Taliban Militants Entering Kabul 'From All Sides' as U.S. Evacuates Embassy

Taliban militants have reportedly entered the outskirts of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The Associated Press, citing three Afghan officials, reports that Taliban fighters are zoning in on the city, with the Afghan Interior Ministry telling Reuters and Agence France-Presse that the Taliban was moving into the city from all sides.

The U.S. has started to evacuate its embassy there, according to two officials.

"We have a small batch of people leaving now as we speak, a majority of the staff are ready to leave," one official told Reuters on Sunday. "The embassy continues to function."

The Afghan government currently controls only Kabul and five other provincial capitals out of the country's 34, following a major advance by the Taliban over a little more than a week. It comes after the withdrawal of the U.S. and its allies.

Taliban fighters met little resistance in many areas, with government forces often reporting a lack of support. On paper the government had about 350,000 well-equipped military personnel, however, many observers have since questioned the actual number of boots on the ground.

Taliban insurgents captured the key eastern city of Jalalabad without a fight on Sunday, giving the insurgents control of a road leading to the Pakistan city of Peshawar, a main highway into landlocked Afghanistan.

The Taliban's also seized the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late on Saturday.

On Thursday, Taliban fighters seized Kandahar and Herat, the second and third-largest cities.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has been holding talks with local leaders and international partners, including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in recent days.

Ghani and Blinken discussed urgent efforts to reduce violence in Afghanistan, the State Department said. Qatar, which has been hosting so-far inconclusive peace talks, said it had urged the insurgents to agree to a ceasefire.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.