ONE PIC IS SAIGON ONE PIC IS KABUL. BRING BACK WARM FUZZY MEMORIES?
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A stunning new Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today first noting that Taliban forces had encircled the Afghan capital city of Kabul after capturing every other major city in the country, says the Afghan Interior Ministry announced this morning that Taliban forces have now begun entering Kabul—an announcement quickly followed by Afghan 1TV television reporting that representatives of the Taliban movement are negotiating with the Afghan government on a peaceful entry in Kabul.
Ministry of Defense (MoD) bulletins being reviewed by Security Council Members in this transcript confirm that Taliban forces launched a major assault on Kabul from all sides this morning, which comes after them having already taken control of all of Afghanistan's border crossings, leaving the Kabul Airport as the only route out of the country—sees the Taliban saying it has instructed its fighters to refrain from violence in the capital and allow safe passage to those who choose to leave the city, and in a statement claim they have no plans of taking the capital by force—while a Taliban spokesman says they have started talks with the Afghan government on the “peaceful surrender” of Kabul.
Security Council Members in this transcript note that the lightning speed of events now occurring now include reports that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is preparing to step down in a few hours and that former Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali will be appointed head of the Afghan Transitional Government—reports coming at the same time Taliban representatives arrived at the Presidential Palace to begin surrender negotiations—quickly after which Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov informed the Kremlin that the Taliban vowed to ensure not only the Russian Embassy's security, but of all foreign diplomatic missions.
Upon receiving this vow, this transcript sees Security Council Members agreeing to keep the Russian Embassy in Kabul open—though the British government announced that its ambassador will be airlifted from Afghanistan by Monday evening—saw Iranian officials saying its embassy in Kabul would be evacuated by Monday—and from the American Embassy in Kabul, this morning sees white smoke billowing from it as secret documents are shredded and burned while US military helicopters evacuate its personnel—a scene of panic and terror that echoes the American evacuation from its embassy in Saigon when it lost the Vietnam War.