Afghanistan News Highlights: 2,000 American armoured vehicles, up to 40 aircraft with Taliban, say US officials

US President Joe Biden said in an interview that American troops may stay in Kabul even after the August 31 deadline to aid the evacuation of remaining Americans in Afghanistan. The IMF will block the Taliban-led Afghan government from accessing $460 million in reserve funds. Meanwhile, late Wednesday evening, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in a video said that he fled Kabul as he did not want to be the second head of state to be hung in public. Stay tuned for more updates...

US says Taliban cooperating as Afghanistan airlift accelerates

The United States has airlifted out of Afghanistan some 7,000 people since August 14 as the Taliban appears to be cooperating with evacuation efforts from Kabul airport, a senior general said Thursday.

Major General Hank Taylor said that the pace of evacuating US citizens, Afghans with US immigrant visas and other nationals has accelerated at the US military-controlled airport despite reports of the Taliban continuing to impede people trying to enter the airport gates.

G7 calls for international 'shared mission' to limit Afghan crisis

G7 foreign ministers called on Thursday for the international community to unite in its response to the crisis in Afghanistan to prevent it from escalating further, a statement issued by British foreign minister Dominic Raab said.

"The G7 Ministers call on the international community to come together with a shared mission to prevent the crisis in Afghanistan escalating," said the statement, issued by Raab following a meeting of G7 foreign ministers.

A family arriving from Afghanistan make their way through the Friendship Gate crossing point at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan. Credit: Reuters Photo

2,000 American armoured vehicles, up to 40 aircraft with Taliban, say US officials

US officials tell Reuters that the current intelligence indicates that the Taliban control at least 2,000 US-made armored vehicles, between 30 and 40 aircraft and an untold number of small arms.

UNESCO says it will spare no effort to ensure the Right To Education for all Afghans without discrimination.

Pentagon says there are now 5,200 troops at Kabul’s airport, multiple gates open.

It also said that the US has flown armed F-18 fighter jets over Kabul to ensure security.

Afghans plead for faster US evacuation from Taliban rule

Educated young women, former US military translators and other Afghans most at-risk from the Taliban appealed to the Biden administration to get them on evacuation flights as the United States struggled to bring order to the continuing chaos at the Kabul airport.

President Joe Biden and his top officials said the US was working to speed up the evacuation, but made no promises how long it would last or how many desperate people it would fly to safety.

“We don't have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Wednesday, adding that evacuations would continue “until the clock runs out or we run out of capability."

Afghanistan's fate means West now perceived as weak, says UK minister

Spirits run low in Delhi's 'Little Kabul' on Afghanistan's Independence Day

For Afghans living in India, August 19 is a milestone day with the community getting together to mark their country’s Independence Day in a foreign land.

On Thursday, however, days after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the mood at Delhi's 'Little Kabul' was anything but celebratory.

This 'Independence Day’ was not about the spirit of freedom but fear that their war-ravaged homeland was back under Taliban control, Afghans at Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and Hazrat Nizamuddin said as they anxiously followed events on social media, television channels and other media outlets.

Anti-Taliban forces massing north of Kabul: Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that armed resistance to the Taliban is forming in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley, led by deposed vice-president Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, the son of a slain anti-Taliban fighter.

"The Taliban doesn't control the whole territory of Afghanistan," Lavrov told reporters at a press conference in Moscow following a meeting with his Libyan counterpart.

"There are reports of the situation in the Panjshir Valley where the resistance of Afghanistan's vice president Mr Saleh and Ahmad Massoud is concentrated," he said.

Taliban fighters pose for a photograph in Kabul

The Taliban celebrated Afghanistan's Independence Day on Thursday by declaring they beat the United States, but challenges to their rule ranging from running a country severely short on cash and bureaucrats to potentially facing an armed opposition began to emerge. Credit: AP/PTI Photo

Afghan mothers throw babies over barbed wire at Kabul airport to save them from Taliban: Report

Afghan women in Kabul in a bid to save their children from Taliban were said to have thrown their babies over barbed wire barriers near Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport towards British soldiers protecting the airport, according to a report by Sky News quoting a senior British armed forces officer.

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Taliban reportedly charge at CNN crew in Kabul.

India should be 'open-minded' about dealing with Taliban: Yashwant Sinha

Former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha said India should be "open-minded" about dealing with the Taliban and suggested that it should open its embassy in Kabul and send back the ambassador.

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Taliban vow to ban heroin, but can they survive without it?

Heroin production has boomed in Afghanistan in recent years, helping fund the Taliban, and experts say they will struggle to wean themselves off the profitable trade despite their promise to do so.

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Governor of Logar province was earlier falsely reported by local media to have been killed after surrendering to the Taliban.

Mullah Baradar to arrive in Kabul soon, according to reports quoting sources.

Several Afghans struggle to make it to the airport as shots are fired near the airport, according to local media reports.

Russia says Taliban resistance with ex-VP 'concentrated' in Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley

Chief of Jesuit Refugee Services informs family that he is safe in Kabul airport

Chief of Jesuit Refugee Services Jerome Sequiera (52) had informed relatives in Bantwal that he and many Indians were safe and stranded at Kabul Airport.

