In a second security alert within a week, Washington’s embassy in Kabul calls on US citizens to leave as soon as possible.
The US embassy in Kabul has urged American citizens to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible amid the Taliban’s advance against government forces throughout the country.
The embassy issued on Thursday the second security alert within a week calling on Americans to get out of the country.
“The US Embassy urges US citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options,” it said in a statement.
The alert included instructions to contact the embassy for those who cannot afford a flight or are waiting for a child or a spouse to get their visa to leave Afghanistan. It also warned that the embassy’s capacity to aid US citizens is “extremely limited”.
“The US Embassy reminds US citizens that on April 27, 2021, the Department of State ordered the departure from US Embassy Kabul of US government employees whose functions can be performed elsewhere due to increasing violence and threat reports in Kabul,” it said.
The embassy added that while evacuation flights may be announced in the future, US citizens should not wait for them.
“The embassy reiterates that US citizens should leave Afghanistan as soon as possible using available commercial transportation and not plan to rely on US government flights,” the alert said. The statement mirrors warnings in a previous security alert released on Saturday urging Americans to leave.
Earlier on Thursday, the Taliban continued its sweeping military advance, capturing the capital of Ghazni province, about 150km (80 miles) southwest of Kabul – the 10th provincial capital taken by the group in a week.
The group is also closing in on Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city, as fighting intensifies.
On Wednesday, US officials cited an intelligence assessment predicting that the capital Kabul could fall to Taliban fighters in 90 days with the last US combat troops set to withdraw from the country by the end of August.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price also defended Washington’s record in the war-torn country at a press briefing on Wednesday. He said the US is working “more than any country to try to bring stability, security, and ultimately prosperity to the people of Afghanistan”.
A US-led international coalition invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in response to the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. The Taliban, which controlled Kabul at the time, had harboured Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda.
American and allied forces swiftly took control of Kabul and other major cities, but struggled during the following 20 years to defeat a rebellion by Taliban fighters.
As the US pulls its forces out of the country, Price called on Afghans to resolve the crisis through diplomacy.
An Afghan official told Al Jazeera on Thursday that the government in Kabul proposed an agreement to share power with the Taliban in exchange for halting the violence.