Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan prays for peace amid Taliban takeover

KABUL: Amid fear and panic following the Afghan Taliban’s capture over Kabul, Afghan cricketer Rashid Khan is praying for peace in the war-torn country.

Rashid Khan, the only Afghan cricketer so far to have shared his thoughts on the fast-evolving situation, requested for “peace” in a post on Twitter.

Last week, he pleaded world leaders not to leave his country in chaos.

In an impassioned plea, Rashid Khan had said thousands of women and children are being killed on a daily basis in Afghanistan.

"Dear world leaders! My country is in chaos, thousands of innocent people, including children & women, get martyred every day, houses and properties being destroyed. Thousands of families displaced," he had added.

"Don’t leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans and destroying Afghanistan. We want peace."

Taliban declare victory

Peace prevailed across Afghanistan on Monday, Taliban officials said, as the insurgents declared the war over a day after seizing the capital, while Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens from an increasingly chaotic Kabul airport.

"Today is a great day for the Afghan people and the mujahideen. They have witnessed the fruits of their efforts and their sacrifices for 20 years," Mohammad Naeem, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office, told Al Jazeera TV.

"Thanks to God, the war is over in the country."

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

Al Jazeera broadcast footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the presidential palace with dozens of armed fighters.

Naeem said the form of the new regime in Afghanistan would be made clear soon, adding the Taliban did not want to live in isolation and calling for peaceful international relations.

"We have reached what we were seeking, which is the freedom of our country and the independence of our people," he said. "We will not allow anyone to use our lands to target anyone, and we do not want to harm others."