Jerome's brother Bernard Sequeira in Bantwal taluk had confirmed receiving a call from his bother informing that he was safe and there was nothing to worry about.

Jerome, the fifth among seven siblings to parents Alfonso Sequeira and Irene Sequiera from Sangabettu village near Kalkeri, had completed his PU from Mahaveer college in Moodbidri. After completing his graduation, masters in different colleges he went onto serve as principals in colleges in New Delhi and Jharkhand. He had visited Jharkhand in December 2020 and had again returned to Afghanistan.

OPINION | 'The Taliban are knocking’: Afghan allies of US fear worst

President Joe Biden’s rapid pullout from Afghanistan has left thousands of Afghans who worked as translators and guides for the US military in a desperate race to escape the country to avoid being targeted by the Taliban.

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UK Parliament recovenes to discuss its response and further course of action on Afghanistan

Several killed amid firing by Taliban and stampede during rally in Asadabad

Several people were killed on Thursday in the Afghan city of Asadabad on Thursday when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at an Independence Day rally, a witness said, a day after three people were killed in a similar protest.

The protests by people waving the Afghan flag, in some cases after tearing down white Taliban flags according to media, are the first signs of popular opposition to the Taliban since their stunning advance across the country and capture of the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.

Afghanistan on edge after anti-Taliban protest in east, Kabul calm as airlift goes on

As the United States and other Western powers pressed on with the evacuation of their nationals and some Afghans on Thursday, the rest of Afghanistan waited to see whether the nation's independence day would stir more anti-Taliban protests.

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A virtual meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Foreign Ministers will be held on Aug 20

Karzai, Abdullah meet Pakistani Ambassador

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and National Reconciliation High Council Chairman Abdullah Abdullah met with Pakistani Ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan in Kabul on Thursday to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan and an inclusive political process.

Protests spring up in Jalalabad in support of the Afghan flag on the country's Independence Day, according to reports.

Was Biden handcuffed by Trump's Taliban deal in Doha?

After President Donald Trump signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, he optimistically proclaimed that “we think we'll be successful in the end.”

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We cannot evacuate unaccompanied children from Afghanistan: Britain

Britain is unable to evacuate unaccompanied children from Afghanistan, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday when asked about footage which showed a young child being handed over a wall to Western soldiers at Kabul airport. "We can't just take a minor on their own," Wallace told Sky News when asked about the footage.
Reuters could not immediately verify the footage. (Reuters)

Earthquake measuring 4.5 on the Richter scale occurred in Afghanistan at 1122 hours today: National Center for Seismology (NCS).

We are not scared: The story of an Afghan student in Bengaluru

A fortnight back, Afghan national Romaan Rashid Sherzad was enjoying his vacation in the verdant and picturesque Nangarhar province of Afghanistan where his family originally hails from. A final-year student of BBA in Bengaluru, he had no inkling of the dramatic chaos that was to descend on his country in the ensuing days.

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At this point, we're looking at the situation in Kabul. Obviously, Taliban and its representatives have come to Kabul. So we need to take it on from there: Jaishankar on being asked 'had India has any communication with Taliban in recent days'. (ANI)

For us, Indian investment in Afghanistan reflected what was our historical relationship with the Afghan people. That relation with the Afghan people obviously continues. That will guide our approach to Afghanistan in the coming days: Jaishankar.

At the moment, we are, like everybody else, very carefully following developments in Afghanistan. Our focus is on ensuring security in Afghanistan and the safe return of Indian nationals: EAM S Jaishankar at UNSC on being asked 'how will India deal with Taliban' (ANI)

Left with 1 set of clothes, vest and sandals, did not take money, says Ghani

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday defended his decision to flee Kabul in the face of the Taliban advance, describing it as the only way to prevent bloodshed.

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The Taliban in Kabul: Time India fortifies the guardrails

For the past three days, since August 15, the world's attention is riveted on the developments unfolding in Afghanistan. The scorching pace of events left the world community of strategic analysts caught in a breathless cycle attempting to interpret the emerging scenario as most of them read the tea leaves wrong.

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Taliban ramp up presence on social media, defying bans by the platforms

As the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, a spokesperson for the group uploaded five videos to his official YouTube page. The videos, each between two and three minutes long, showed Taliban leaders congratulating fighters on their victories.

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Taliban violating promises on Afghans' access to Kabul airport, says US

The United States is pressing the Taliban to let Afghans flee through the US-controlled airport as they have promised, after reports they have violated those assurances, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Wednesday.

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Biden says US troops could stay longer in Kabul to rescue last Americans

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that US troops won't leave any Americans behind in Afghanistan, even if it means staying in Taliban-controlled Kabul for longer than agreed.

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IMF says it will block Afghanistan from getting $460 million in reserve funds

The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it will block Afghanistan from accessing emergency reserves in the aftermath of the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country.

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Had I been in Kabul, another Afghan president would've been hanged in public: Ghani

Former Afghan president Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday he supports talks between the Taliban and top former officials, and denied allegations that he transferred large sums of money out of the country before fleeing to the United Arab Emirates.

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