KABUL: The US Embassy in Kabul has suspended all operations and told Americans to shelter in place, saying it has received reports of gunfire at the international airport.
The US is racing to airlift diplomats and citizens out of Afghanistan after the Taliban overran most of the country and entered the capital early Sunday.
"The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly and the situation at the airport is deteriorating rapidly," the embassy said in a statement.
"There are reports of the airport taking fire and we are instructing US citizens to shelter in place. The US Embassy in Afghanistan has suspended consular operations effective immediately. Do not come to the Embassy or airport at this time."
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is evacuating remaining staff at the U.S.Embassy in Kabul as the Taliban enter the Afghan capital.
But he is playing down America's hasty exit, saying "this is manifestly not Saigon."
Speaking on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Blinken said: "The compound itself, our folks are leaving there, and moving to the airport. Blinken also confirmed that U.S. Embassy workers were destroying documents and other items ahead of fleeing the embassy, but insisted "this is being done in a very deliberate way, it's being done in an orderly way, and it's being done with American forces there to make sure we can do it in a safe way."
The evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul had U.S. military helicopters lifting off from embassy grounds Sunday, and sent puffs of black smoke up into the skies over Kabul as U. S. officials worked to keep sensitive material from falling in Taliban hands.
The scene comes after President Joe Biden earlier this year played down any idea that the Taliban could capture the country, or that the Afghanistan war would end up in scenes reminiscent of the Vietnam one, with military helicopters taking off from embassy rooftops.
Blinken defended Biden's decision to end the nearly 20-year U.S. military mission in Afghanistan, saying Biden's hands were tied by a withdrawal deal President Donald Trump struck with the Taliban in 2020.
If Biden had called off the withdrawal, "we would have been back at the war with the Taliban," and forced to surge tens of thousands of American forces back into Afghanistan, Blinken said.
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