Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday after taking over prominent cities such as Khost, Kandahar and Herat. The group, led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, held talks with members of the civilian government at the Afghan Presidential Palace, following which President Ashraf Ghani reportedly stepped down from his post. 

Also Read: How the Taliban seized, lost and regained Afghanistan

Here’s how the world reacted to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan – 

United States 

In a tweet on Saturday, hours before Taliban entered Kabul, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying, “One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country. And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”

Also Read: Afghanistan coup: 10 points to know

European Union

EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said in a tweet, “If there is one thing that the situation in Afghanistan and the actions of Belarus have shown, it is that the clock has run out on how long we can wait to adopt the complete overhaul of Europe’s migration and asylum rules we need.”

Russia 

Russia on Sunday said an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan is planned. Russia’s foreign ministry official Zamir Kabulov said Moscow is not planning to evacuate its embassy in Kabul.

Also Read: How Taliban defeated the US-backed Afghan army

Albania 

Albania will temporarily shelter all those Afghans who worked with the Western peacekeeping military forces and are now threatened by the Taliban, Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a statement on Saturday. 

US government had asked Albania to serve as a “transit place for a certain number of Afghan political emigrants who have the United States as their final destination,” the PM said, adding, that there was “no doubt we shall not say no.”

Pakistan

In an interview with Geo News TV, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said, “We’re concerned about the increasingly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan … We have not taken any decision to close our embassy.”