Afghan-taliban Crisis

Two hundred Americans and other foreigners who remain in Afghanistan are set to depart the war-ravaged country on charter flights from Kabul on Thursday after the new Taliban government agreed to their evacuation, a U.S. official said.

Distressing images of journalists displaying injuries sustained after being beaten by the Taliban have underlined global concerns over the hardline Islamist group's ability to deliver on promises to protect human rights and freedom of press.

Panjshiri leader Ahmad Shah Massoud and former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh have not fled Afghanistan and their resistance forces are still fighting the Taliban, the ousted Afghan government's ambassador to Tajikistan said on Wednesday.

The Taliban on Wednesday called on fighters in the holdout bastion of the Panjshir Valley to lay down their arms, as the resistance movement said it had repulsed heavy attacks.

The number of female journalists working in Kabul has dwindled to below 100 since the Taliban took power, compared with 700 before, a media watchdog said Wednesday.

A body dangled from a US military chopper being flown by the Taliban, reportedly over Kandahar in Afghanistan, in a video shared on Tuesday by several journalists and what the Taliban claims is their official handle.

China on Tuesday said the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year conflict signalled the country has "turned a new page", after Beijing criticised Washington's chaotic exit.

Taliban forces clashed with militia fighters in the Panjshir valley north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday night, losing eight killed, a representative of the main anti-Taliban opposition group said.

China has told the US that the Afghanistan situation has undergone fundamental changes and it is necessary for "all parties" to make contact with the Taliban and "guide it actively", reiterating that America's troop withdrawal may provide an opportun

The current happenings in Afghanistan have raised new security questions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Monday, asserting the Central government is alert and capable of dealing with any situation.

The Taliban has not yet announced a new government after taking control of Afghanistan but the hardline Islamist group confirmed Sunday that its supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is in Afghanistan and could soon appear in public for the first time

U.S. forces were in the final phase of pulling out of Kabul, ending two decades of costly involvement in Afghanistan, as the country's new Taliban rulers prepared to take control of the airport.

The Dutch government said it would stop evacuation flights from Kabul on Thursday in what it acknowledged was a "painful moment" that would leave some people behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The government has told opposition parties that the immediate priority is the evacuation of all Indians stranded in Afghanistan, sources said on Thursday.

Over 10 days after the Taliban captured Kabul following the collapse of the US-backed government, they are now switching focus to how to run a country in crisis.

Two hundred Americans and other foreigners who remain in Afghanistan are set to depart the war-ravaged country on charter flights from Kabul on Thursday after the new Taliban government agreed to their evacuation, a U.S. official said.

Distressing images of journalists displaying injuries sustained after being beaten by the Taliban have underlined global concerns over the hardline Islamist group's ability to deliver on promises to protect human rights and freedom of press.

Panjshiri leader Ahmad Shah Massoud and former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh have not fled Afghanistan and their resistance forces are still fighting the Taliban, the ousted Afghan government's ambassador to Tajikistan said on Wednesday.

The Taliban on Wednesday called on fighters in the holdout bastion of the Panjshir Valley to lay down their arms, as the resistance movement said it had repulsed heavy attacks.

The number of female journalists working in Kabul has dwindled to below 100 since the Taliban took power, compared with 700 before, a media watchdog said Wednesday.

A body dangled from a US military chopper being flown by the Taliban, reportedly over Kandahar in Afghanistan, in a video shared on Tuesday by several journalists and what the Taliban claims is their official handle.

China on Tuesday said the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after a 20-year conflict signalled the country has "turned a new page", after Beijing criticised Washington's chaotic exit.

Taliban forces clashed with militia fighters in the Panjshir valley north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday night, losing eight killed, a representative of the main anti-Taliban opposition group said.

China has told the US that the Afghanistan situation has undergone fundamental changes and it is necessary for "all parties" to make contact with the Taliban and "guide it actively", reiterating that America's troop withdrawal may provide an opportun

The current happenings in Afghanistan have raised new security questions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Monday, asserting the Central government is alert and capable of dealing with any situation.

The Taliban has not yet announced a new government after taking control of Afghanistan but the hardline Islamist group confirmed Sunday that its supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is in Afghanistan and could soon appear in public for the first time

U.S. forces were in the final phase of pulling out of Kabul, ending two decades of costly involvement in Afghanistan, as the country's new Taliban rulers prepared to take control of the airport.

The Dutch government said it would stop evacuation flights from Kabul on Thursday in what it acknowledged was a "painful moment" that would leave some people behind in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The government has told opposition parties that the immediate priority is the evacuation of all Indians stranded in Afghanistan, sources said on Thursday.

Over 10 days after the Taliban captured Kabul following the collapse of the US-backed government, they are now switching focus to how to run a country in crisis.