion. There were more fatalities on both sides and not to forget the deaths of civilians and the US government had thrown trillions of dollars in the country only to find that they were being treated as outsiders. In what can be called a paradox, the US forces lacked support and intelligence that reminisced the Vietnam war as they had stumbled to have a clear target. 

With close to being failed in its mission of why it has started the war, the Donald Trump administration had come to the table to sketch peace in Afghanistan. The peace talks were held in the Qatari capital of Doha during which the US had agreed to pull off the troops from the Afghan table and in return, it had demanded Taliban not to attack the American forces and not to provide haven for Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Afghanistan. When Joe Biden came to power by succeeding Donald Trump, the drawdown had escalated and it has become apparent that the US has acknowledged that the war in Afghanistan is 'unwinnable'. 

Biden's defence team had worked out to expedite the pull off drive with the assertion that 'it's time for troops to come home'. The more the drawdown escalated the more the Taliban began to siege the country. By putting the big ball of eliminating the insurgents on the court of Afghan defence forces, the Biden administration took a farewell from Afghanistan and ended the two-decade war. The US Department of Defence has fixed the target as of September 11, 2021, to completely withdraw the forces from Afghanistan and it has to admitted that their least presence in their final days didn't make any implications in countering in the rise of their adversary. 

It was happy news for the Taliban, which kept the fire for two decades, as whenever the US aircraft left the country carrying the US forces, the group has advanced and captured most parts of the territory. Their pace of taking over the power was unprecedented that the Afghan government, without any key foreign support, was alone in the fight. It took only weeks time for the Taliban to take over the citadel, which was built by the US forces in two decades and shockingly, the Taliban had captured 25 of 34 provincial capitals in a short period, leaving Ashraf Ghani to consider the transition of power. 

Amid the evacuations of embassy staff and people carried out by respective countries, the Taliban had late last week taken control of Afghanistan's second-largest city - Kandahar, showing that they are marching well toward Kabul. For Ghani, there were no major options on the card other than surrendering and the government had begun talks with the Taliban for power transition when the extremists were camped 50 kilometres away from Kabul, which was on the verge of falling on the hands of the group. On Sunday, the Taliban had successfully captured Kabul and assured the citizens they will enter the city not in force and that there is no need for them to flee. 

Taliban's mission was accomplished on Sunday as the future of the Afghan people had become their past and the scenes from Kabul were incredibly chaotic that several citizens had marched towards the airport to leave the country and queued up before the banks to withdraw their savings before such institutions get fully fallen to the extremist group. Many international media had reported that the Taliban representation had held talks with Ghani in the presidential palace for securing a transition. On Sunday, the Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had confirmed that the group has entered Kabul. According to CNN, he said in a statement that the Taliban fighters have entered Kabul and called on the people not to be afraid of the extremist group. 

The developments from Afghanistan weren't in a sense of certainty and hours after the talks, it has been reported that President Ashraf Ghani had left the country as the territory has completely fallen. Afghan chairman of the High Council of Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah has said in a video statement that President Ghani has left the country and referred to the latter as the 'former president'. Abdullah had also slammed Ghani for leaving the country. He said, "The fact that the former Afghan president left the country and put the people and country in such a bad situation, God will hold him accountable and the people of Afghanistan will also judge him." The reports say that Ghani had fled to neighbouring Tajikistan. 

Abdullah said, "I request patience for you and may God help you and be with you, and that these difficult days pass and a solution is realized for the peaceful living of the Afghan people." The acting Afghan defence minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi had also slammed Ghani and other senior officials who left the country. In a tweet, he said, "They tied our hands behind our backs and sold the homeland, damn the rich man and his gang." Putting the future of the country in plight, the Taliban had taken the control of the presidential palace in Kabul after the occupant has left the country. Visuals from the palace had shown that the Taliban fighters are entering the palace and Zabihullah Mujahid further said, "Our forces are quietly entering the city, they won't bother anyone, government employees both civilian and military should be assured that no one will harm them, no Mujahid is allowed to enter people's houses or hurt or bother anyone." 

With full capture, top Taliban leaders, including the group's co-founder Mullah Baradar, had arrived in Kabul from Doha. As the Taliban gets ready to take the charge to lead the country, Afghanistan's former interior minister Ali Ahmad Jalali could be the country's next president and he will take the office after the group had formed its government. On Sunday, Jalali has arrived from Washington, where he lived and worked at the National Defence University, to Kabul as the world watches the fall of Afghanistan. The stage is set for the transition with Afghan officials acknowledging that the cycle of power now spun to the Taliban. 

As the future of Afghan people has been hanging, the country had witnessed the storm of gathering at the airport with hundreds of thousands of native and foreign people are leaving the country to evade the plight and fear that the Taliban could invoke their version of peace by dictating their laws. While the US had sent more troops in its operation of evacuating its embassy staff and its citizens, the people in support of Afghanistan had protested against the United States pulling off the forces with the placards the read 'America betrayed us' and 'Don't land us back to pre 2001'. 

On Sunday, fled Afghan president Ghani said that leaving the country was a hard choice. In a social media post hours after fleeing the country, Ghani said, "I will always continue to serve my nation through offering ideas and programs. Today, I came across a hard choice; if I should stand to face the armed Taliban who wanted to enter the palace, or leave the dear country that I dedicated my life to protecting and caring for the past twenty years." "The Taliban have made it a point to remove me, they are here to attack all Kabul and the people of Kabul. In order to avoid the flood of bloodshed, I thought it was best to get out", he added. 

On the other side of the globe, the White House had a busy Sunday as President Joe Biden and his entire national security council were watching the developments and bracing the fact of the Taliban's resurgence. CNN has reported with quoting the officials that discussions were underway among top White House advisers for how President Biden should address the crisis in Afghanistan. While Biden has been on the vacation, he has been connected with his team virtually and has been receiving briefings and it has been reported that he will also speak with some foreign leaders about the crisis, that the US should admit to being a major player. 

We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates. Global, regional and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians.

— Malala (@Malala) August 15, 2021