NBC’s Richard Engel Says He’s Not Surprised by How Quickly Taliban Is Taking Over: ‘Was Quite Clear That It Was Going to Come to This’

NBC News correspondent Richard Engel reported live from Kabul Sunday as the Taliban advanced on the Afghan capital.

Engel told Ali Velshi the evacuation of U.S. personnel is expected to take three days, but could be sooner given helicopters “going all day long” in Kabul.

“The city has collapsed. There is no real security on the streets anymore. We’re starting to see signs of looting,” he said. “This city is bracing culturally and physically for a Taliban takeover. And security has really collapsed. It is a city that could be taken now.”

Velshi remarked, “The surprise here is not that it’s the happening as much as how fast it is happening. Would you agree with that?”

Engel said no:

Everyone keeps saying that. I have been listening all day. ‘Oh my god, we’re shocked at how fast…’ I’m not shocked at all… I thought Kabul was going to fall right around now. That was just a gut instinct. I think lots of people that I spoke to believe that. Last time I was here I spoke to Afghan government officials, to Afghan military officials. It was well-known that the security services were collapsing a month, two months ago, three months ago. So this feigned surprise that — maybe it’s genuine surprise, but if it is, I don’t understand what it’s based on. It was quite clear that it was going to come to this, when you started to see the Taliban take territory without having to fight months ago. So no, I am not at all surprised by the speed.

About an hour later Engel tweeted that he saw armed Taliban fighters in the capital:

Seeing Taliban fighters on streets in kabul now. Armed.

— Richard Engel (@RichardEngel) August 15, 2021

You can watch above, via MSNBC.