Afghan President flees the country as Taliban enter capital

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani has left the country and Taliban insurgents claim to have seized the presidential palace in Kabul.

It was not yet clear where Ghani was headed or how power would be transferred following the militant Islamist group's lightning sweep across Afghanistan that led back to the capital two decades after it was overthrown by US-led forces.

A US Embassy security alert said there are reports of the airport taking fire and they have instructed US citizens to shelter in place.

Hundreds of Afghans, some of them government ministers and government employees and also other civilians including many women and children have crowded the Airport terminal desperately waiting for flights out.

The BBC reports Vice-president Amrullah Saleh is also reported to have fled

American diplomats were evacuated from their embassy by helicopter to the airport as local Afghan forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others for billions of dollars could not do anything.

[Source:  BBC / Reuters]