Taliban

Blinken said the Taliban have made a commitment to allow American citizens and at-risk Afghans to leave the country after 31 August evacuation deadline. He stressed that US efforts to help people who wanted to leave would not end on that date.

The secretary of state said that up to 1,000 US nationals - possibly more - could still be in Afghanistan and the administration was making exhaustive efforts to trace them.

Asked by a reporter why the US should do what the Taliban want, Blinken said the focus was on getting US citizens and others to safety.

"It's a very temporary procedure," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The Taliban, which enforced a strict version of Islamic law when they ran Afghanistan before 2001, retook full control of the country nine days ago.

The UN has highlighted "credible" reports of abuses by the Taliban, notably restrictions on women.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday that women's rights were a "fundamental red line".

In his news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, the Taliban spokesman also addressed the US-led evacuation from the capital, Kabul.

It said the militants have been going door-to-door to find targets and threaten their family members.

The hardline Islamist group has tried to reassure Afghans since seizing power in a lightning offensive, promising there would be "no revenge".

But there are growing fears of a gap between what they say and what they do.

The warning the group were targeting "collaborators" came in a confidential document by the RHIPTO Norwegian Center for Global Analyses, which provides intelligence to the UN.

Tolo TV, the private channel which previously broadcast a mix of Western-style game shows, soap operas and talent contests, said there was a little bit of uncertainty at the time about what would unfold next and temporarily removed their female presenters.

Tolo News' Siyar Sirat said on Tuesday things looked like they were returning to normal, with "normal resources at the office, we have women on screen and we are reporting from around the city".

The first of three German evacuation planes diverted to the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, because it could not land in Kabul, which lies in a valley surrounded by mountains. A second plane was circling over the city.

Crowds converged on the airport seeking to escape, including some clinging to a US military transport plane as it taxied on the runway, according to footage posted by private Afghan broadcaster Tolo news.

US troops fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way on to a military flight evacuating US diplomats and embassy staff, a US official said.

There is not much panic in the city today, as there was yesterday. The Taliban were controlling traffic, they were searching cars, and they were especially searching those vehicles which used to belong to police and the army. They have taken all those vehicles and they are using them.

If there are Taliban fighters themselves driving those vehicles now, they are stopped at checkpoints, too. They told us that they checked these vehicles to make sure they were not looters and thieves disguised as Taliban.

An interior ministry official confirmed the Taliban had entered Kabul and told Reuters they were coming in "from all sides" but gave no further details.

A tweet from the Afghan Presidential palace account said firing had been heard at a number of points around Kabul but that security forces, in coordination with international partners, had control of the city.

Taking the strategically important Ghazni increases the likelihood the Taliban could take the capital Kabul.

There is also heavy fighting in the second largest city, Kandahar.

The insurgents have moved at speed, seizing new territories almost daily, as US and other foreign troops withdraw after 20 years of military operations.

They now control a third of Afghanistan's regional cities and most of northern Afghanistan, in a crushing blow for government security forces.

Thousands of civilians have been displaced and fled to Kabul to try and escape the fighting.

The "ghanimat" or spoils of war they're showing off include a Humvee, two pick-up vans and a host of powerful machine guns. Ainuddin, a stony-faced former madrassa (religious school) student who's now a local military commander, stands at the centre of a heavily-armed crowd.

The insurgents have been capturing new territory on what seems like a daily basis as international troops have all but withdrawn. Caught in the middle is a terrified population.

Tens of thousands of ordinary Afghans have had to flee their homes - hundreds have been killed or injured in recent weeks.

They seized control of the key northern city of Kunduz on Sunday, as well as Sar-e-Pul and Taloqan.

It means five regional capitals have fallen to the militants since Friday, with Kunduz being their most important gain this year.

The city is well connected to other areas, including the capital Kabul.

Violence has escalated across Afghanistan after US and other international forces began to withdraw their troops from the country, following 20 years of military operations.