Downing Street said that Oris Johnson is holding a meeting of the government’s Cobra Emergency Committee to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
At the same time, Labour Party leader Sir Kil Starmer called on the government not to “keep silent when Afghanistan collapses.”
He said in a statement: “The situation in Afghanistan is deeply shocking and seems to be getting worse every moment.
“The immediate priority must be to get all British personnel and support personnel to leave Kabul safely.
“When Afghanistan collapsed, the government remained silent, which obviously will have an impact on our people in the UK.
“We need to reconvene the parliament so that the government can inform members of Congress how it plans to work with allies to avoid a humanitarian crisis and return to the days when Afghanistan was a base for extremists. The purpose is to threaten our interests, values, and national security.”
A senior official told Reuters that the Taliban came in “from all directions,” but did not provide more details.
A tweet from the account of the Afghan Presidential Palace stated that fires were heard in multiple locations around Kabul, but the security forces coordinated with international partners to take control of the city.
US officials said that diplomats were being transported to the airport from the embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district. After the Taliban’s lightning advancement brought the Islamic organization to Kabul within a few days, more American troops were sent to help with the evacuation.
Earlier on Sunday, the insurgents occupied the eastern city of Jalalabad without fighting, giving them control of one of the main highways to inland Afghanistan. They also took over the nearby Tolkam border post with Pakistan, making Kabul Airport the only way to leave Afghanistan but still controlled by the government.
