Afghanistan, 2021 — rebel coup

Event Summary

On 15 August 2021 the Taliban captured Kabul and the Western-backed Afghan government collapsed as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, ending nearly 20 years of the republic established after the 2001 US led invasion. The fall came at the end of a rapid Taliban offensive that accelerated as the United States and NATO completed their withdrawal under a 2020 US-Taliban agreement. Provincial capitals fell one after another over the summer, far faster than US intelligence had predicted, as the Afghan National Security Forces, despite years of American training and tens of billions of dollars in funding, largely collapsed or surrendered without a fight.

On 15 August Taliban fighters entered Kabul with little resistance. Ghani left the country that day, flying out as the insurgents reached the capital, a departure many Afghans condemned as abandonment; he later said he left to avoid bloodshed. The government dissolved, the Afghan flag came down, and the Taliban took control of the presidential palace, reestablishing the Islamic Emirate they had run before 2001.

The collapse set off a chaotic evacuation at Kabul airport, where desperate Afghans crowded the runway and clung to departing US military planes, and a suicide bombing days later killed scores, including 13 US service members.