Fear, betrayal, confusion: Afghans grapple with new reality as Taliban take over

Kabul’s residents face uncertain future as insurgents sweep to power

Afghan women, holding placards, gather to demand the protection of women's rights in front of the Presidential Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan.

A person holds the flag of Afghanistan during a protest against support for the Taliban, in Berlin, Germany.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks at his first news conference in Kabul.

Taliban fighters stand guard outside the Green Zone where most of the embassies are situated.

Afghan security forces patrol on humvee vehicle along a road in Bazarak town of Panjshir province.

Schoolgirls sit in a schoolyard in Herat.

Afghans wait outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country.

A Taliban fighter raises their flag on a vehicle as they patrol in Kandahar.

French citizens and their Afghan colleagues wait to board a French military transport plane at the airport in Kabul after the Taliban's stunning military takeover of the Afghanistan.

French soldiers at the airport in Kabul as they arrive to help French citizens and their Afghan colleagues to flee after the Taliban takeover.

A US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft filled with about 640 Afghans fleeing to Qatar from Kabul, Afghanistan.

Crowds on the tarmac of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Several people were reportedly killed at the airport on August 16 as Afghans tried to hang on to a moving US military plane leaving the airport.

A satellite photo shows swarms of people on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport, also known as Hamid Karzai International Airport. Afghans rushed on to the tarmac of the capital's airport on Monday as thousands tried to flee the country after the Taliban seized power with stunning speed.

A traffic jam outside Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan after Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar declared victory and an end to the decades-long war in the country. President Ashraf Ghani fled and conceded that the insurgents had won the 20-year war.

Qari Muhammad Hanif, centre, director of the Taliban's cultural and Information department, talks to journalists in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Humvee vehicles from the Afghan Security Forces in Panjshir province, Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans rushed to Hamid Karzai International Airport in an attempt to flee the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Afghans on the tarmac at Kabul airport in Kabul after a swift end to the 20-year war in the country. Thousands of people mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's rule.

A US soldier keeps close watch on Afghan passengers at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul. Thousands of people packed the airport trying to flee Taliban rule.

Passengers sit inside a plane as they wait to leave the runway of Kabul after the stunningly swift end of Afghanistan’s 20-year war.

People climb on top of a plane in Kabul.

People try to enter Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

People cross the boundary wall of Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country after rumours that foreign countries were removing people even without visas.

Taliban fighters stand guard along a roadside near Zanbaq Square in Kabul.

A Taliban fighter sits on his motorcycle by a road in Shahr-e Naw, Kabul.

Talibs patrol the streets of Kabul as the militants take control of Afghanistan. after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Afghans gather on the asphalt at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul.

Afghans gather by the runway in Kabul as US soldiers stand guard.

Taliban fighters on a police vehicle outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Baradar Akhund, a senior official of the Taliban, with a group of men, makes a video statement.

Taliban fighters take control of the presidential palace in Kabul, after Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Passengers from Kabul arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India.

Families on a motorway trying to flee Kabul.

Afghan security forces on patrol in Kabul.

People line up outside Azizi Bank to withdraw cash during a run on deposits.

Taliban fighters use a captured Afghan security forces vehicle at a checkpoint in Herat.

Ahmadullah Muttaqi, centre left, the Taliban's director for information and culture, addresses journalists.

Police officers conduct their duties after the Taliban took control of Kandahar.

People prepare to cross into Afghanistan, at Pakistan's Chaman border. Pakistani authorities reopened the border with Afghanistan on August 13 after it had been closed for several days.

Afghans wait in long lines for hours to get visas at the Iranian embassy, in Kabul.

Taliban fighters patrol after taking control of Jalalabad.

Smoke rises near the US embassy in Kabul. Taliban fighters reached the outskirts of the Afghan capital on Sunday.

Anti-missile decoy flares are used by US Black Hawk military helicopters, while a surveillance blimp flies over Kabul.

An Afghan soldier keeps watch on a street in Kabul.

Taliban fighters and local people gather in Jalalabad province, east of Kabul.

Taliban fighters sit on an Afghan Army Humvee in Jalalabad province.

Taliban fighters travel along a street in Jalalabad province.

A US Chinook military helicopter flies over the US embassy in Kabul.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters gather in eastern Laghman province.

Militants wave a Taliban flag from the back of a pickup truck in Jalalabad.

Taliban fighters drive through the streets of Laghman province.

People head to the departures area of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as the Taliban approach the city.

A man sells Taliban flags in western province Herat.

Taliban fighters travel in an Afghan Army vehicle in Herat.

