Afghanistan Taliban News Updates: Tens of thousands of people have tried to flee the country. (File)
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.
Ghani -- making his first appearance since leaving Kabul on Sunday as the Taliban encircled the capital, a departure that ultimately resulted in their full takeover -- reiterated that he had left in order to spare the country more bloodshed.
He said in the recorded video message, broadcast on his Facebook page, that he had no intention of remaining in exile in the Gulf nation and was "in talks" to return home.
He also said he was making efforts to "safeguard the rule of Afghans over our country", without offering details.
Here are the Highlights on Afghanistan-Taliban crisis:
US Sees "Unanimity" With Russia, China On AfghanistanThe United States said Wednesday it shared the same goals on Afghanistan as frequent adversaries China and Russia, which have quickly moved to work with the triumphant Taliban.
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman pointed to a statement issued Monday by the UN Security Council, where China and Russia wield veto power, that called for an inclusive new government.
The statement "speaks to the fact that we are all in the same place, which is calling on the Taliban to ensure justice and equal rights and inclusion, for there to be no violence, for people to be able to leave when they can," Sherman told reporters.
"So I think right now there's very strong unanimity," said Sherman, who last month became the most high-ranking member of President Joe Biden's administration to travel to China.
Both Russia and China stepped up contacts with the Taliban after the United States decided to withdraw from Afghanistan, ending a 20-year military involvement and setting off the swift crumbling of the government in Kabul.
Biden Says US Troops Could Stay Longer In Kabul To Rescue "All 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.
In his first interview since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital, sparking a panicked exodus by foreigners and Afghan allies, Biden told ABC News that "chaos" had been unavoidable.
US leaders have said they are sticking to an August 31 deadline for removing the last troops and handing over the country to the victorious Taliban.
However, Biden said for the first time that US soldiers could stay longer if any Americans were still trying to flee. "If there are American citizens left, we're going to stay to get them all out," Biden said.
Joe Biden Says US Having "Difficulty" Getting Allies Out Of AfghanistanPresident Joe Biden on Wednesday said the Taliban was cooperating with evacuation of Americans and foreigners from Kabul, but US forces were facing "difficulty" in getting Afghan allies out.
"They're cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, etcetera, but they're having -- we're having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there," he said in an interview with ABC News.
Taliban Facilitating US Passport Holders To Get To Kabul Airport: Top US GeneralThe Taliban are allowing US citizens in Afghanistan to travel to the Kabul airport in order to leave the country, US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley said Wednesday.
"The Taliban are facilitating the safe passage to the airport for American citizens. That is US passport holders," Milley said.
Taliban Cannot Access Afghanistan's Reserves: Central Bank ChiefDespite its swift takeover of the government in Afghanistan, the Taliban will not have access to most of the nation's cash and gold stocks, the central bank chief said Wednesday.
The Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) had around $9 billion in reserves, but most of that is held in banks overseas, out of reach of the Taliban, DAB governor Ajmal Ahmady said on Twitter.
"As per international standards, most assets are held in safe, liquid assets such as Treasuries and gold," said Ahmady, who fled the country on Sunday, fearing for his safety as the Taliban swept into the capital.
"No Longer A Figure In Afghanistan": US After Ashraf Ghani Vows To ReturnThe United States reiterated Wednesday that it did not see Ashraf Ghani as a player in Afghanistan, after the ousted president vowed to return.
"He is no longer a figure in Afghanistan," Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters as she declined to comment on the United Arab Emirates' decision to grant him asylum.
EU must take in Afghans under "immediate threat": Official
EU countries must take in Afghans under "immediate threat", especially women and girls, the European commissioner for home affairs said on Wednesday.
"We should not wait until people are at our external border. We need to help them before that. And it's important that we also help those in immediate threat to be resettled to EU member states," Ylva Johansson said before participating in an emergency video link meeting of EU interior ministers.
