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Kandahar: Puffs of smoke rise after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security forces
Photo: Sidiqullah Khan / dpa
The Taliban are advancing further and further in Afghanistan.
On Saturday, Islamist fighters camped around 50 kilometers from the capital Kabul.
After the fall of the country's second and third largest city, Kabul is de facto the last bastion of government forces that offered little or no resistance elsewhere.
On Saturday, the extremists captured the city of Pul-e-Alam, around 70 kilometers south of Kabul, a member of the local provincial council said.
In doing so, they encountered little resistance.
The capital of Logar province could be a strategically important position for a possible attack on Kabul.
On Saturday morning there were fighting over Maidan Schar, around 46 kilometers from the capital, said MP Hamida Akbari of the German press agency.
There have also been reports of fierce fighting from Mazar-i-Sharif.
The city, in which the Bundeswehr had its largest military camp, is the economic center of the region in the north and has always been considered a bulwark against the Taliban.
The notorious warlord Abdul Raschid Dostum had last assembled his militias there.
The only other major cities not yet captured by the Taliban were Jalalabad, Gardes and Chost.
Fierce resistance against the Islamists was not expected there.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a short TV address on Saturday that he did not want the blood of innocent people to continue to be shed in Afghanistan.
He had held consultations with political leaders in the country and international partners and wanted to share the results with his compatriots "soon".
Western states bring compatriots to safety
Since the beginning of the complete withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan in May, the Taliban have brought large parts of the country under their control.
Since Friday last week, the Islamists have taken around half of the 34 Afghan provincial capitals, including most recently the second largest city, Kandahar.
According to diplomats, some embassies in Kabul started burning sensitive material.
The US agency also instructed its employees to do so and provided incineration containers, as stated in a message to the employees that was available to the Reuters news agency.
Many people in the capital stocked up on rice and other foods, as well as first aid supplies, residents said.
The number of visa applications at the embassies went into the tens of thousands, it said from there.
While the resistance of the Afghan government troops is crumbling, Western states are feverishly trying to get compatriots and embassy personnel to safety.
The US government wants to send around 3,000 soldiers to Kabul by Sunday evening.
In addition, a unit is to be relocated from the USA to Kuwait in order to be available for reinforcement as a rapid reaction force if necessary.
Great Britain sends 600 soldiers.
Germany is also reducing the number of embassy staff in Afghanistan and wants to fly staff from the diplomatic mission and local helpers out as quickly as possible.
The charter flights originally planned for the end of the month would be brought forward.
Germany and other countries such as Great Britain and Spain announced the departure of embassy staff on Friday.
The United States promised to fly thousands of people every day.
While the first US soldiers arrived in Kabul for evacuations, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated: "Afghanistan is getting out of control." He called on the Taliban to stop their offensive immediately.
From Washington, however, it was said that Kabul was "not at the moment in an imminent threat situation."
A spokesman for the US Department of Defense admitted that "the Taliban fighters are trying to isolate the city."
Numerous photos and videos could be seen in online networks in which fighters of the Islamists posed with captured war material.
The insurgents fell into the hands of numerous armored vehicles, heavy weapons and other high-quality equipment.
The Taliban had ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until it was overthrown by US-led troops in late 2001 and enforced a very strict interpretation of Islamic law.
This is now feared again.
There is concern that the progress made with Western aid over the past 20 years on human and freedom rights, especially for women, will be lost and that a refugee crisis will arise.
Baerbock urges the EU to prepare to accept refugees
According to UN figures, 250,000 Afghans have been on the run since May and 400,000 since the beginning of the year.
The World Food Program fears a famine.
In view of the growing number of internally displaced persons, Green Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock called on the countries of the European Union to prepare to accept refugees.
You shouldn't repeat the catastrophic mistake and wait until all 27 EU countries are ready to accept, Baerbock told Deutschlandfunk.
Rather, one has to join forces with those European countries that are ready to do so.
You also have to coordinate with the USA and Canada.
Clear quota rules would have to be agreed together.
The Minister of State in the Foreign Office, Michael Roth (SPD), told the Rheinische Post that there are 3.5 million internally displaced people in Afghanistan.
The migratory pressure on Turkey, Iran and Pakistan will increase massively, but it will also increase on the EU and Germany.
ala / AFP / Reuters / dpa