Taliban forces patrol a street in Herat.

Taliban militants raise their flag as they gather a day after taking control of key southern city Kandahar.

Members of the Afghan security forces stand guard along the roadside in Panjshir province.

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani and acting defence minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi visit a military site in Kabul.

Internally displaced families from northern provinces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Families that fled their homes because of fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces take shelter in a public park in Kabul.

Many of those seeking safety in Kabul have been sleeping on the streets.

Thousands of those internally displaced have been arriving in Kabul.

Afghans have been waiting for hours in long queues outside the passport office in Kabul, with many people desperate to leave the country.

Follow the latest updates on Afghanistan here

Kabul was engulfed by panic and an eerie confusion on Monday as residents began to grapple with a new reality after the Taliban swept into the Afghan capital.

With armed militants roaming the streets and entering the presidential palace, hoisting white flags and sending the republic’s president and his allies into exile, many feared for their lives and were either hiding in their homes or raced for the airport in hope of escape.

Yet other parts of daily life continued as usual. Some shops and bakeries remained open and people, though far fewer in number than normal, ventured out into the streets to shop and make sense of the Taliban takeover.

“Their faces are scary,” said a journalist who had ventured out briefly, referring to the fighters patrolling the city. He asked to not be identified.

On Sunday night, carrying weapons and rocket launchers, Taliban fighters entered homes and office buildings – including those in the previously fortified Green Zone – registering residents, confiscating cars and taking the keys to armoured vehicles.

Fears quickly mounted that government employees and Afghans affiliated with international organisations could become targets.

“We are afraid of being killed by the Taliban, of them taking revenge. We have seen their brutality in the past and we can’t be fooled,” a government employee who asked to remain anonymous told The National. “I’m exhausting all my options to obtain a visa.”

She said the destination didn’t matter.

“Away. I just want to be away from it all, away from the horror and panic. The Taliban might have entered with little fighting, but they will show us their real face again – a face we have seen in the past. They will rob our freedom, our happiness.”

Few Afghans have the chance to leave. Fewer have visas to third countries and many fear the return of the brutal regime that ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and the US-led invasion in 2001.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tried to assure residents that “the situation in Kabul is under control”. He said no one would be allowed to enter the homes of former officials, threaten them or demand their cars.

But many Afghans say the discrepancy between official Taliban announcements and ground reality is vast.

At a UN compound on the eastern outskirts of the city, Taliban militants have set up a guard post and on Monday began demanding food and weapons.

While US transport planes landed and took off at Hamid Karzai International Airport – mainly to fly foreigners to safety – evacuations were stopped later in the day as hundreds of people stormed the airport and ran on to the runway, desperate to escape a future that they had always feared.

Usually traffic-jammed and packed with vendors, pedestrians and armoured vehicles owned by the government or aid groups, Kabul’s roads have been much quieter – though not empty. Residents report feeling “relatively safe for now” among the chaos, but admit to a deep-seated panic over what lies ahead.

In some parts of the city, advertisements showing unveiled women have been painted over.

“I am scared and don’t think I am safe. We feel abandoned by our president,” said Massoud Niaz, 37, a driver and father of three.

“I’m angry at our leaders and the international community. They have all deserted us and we are left here to die.”

Mr Niaz previously worked as a mechanic for US forces, but his application for a special immigrant visa was rejected. Since yesterday’s takeover, he has been hiding in a relative’s home.

“My children are still young – only in elementary school – but they understand full well what’s unfolding. They are crying and begging me not to go outside,” he said. He explained he had switched his jeans and T-shirt for traditional Afghan clothes – a long tunic and loose cotton trousers – a style he had rarely worn previously.

“Everyone else has done the same. You won’t see men and women wearing modern clothes any more. It’s like we’ve gone back two decades.”

The city’s parks remain full of displaced families, many of whom have fled previous Taliban offences on the northern cities of Kunduz and Mazar-i-Sharif. Others now say they would rather be at home, but hope to eventually leave the country.

Nasser Ahmadi, 31, a vendor in Kabul’s Shar-e-Naw district, said he had decided to go to his shop today as usual.

“That’s where I met them,” he said of the Taliban. “They came to my shop and told me everything will be under control – under their control. They said it won’t be dangerous any more.”

Ahmadi had wanted to flee Afghanistan for a while, hoping to set up a small business in neighbouring Pakistan. But he struggled to save enough money for the move.

“Now it’s too late,” he said. “We’ve been abandoned and the Taliban is our future. Today, the city is tense. What will tomorrow bring?”