Kandahar Falling News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Story. the pentagon says 4,000 people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours. but thousands upon thousands are still awaiting their escape to freedom. tonight we learned that president biden will again address the nation tomorrow. it will be his third time in a week. one of the first people to flee afghanistan as the taliban took over was the country's now former president. cnn's nick paton walsh got an exclusive inside look at ashraf ghani's chaotic final days in power. >> reporter: they were the final days of the afghan government. kandahar falling. kabul on the edge. and then suddenly, ...

C kanis are the affiliates here. the reason america came into afghanistan were the people who actually told the government they were trying to support to get out. here's what we found out. >> reporter: they were the final days of the afghan government. kandahar falling. kabul on the edge. and then suddenly, the taliban in the presidential palace, now a former senior ghani administration official has given cnn for the first time their detailed account of what happened. before the president, the official said, fled to uzbekistan for one night and on to dubai where he is now. there was no money w...

Ghani, you have done some great reporting on exactly what went on behind the scenes as he fled the country. take us through this story. >> reporter: it was a shock really because the whole american plan rested on ashraf ghani not running. and that's what he did. now, i spoke to a former-senior official -- um -- and i got a pretty detailed account of the final days' thinking. and it does essentially appear that the kind of final warning, the final demand for surrender to the ghani administration came to his national security adviser from a man who is essentially part of an al qaeda affiliate. t...

That took place before he fled the country, including the role of an al qaeda affiliated character in all of this. >> reporter: yeah, it is utterly startling. so many people have been asking what happened when the president disappeared without notice. he told me one thing i will never be able to forget. halil hakani, a negotiator for the taliban, they are affiliated with al qaeda, he is the guy who went to the afghan government's national security adviser and said, you guys have to surrender. you have to hand over the reins of power peacefully and hours later, that's what they did. here's what...

Completely drawdown its u.s. forces. and the administration has admitted that the timing here has really surprise everybody. that the taliban really gained ground here in this country faster than anybody expected. >> it really has been lightning speed. how quickly they have taken over city after city. just today we are talking about kandahar falling. hours later, jalalabad. one of the biggest cities i think, as well. and just a few hours ago, they surrounded the city of kabul. but decided instead, that they weren't going to take the city by force. but in said they wanted to negotiate some sort...