Taliban seek to project calm as thousands try to flee Afghanistan

Videos circulating on social media showed hundreds of people racing across the tarmac as US soldiers fired warning shots in the air.

Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country (Zabi Karimi/AP)

The US military is struggling to manage a chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan as the Taliban patrolled the capital and tried to project calm after toppling the Western-backed government.

The Taliban swept into Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, bringing a stunning end to a two-decade campaign in which the US and its allies had tried to transform Afghanistan.