Pentagon prepares to possibly evacuate embassy in Kabul

The United States is reportedly planning to partly evacuate its embassy in Afghanistan as the Taliban make rapid gains across the war-torn country.

Officials said Thursday that the Pentagon is moving thousands of Marines into position to prepare for a possible evacuation of the US embassy, according to The New York Times.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday that the drawdown of an unspecified number of civilians among the nearly 4,000 embassy personnel, including around 1,400 American citizens, would take place over the coming days.

"We've been evaluating the security situation every day to determine how best to keep those serving at the embassy safe," Price told reporters. "Accordingly, we are further reducing our civilian footprints in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation."

“We expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan in the coming weeks," he said, but added that “the embassy remains open.”

Price said more US troops would be sent to the airport in Kabul to help with the movement of embassy staff.

Meanwhile, the US embassy, in its latest warning on Thursday, urged Americans to “leave Afghanistan immediately using available commercial flight options.”

This comes as a new US military assessment on Thursday said the Taliban could isolate Kabul in 30 days and potentially take it over in 90 days.

Ninth provincial capital falls to Taliban as thousands flee northern Afghanistan

The Taliban have captured another provincial capital in the northern Afghanistan, taking the number of cities they have seized since Friday to nine.

Also on Thursday, the Taliban took over Herat, Afghanistan's third-largest city, and seized another district capital just 150 kilometers from Kabul. Unconfirmed reports much of the city of Kandahar has also fallen to the militants.

Earlier on the day, the Taliban took control of Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name, about 130 km southwest of capital Kabul.

The militants seized key government offices, including that of the governor's office and the police headquarters. They also broke into the province's central prison.

Fighting between the Taliban militants and Afghan government forces has significantly soared since May, when the US-led troops started withdrawing from the country.

The military mission in Afghanistan is set to end on Aug. 31, and around 650 troops remain in the country to protect the airport and embassy.

The United States has been withdrawing forces from Afghanistan in a hasty plan devised after two decades of war and occupation. The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan ousted the Taliban from power, but it worsened the security situation in the country and the militants got even stronger.

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