President Ashraf Ghani leaves Afghanistan

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country for Tajikistan, a senior interior ministry official told Reuters news agency.

Meanwhile, a Taliban official told Reuters they were checking reports about Ghani’s departure from the country.

The Taliban and Afghan government officials are in negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power after fighters encircled the capital Kabul.

Taliban troops surrounded Afghanistan’s seat of power on Sunday but promised not to attack as handover talks were under way.

The group said it has instructed its fighters to refrain from violence and offer safe passage to anyone wishing to leave Kabul.

“Until the completion of the transition process, the responsibility for the security of Kabul is with the other side (the Afghan government),” a spokesman for the group said in a tweet.

The Afghan government soon after signaled there were negotiations under way to avoid bloodshed in Kabul and to transition power.