Kabul’s Former ‘Green Zone’ Abandoned As Diplomats Flee

Kabul’s former diplomatic quarter fell silent on Monday as foreign missions were moved to the airport, leaving Taliban patrols in control of the fortified zone of concrete blast walls and checkpoints known as the Green Zone.

With police and security contractors who once guarded the embassies in the Wazir Akbar Khan district now gone, some motorists were forced to get out of their cars and lift security barriers themselves before driving through.

A couple of streets away from the now-deserted British embassy, a Taliban patrol went into the compound of Tolo News, Afghanistan’s largest private broadcaster which lost several journalists to Taliban attacks over the years.

Elsewhere in the city, there was a mood of shocked fear among many former government employees and civil rights activists, caught completely by surprise by the lightning seizure of the city and the flight of President Ashraf Ghani.

The victorious insurgents have promised not to carry out retribution against former government workers and a Taliban leader said his fighters had been “ordered to allow Afghans to resume daily activities and do nothing to scare civilians.”