Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to step down soon as Taliban fighters entered Afghan capital city of Kabul on Sunday and said they were awaiting a peaceful transfer of the city after promising not to take it by force.
Afghan officials told news agency AP that the Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh and Paghman in the capital.
Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is likely to be the new president of Afghanistan. According to a Reuters report, Baradar, deputy leader of Taliban, is heading to Kabul from Doha.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said the was in talks with the government for a peaceful surrender of Kabul."Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," a statement from the Taliban stated.
Power would be handed over to a transitional administration, the government's acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, said. Mirzakawal said the transition will happen peacefully and Kabul will not be attacked.
The Taliban had said no one's life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk.
Earlier, Ghani had said he wanted to prevent further bloodshed. "I will not let the imposed war on people cause more deaths," he was quoted as saying.
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 though they had some air support from the US military.
—With inputs from agencies
