Taliban takeover: At last, Afghan President, Ghani, opens up

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaking from exile in the United Arab Emirates, said on Wednesday that he had left Kabul to prevent bloodshed and denied reports he took large sums of money with him as he departed the presidential palace.

Anti-Taliban protests in the eastern city of Jalalabad over the removal of the Afghan flag have now spread elsewhere in Afghanistan.

In Jalalabad, at least three people have been reportedly killed and a dozen others wounded after shots fired at protest against removal of Afghan flag by Taliban.

Meanwhile, planes carrying hundreds of evacuees from Kabul have arrived in the United Kingdom and Germany as Western nations stepped up evacuation efforts.

(Aljazeera)