Kabul-- 21st Century Saigon?

Taliban insurgents have now entered Afghanistan's capital Kabul and an official said President Ashraf Ghani had left the city for Tajikistan, following the militant Islamist group's lighting sweep across Afghanistan that led back to the capital two decades after it was overthrown by U.S.-led forces.  Local social media users branded Ghani a "coward" for leaving them in chaos.

Hundreds of Afghans, government ministers, government employees and other civilians (including many women and children) crowded in the terminal desperately waiting for flights out.  "The airport is out of control... the (Afghan) government just sold us out," said an official at the scene who declined to be named.  Before the day was out, all commercial flights out of Kabul's International Airport were suspended, according to a Nato official.  Only military aircraft are now operating.

American diplomats were evacuated from their embassy by helicopter to the airport as local Afghan forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others for billions of dollars, melted away.

The Ghani government's acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, said power would be handed over to a transitional administration. "There won't be an attack on the city, it is agreed that there will be a peaceful handover," he tweeted.

However, two officials from the Taliban told Reuters there would be no transitional government and the Taliban said earlier it was waiting for the Western-backed government to surrender peacefully. "Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.  

Insurgents entered the presidential palace and took control of it, two senior Taliban commanders in Kabul said.   Many of Kabul's streets were choked by cars and people either trying to rush home or reach the airport, residents said.  "Some people have left their keys in the car and have started walking to the airport," one resident told Reuters. Another said: "People are all going home in fear of fighting."

Refugees from Taliban-controlled provinces who had traveled to Kabul were seen unloading belongings from taxis and families stood outside embassy gates, while the city's downtown was packed with people stocking up on supplies.

 U.S. troops from outside the country were still arriving at the Kabul airport, amid concern heavily armed Afghan security contractors could "mutiny" because they have not been assured Washington is committed to evacuating them, a person familiar with the issue said.  Asked if images of helicopters ferrying personnel were evocative of the United States’ departure from Vietnam in 1975, Blinken told ABC news: "Let's take a step back. This is manifestly not Saigon."  

U.S. media are broadcasting images of smoke rising from the U.S. embassy grounds.  "The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport. There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place," a U.S. Embassy security alert said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said today that the embassy was being moved to the airport and that they have a list of people to get out of harm's way.