US goes for a full embassy withdrawal as the Taliban close in on Kabul

The United States is reportedly removing all of its staff from the embassy in Kabul in the next 72 hours and closing the embassy as the Taliban appear to capture the seat of the central government.

American sources who are privy to the matter told CNN on Sunday the embassy’s staff will go to the Kabul airport to travel back to the United States as the Taliban close in on Kabul.

The sources added that only a small number of the staff will stay at the Kabul airport. This means that the American embassy in Afghanistan would be closed by Tuesday.

US diplomats were evacuated from the embassy by chopper after a lightning advance by the Taliban militants, who entered Kabul on Sunday and said they expected to take power within days. The group saying that they are waiting for a peaceful transfer of power.

A senior Afghan interior ministry official told ReutersTaliban fighters were reaching the capital “from all sides.”

The Taliban are reportedly poised to run Afghanistan again 20 years after they were removed from power by American forces following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States,

The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will evacuate all but a “core” staff from the American Embassy in Kabul. But at the end it was forced to remove the entire staff.

Earlier, the US embassy in Kabul directed its staff to destroy sensitive documents and computers as well as other material that could be used against the United States, according to American media outlets.

The directive was given in a memo written for staff at the US embassy in Kabul and shared with NPR on the condition of anonymity.

The memo called on diplomats to destroy computers and other sensitive documents before they leave, as well as items featuring the American flag, embassy logos, and other articles that “could be misused in propaganda efforts,” CNN reported.

The Pentagon announced this week it was deploying 3,000 American troops to Afghanistan to evacuate most of the embassy personnel from Kabul, leaving only “a core diplomatic presence” in the country.