Taliban fighters have arrived on the outskirts of Kabul, saying they are hoping for a "peaceful transfer" of the city after agreeing not to capture it by force.
In the meantime, terrified locals rushed to depart the capital, with government personnel fleeing and helicopters arriving at the US Embassy on Sunday.
Despite receiving some air backing from the US military, the Taliban have destroyed, co-opted, or forced Afghan security forces to evacuate large sections of the country in a national onslaught that has lasted just over a week.
Because of the fall of Jalalabad, which is located near a major border crossing with Pakistan, Afghanistan's central government now only controls Kabul and a few other provincial capitals out of the country's 34.
They arrived in Kabul on Sunday.
Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, told TRT World that the rebels seek a peaceful transfer of power and a peaceful entry into the capital city, where he proclaimed a "general amnesty for all."
Reports of insurgency fighters abusing human rights were dismissed by Shaheen as "baseless" and " exaggerated" and he stated that anyone found breaking the group's policy and legislation in this area would be punished and prosecuted.
The Taliban were in the districts of Kalakan, Qarabagh, and Paghman in the capital, according to three Afghan authorities.
According to Bagram district administrator Darwaish Raufi, Afghan forces at Bagram airbase, which houses a prison with 5,000 inmates, surrendered to the Taliban. Both Taliban and Islamic State fighters were housed in the facility.
Many people have been surprised by the rapidity of the push, which has sparked questions about why Afghan forces have crumbled after years of US training and billions of dollars spent. Only a few days ago, an American military assessment predicted that the capital would be under rebel attack in a month.
Negotiations
Taliban negotiators arrived at the presidential palace on Sunday to discuss the transfer, according to an Afghan official who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
The exact date of the transfer remained unknown.
Former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the leader of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, were among the government's negotiators, according to an official. Abdullah has long been a prominent opponent of President Ashraf Ghani, who has steadfastly refused to cede power in exchange for a compromise with the Taliban.
The person, who requested anonymity to disclose the nature of the behind-closed-doors talks, described them as "tense."
In a video address, Acting Defense Minister Bismillah Khan sought to comfort the population.
“I can assure you of Kabul's security,” he stated.
Earlier, the insurgents attempted to calm the capital's residents.
The insurgents declared in a statement that "no one's life, property, or dignity will be jeopardized," and that "the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be jeopardized."
President Ashraf Ghani, who addressed the nation for the first time since the offensive began on Saturday, also looked increasingly alone.
Warlords with whom he had just days previously reached an agreement had either surrendered to the Taliban or fled, leaving Ghani with no military alternative.
While Kabul appeared to be peaceful on Sunday, some ATMs stopped dispensing cash as hundreds of people queued up in front of private banks to withdraw their life savings.
Embassies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are being evacuated in a hurry
On Sunday, the United States declared that the evacuation of its embassy in Kabul had begun, as the United Kingdom and Germany rush to evacuate their citizens from Afghanistan.
To help with the evacuation, US President Joe Biden approved the deployment of an additional 1,000 troops to Afghanistan.
Germany announced that it would move on with charter flights scheduled for the end of August to remove non-essential embassy staff in Kabul as well as Afghan assistance workers.
As the security situation in Kabul worsened, the Czech government announced on Saturday that it would withdraw its two diplomats as well as local workers from the embassy.
Jalalabad relinquishes after reaching an agreement with the elders
Militants released images of themselves in the governor's office in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, on the internet early Sunday.
According to Abrarullah Murad, a provincial politician, militants took Jalalabad after elders negotiated the fall of the administration. As the city surrendered, Murad reported there was no fighting.
The rebels took control of all of northern Afghanistan after the fall Saturday of Mazar-e-Sharif, the country's fourth-largest city, which Afghan soldiers and two prominent former warlords had sworn to defend.
Two of the warlords Ghani tried to gather to his side days earlier, Atta Mohammad Noor and Abdul Rashid Dostum, fled across the border into Uzbekistan on Saturday, according to officials close to Dostum.
They talked on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his movements publicly.
Noor said, without explaining, that a "conspiracy" supported the Taliban's takeover of the north.
“Unfortunately, despite our tenacious resistance, all government and Afghan security forces equipment was handed over to the Taliban as part of a large-scale, well-organized, and cowardly plot,” Noor wrote. “They plotted to capture Marshal Dostum and me as well, but they were unsuccessful.”
