MSNBC’s Tehran bureau chief Ali Arouzi reported Sunday on the “The Mehdi Hasan Show” that the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan had been “relatively peaceful” as Americans were evacuating the chaos in helicopters.
Arouzi said, “The country is essentially now in the hands of the Taliban for all intents and purposes. They’ve taken over Kabul. The president, or should I right now say the former president of Afghanistan, has fled the country. The Taliban has taken over the presidential palace. They’ve renamed the country the Islamic Emirates, they’ve taken down the Afghan flag, and hoisted up their own colors. And it’s been a relatively peaceful if you like, process.”
He added, “They haven’t had to fire a lot of shots. There hasn’t been a lot of bloodshed in Kabul. It was a pretty straightforward takeover for them. They’ve also taken over the airport. There’s been reports of shots fired at the airport, and Taliban fighters are all over the place. But they’re not in any sort of clashes with US personnel. Although commercial flights have so far been suspended, military evacuation flights are still taking place. And I think from what we understand right now, most of the US personnel are at the airport now, trying to get on to various evacuation flights out of the country, with very few security personnel left at the embassy, burning what’s left of sensitive paperwork.”
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