Over 350 people evacuated from Afghanistan's Kabul reach Istanbul

Some 357 people, including 16 infants, evacuated from Afghanistan's capital Kabul arrived in Istanbul on Sunday.

They were first taken to Pakistan on a Turkish air force transport plane and then brought to Istanbul on a Turkish Airlines flight.

"There was complete chaos at the (Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport). We had a very difficult time getting out of there. I am just so glad to be in Turkey," Ersin Karaduman, owner of a construction firm in Afghanistan, told reporters in Istanbul.

Humayun Hayri, an Afghan with Turkish citizenship, said he was intent on leaving Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country.

Cemil Beyoğlu, another passenger, said he was elated to be in Turkey and expressed gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the evacuation.

On Saturday, 160 people, including Turkish citizens and foreign nationals, airlifted from Kabul had arrived in Istanbul.

The unexpected power grab by the Taliban has triggered a rush to flee Afghanistan, including civilians who assisted foreign soldiers or groups and now fear retribution.

The Taliban declared the war in Afghanistan over after taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul, while Western nations scrambled Monday to evacuate their citizens amid chaos at Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport as frantic Afghans searched for a way out.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday, "The Taliban have won with the judgment of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honor, property and self-preservation of their countrymen," after fleeing the country as the militants entered the capital virtually unopposed, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. The ensuing hours saw hundreds of Afghans desperate to leave Kabul airport.

"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahedeen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesperson for the Taliban's political office, told Qatar-based media outlet Al-Jazeera TV. "Thanks to God, the war is over in the country," he said.

It took the Taliban just over a week to seize control of the country after a lightning sweep that ended in Kabul as Afghan government forces, trained for two decades and equipped by the United States and others at a cost of billions of dollars, melted away.