Jones said that people in Kabul were stocking up on basic foods and trying to send their money out of the country or convert it to US dollars before it became worthless.
“I think that’s pretty much the whole topic of conversation these days - how to leave. If you look at the passport office in Kabul,I mean it’s like a football stadium - the amount of people there that are frantically trying to get passports.”
Jones was planning to leave Kabul on Friday after his organisation recalled him to Bangladesh for his safety,but hopes to return. “We’ll wait and see.”
A strategic loss
The Kandahar airfield was one of the main bases housing US and NATO forces before it was handed over to Afghan security forces in May.
Most of the US troops will be sent to the Karzai International Airport in Kabul to help evacuate staff from the American embassy,a move that highlights the rapidly deteriorating situation on the ground for the US-trained Afghan forces.
The US embassy in Kabul issued its second alert in less than a week urging American citizens to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options”.
The Indian government has urged all its nationals to leave Afghanistan immediately because it expects commercial flights to soon stop leaving the country.
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said a “core” diplomatic staff would remain at the embassy to continue their diplomatic and consular work.
He said the US will also accelerate the departure of Afghans who havepreviously worked with the US government and have applied for asylum in the United States.
“The embassy remains open,” Price said at a briefing on Friday (AEST). “This is not abandonment. This is not an evacuation. This is not a wholesale withdrawal.”
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the additional troops are expected to be deployed within 24 to 48 hours.
Earlier this week Kirby said of the Afghan security forces that Afghanistan is “their country to defend now;this is their struggle”.
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Many commentators saw echoes of the speedy Communist capture of South Vietnam following the evacuation of US civilian and military personnel from Saigon in 1975.
“I never liked the Saigon analogies with Afghanistan,” Michael Kugelman,an expert in South Asia at the Wilson Centre,said on Twitter.
“For one thing,US forces aren’t under fire as they withdraw. But events of the last 24 hours,and the prospect of US diplomatic evacuations as Taliban draws closer to Kabul,bring Saigon to mind.”
US President Joe Biden has insisted he will not budge from his plan to withdraw all US troops by August despite the possibility of a speedy Taliban takeover of the country.
“I do not regret my decision,” Biden said earlier this week. “We spent over a trillion dollars,over 20 years. We trained and equipped with modern equipment over 300,000 Afghan forces...they’ve got to fight for themselves.”
The US secretaries of state and defence spoke to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and told him the United States “remains invested in the security and stability of Afghanistan” in the face of Taliban violence,the State Department said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ghani that Washington was reducing its civilian footprint in Kabul given the “evolving security situation” and would increase the tempo of Special Immigration Visa flights for Afghans who helped the US effort in the country,the statement said.
They also said the United States remains committed to maintaining a strong diplomatic and security relationship with the Afghan government,it said.
The United Nations has warned that a Taliban offensive reaching the capital would have a “catastrophic impact on civilians” but there is little hope for negotiations to end the fighting with the Taliban apparently set on a military victory.
In the deal struck with former US President Donald Trump’s administration last year,the insurgents agreed not to attack U.S.-led foreign forces as they withdrew.
They also made a commitment to discuss peace but intermittent meetings with government representatives have proved fruitless. International envoys to Afghan negotiations in Qatar called for an accelerated peace process as a “matter of great urgency” and for a halt to attacks on cities.
A Taliban spokesman told Al Jazeera:“We will not close the door to the political track.”
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said this week the Taliban had refused to negotiate unless Ghani resigned. Many people on both sides would view that as tantamount to the government’s surrender,leaving little to discuss but terms.
The UN Security Council was discussing a draft statement that would condemn the Taliban attacks,threaten sanctions,and affirm the non-recognition of an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,diplomats said.