KABUL, 17 August 2021, (TON): The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul while Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at the airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.

President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday as fighters from the group entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed, while hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave flooded Kabul airport.

Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told media "today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years."

"Thanks to God, the war is over in the country."

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as government forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.

Naeem said “the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.”

He said “we have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people. We will not allow anyone to use our lands to target anyone, and we do not want to harm others."

A Taliban leader told media “the fighters were regrouping from different provinces and would wait until foreign forces had left before creating a new governance structure.”