Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani reported to have left country as Taliban orders fighters to enter Kabul live

Boris Johnson is interviewed live on television. He says: “Nobody wants Afghanistan to be a breeding ground for terror … or to lapse back into the pre-2001 situation.”

But the prime minister acknowledges: “There is clearly a change of regime now happening” in Afghanistan. He adds: “We don’t know exactly what kind of regime that will be.”

He appeals to the United Nations and Nato powers to unite, saying: “We do not want anyone bilaterally recognising the Taliban.”

Johnson, like the US’s Antony Blinken, is trying to give every impression that the Taliban takeover in this way is not a shock, despite it contradicting what leaders said just last month.

Johnson’s interview and our livestream of same have just finished. We’ll bring you a little more of what was said by Johnson and, simultaneously on the other side of the Atlantic, by Blinken, the US secretary of state, who was being interviewed on CNN, in more posts here as soon as possible.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is on TV right now talking about the big-picture arguments for the US pulling out of Afghanistan, but not yet addressing the particulars of the current chaos of the Taliban taking over with a speed few anticipated.

Blinken said: “We were in Afghanistan for one overriding purpose â€" to deal with the folks who attacked us on 9/11.”

Meanwhile, here’s Boris Johnson, live.

The American flag at the US embassy in Kabul has been removed, according to numerous media reports. The US ambassador and the flag are reported now to be at the airport in Kabul, the only way out of Afghanistan with the capital surrounded by the Taliban and road crossings controlled by the extremist insurgency forces.

Ruffini (@EenaRuffini)

NEW: US AMBASSADOR HAS LEFT THE EMBASSY IN #KABUL. He and the flag are at the airport, per @CBSNews.

August 15, 2021

The last reports were that the US embassy would be closed by Tuesday and was being staffed by a skeleton-level team. The situation on the ground is not completely clear.

There is “pandemonium” at the airport, according to CNN’s reporter in Afghanistan, Clarissa Ward, just now. The road to the airport is choked with traffic as Afghan people desperately try to reach it to take or seek a flight out.

This could account for the so-far unconfirmed and isolated reports of gunfire â€" ie chaos in the approach to the airport and frustration boiling over.

Boris Johnson’s public appearance to give a statement after an emergency meeting is delayed. He was due to talk 10 minutes ago, and there is no word yet on the new schedule. We’ll keep you informed and will stream the PM live, here.

Reports are coming out from US embassy staff in Afghanistan that Kabul airport is taking fire. The embassy has instructed US citizens to “shelter in place” â€" ie stay put wherever you are right now and try to find a safe place to wait.

The security situation in Kabul is “changing quickly, including at the airport”, according to a report from Reuters.

Meanwhile, the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan’s presidential palace, two senior Taliban commanders present in Kabul told Reuters a little earlier, after the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, left the country.

There was no confirmation from the Afghan government about the Taliban’s claim. Government officials were not immediately contactable

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is due to make a statement at the top of this hour after emergency meetings in London.

We will carry this live, here.

Johnson is attending a meeting of the civil contingencies committee that gathers to discuss matters of national emergency for the UK or major disruption to government.

It coordinates different departments of the British government in response to matters regarded as emergencies and meets at Cobra, the acronym for the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms, located in the Cabinet Office on Whitehall in London, the street dominated by government offices off which the cul-de-sac of Downing Street is located.

Taliban commanders are saying they have taken control of the Afghan presidential palace. There is no confirmation of this from what remains of the Afghan government at this point, Reuters is reporting.

The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, has, by all accounts so far, fled the country earlier today.

Taliban leaders had been understood to be at the 19th-century palace in Kabul for negotiations but now claim to have taken it over.

Hello to all our live blog readers around the world on this dramatic international news day. The Guardian US team is now taking the blog baton from London. I’m Joanna Walters and will keep you up to date with developments as they unfold in Afghanistan and related commentary.

If you are on the ground in Afghanistan or in the region and/or spot anything vital that we’re missing in our Guardian coverage, please do ping me on Twitter: @JoannaWalters13.

Here are the key recent events:

Afghan officials told the Associated Press news agency a short while ago, and most major news outlets have been reporting in the last few hours, that the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, left the country, and the Taliban announced they would move further into the capital, Kabul, as the government there unravels.

Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, who has been leading talks between the crumbling Afghan government and the Taliban, posted a video to Facebook earlier confirming that Ghani had left.

Taliban fighters have penetrated not just the outskirts of Kabul but the capital city proper. Kabul covers about 400 sq miles and its population has been swelling from around 4 million towards 5 million as Afghans have been fleeing there trying to stay ahead of the Taliban advance.

Some foreign leaders are resorting to what appear to be futile tweets. The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, posted: “It is critical that the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end.”

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said the US embassy in Kabul has in effect transferred to the airport there. The majority of US embassy personnel have now left the embassy. The Taliban controls all road crossings, so the only way out of the country is by air from Kabul.

A Kabul hospital has tweeted that “more than 40 people” have been wounded in clashes on the outskirts of the Afghan capital and admitted for treatment.

The UK Foreign Office says “we are doing all we can to enable remaining British nationals who want to leave Afghanistan to do so”.

Our deputy political editor, Rowena Mason, reports the British ambassador to Kabul remains in post despite reports to the contrary.

Rowena Mason (@rowenamason)

FCDO says British ambassador to Kabul remains despite reports he was airlifted last night. “We have reduced our diplomatic presence in response to the situation, but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK Govt staff continue to work to [assist] British nationals and Afghan staff"

August 15, 2021

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