Taliban want full power after return to Afghanistan capital

Afghanistan's Taliban entered the capital Kabul on Sunday and Western-backed President Ashraf Ghani left the country, with the insurgents saying they were seeking complete power.

Two officials from the group told Reuters there would be no transitional government following their lightning sweep across Afghanistan that led back to the capital two decades after the Taliban was overthrown by US-led forces.

Taliban fighters entered the presidential palace and took control of it, two senior Taliban commanders in Kabul said. The Afghan government did not confirm this.

American diplomats were evacuated from their embassy by helicopter to the airport as local Afghan forces, trained for years and equipped by the United States and others for billions of dollars, melted away.

Ghani's destination was uncertain: a senior Interior Ministry official said he had left for Tajikistan, while a Foreign Ministry official said his location was unknown and the Taliban said it was checking his whereabouts.

Taliban fighters reached Kabul "from all sides", the senior Interior Ministry official told Reuters and there were some reports of sporadic gunfire around the city.

A Kabul hospital said more than 40 people wounded in clashes on the outskirts were being treated, but there did not appear to be major fighting.

It was not clear yet how power would be transferred.

The Taliban said it was waiting for the Western-backed government to surrender peacefully.

"Taliban fighters are to be on standby on all entrances of Kabul until a peaceful and satisfactory transfer of power is agreed," said spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

The government's acting interior minister, Abdul Sattar Mirzakawal, said power would be handed over to a transitional administration.

"There won't be an attack on the city, it is agreed that there will be a peaceful handover," he tweeted.