Helicopters land at US Embassy in Kabul amid Taliban advance!-The Taliban on Sunday seized the last major city outside of Kabul held by the country's

KABUL: The Taliban raced closer to a complete military takeover of Afghanistan on Sunday after capturing more major cities, leaving only the isolated capital Kabul for them to conquer. Stay tuned for more updates.

12:20
Uzbekistan says 84 Afghan soldiers cross border fleeing Taliban

Uzbekistan said Sunday that 84 Afghan soldiers crossed into Uzbekistan on the same day the Taliban seized Afghanistan's fourth-largest city and said its government had offered humanitarian assistance to Kabul's troops.

The Central Asian country said border troops had arrested the "violators of the state border" and that authorities held "talks with the Afghan side" about their return to Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan provided the detained Afghan soldiers with food, temporary accommodation and medical treatment, the Uzbek foreign ministry said in a statement.

12:09
Helicopters land at US Embassy in Kabul amid Taliban advance

The Taliban on Sunday seized the last major city outside of Kabul held by the country's increasingly isolated central government, cutting off the capital to the east as helicopters began landing at the US Embassy there.

The collapse of Jalalabad, near a major border crossing with Pakistan, leaves Afghanistan's central government in control of just Kabul and seven other provincial capitals out of the country's 34.

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 swathes of the country, even with some air support by the US military.

12:09
As a Taliban offensive encircles the Afghan capital, there's increasingly only one way out for those fleeing the war, and only one way in for U.S. troops sent to protect American diplomats still on the ground: the airport.

11:39
Taliban fighters drive an Afghan National Army (ANA) vehicle through the streets of Laghman province.

11:25
Massive set back for Ghani amid Taliban assault

The loss of Mazar-i-Sharif and Jalalabad are huge back-to-back blows for Ghani and his government.

It left the Taliban -- who have fighters less than an hour's drive from Kabul -- holding all the cards in any negotiated surrender of the capital.

President Joe Biden ordered the deployment of an additional 1,000 US troops to help secure the emergency evacuation from Kabul of embassy employees and thousands of Afghans who worked for American forces and now fear Taliban reprisals.

That was on top of the 3,000 American soldiers deployed in recent days, and 1,000 left in-country after Biden announced in May that the final withdrawal of the 20-year military presence in Afghanistan would be completed by September 11.

11:10
Frontline of fear: Afghan teen press-ganged by the Taliban

Hours after the Taliban overran his hometown in northern Afghanistan last week, 17-year-old Abdullah was forced to ferry rocket-propelled grenades up a nearby hill -- an unwilling and terrified insurgent recruit.

10:24
US begins evacuating embassy in Kabul: Officials

The United States has started evacuating diplomats from its embassy in Kabul, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Sunday.

"We have a small batch of people leaving now as we speak, a majority of the staff are ready to leave...the embassy continues to function," one of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

It had been expected that the evacuation of most diplomats would begin on Sunday, as Taliban insurgents continued lightning advances that brought the Islamist group to the door of Kabul in a matter of days.

09:46
Taliban race closer to complete Afghan takeover

The Taliban raced closer to a complete military takeover of Afghanistan on Sunday after capturing more major cities, leaving only the isolated capital Kabul for them to conquer.

The insurgents took control of the key eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday, just hours after the seizing the northern anti-Taliban bastion of Mazar-i-Sharif -- furthering an astonishing rout of government forces and warlord militias achieved in just 10 days.

09:43
Timeline: The Taliban's sweeping offensive in Afghanistan

The Taliban have taken more than a quarter of Afghanistan's 34 provincial capitals in less than a week as US-led foreign forces pull out of the country.

09:43
Donald Trump accuses Joe Biden of failing Afghan policy

Former US president Donald Trump has slammed his successor President Joe Biden and accused him of failing on Afghan policy as the Taliban continued to capture cities and provinces in the war-torn country.

09:43
Taliban take Afghanistan's Jalalabad city without a fight

The Taliban took control of Afghanistan's key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight on Sunday morning, securing the roads connecting the country to Pakistan, officials said.

09:42
Taliban sweep in Afghanistan follows years of US miscalculations

President Joe Biden's top advisers concede they were stunned by the rapid collapse of the Afghan army in the face of an aggressive, well-planned offensive by the Taliban that now threatens Kabul, Afghanistan's capital.