US Troops Fired Crowd-Control Shots At Kabul Airport: Pentagon
US troops guarding the evacuation effort from Afghanistan at Kabul airport fired some shots in the air overnight to control crowds, but there were no indications of casualties or injuries, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.
Kirby told a news briefing that no shots were fired by American troops at Afghans or anybody else. Kirby said the number of U.S. troops at Kabul's international airport reached about 4,500 on Wednesday and several hundred more were expected over the next 24 hours.
"Some shots were fired, largely around the gate areas. And it's our understanding that at least some of these ... were fired by U.S. personnel on the airport side of the perimeter as crowd-control measures, as non-lethal warnings," Kirby said.
4,500 US Troops At Kabul Airport: OfficialThe number of U.S. troops at Kabul's international airport reached about 4,500 on Wednesday, a U.S. official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the number is set to hit 6,000 in the coming days, Reuters reported.
EU, US 'deeply worried' about Afghan women and girls
The EU, US and 18 other countries issued a joint statement on Wednesday saying they were "deeply worried about Afghan women and girls", urging the Taliban to ensure their safety.
"We are deeply worried about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work and freedom of movement. We call on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee their protection," said the statement.
Afghans Evacuated To Germany Describe Terrifying Scenes At Kabul AirportAfghans who arrived in Germany on Wednesday described chaotic and terrifying scenes at Kabul airport before they were evacuated to safety and said they feared for lives of loved ones they left behind.
Speaking shortly after landing in Frankfurt on a flight from Tashkent, men, women and children said they were part of a lucky few evacuated by NATO armies after the country fell to the Taliban with astonishing speed.
Read Here France Airlifts Scores Of Afghans Out Of Kabul France said on Wednesday it had evacuated almost 200 Afghan nationals from Kabul overnight as it steps up airlifts out of the Afghan capital following the Taliban takeover.
The French military is taking people out of Kabul on military planes to Abu Dhabi, from where they are to be flown on passenger aircraft to Paris. A first contingent of 41 French and foreign nationals arrived in France on Monday.
Read Here Afghan Girls Return To School In Herat After Taliban Takeover Girls wearing white hijabs and black tunics crammed into classrooms in the western Afghan city of Herat just days after the Taliban's takeover. As the school opened its doors, the students scurried down corridors and chatted in courtyards, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil that has engulfed the country in the past two weeks. Read more
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: UK Has Evacuated 2,052 Afghans So Far: PM Boris JohnsonUK has evacuated 2,052 Afghans so far: PM Boris Johnson
How Ghani, Afghanistan's President Went From Hero to Villain-in-HidingIf anyone was supposed to know how to fix Afghanistan, it was Ashraf Ghani. Before becoming president in 2014, Ghani spent much of his life studying how to boost growth in poor nations. A Fulbright Scholar with a doctorate from Columbia University, he taught at some of America's elite academic institutions before stints at the World Bank and United Nations. Later he co-wrote "Fixing Failed States: A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World."
Opinion: The Kabul Escape And Fascinating Stories Behind Evac MissionsThe gut-wrenching video of Afghan nationals running alongside, and some climbing, an American C-17 aircraft as it attempts a take-off from Kabul would be the Afghanistan equivalent of the photo of a CIA Bell 205 taking on evacuees from the US Embassy rooftop in Saigon in 1975. Both are iconic images of desperate people trying to escape to safer destinations. Behind each image is a story of twists and turns and political games that nations, sometimes not on the best of terms, play.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: Japan Seeks To Secure Safety Of Nationals In Afghanistan
Japan is in close contact with a "small number" of its nationals still in Afghanistan, seeking to ensure their safety after Taliban militants took over Kabul, the government's top spokesman said on Wednesday. Amid a deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital after the Taliban took control without a fight on Sunday, Japan closed its embassy there and evacuated the last 12 personnel, officials said this week.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: Biden Does Not Believe That US Should Be ''Fighting And Dying'' In A War: Jake Sullivan
President Joe Bidendoesnotbelievethatthe country shouldbe "fightinganddying" inawar for the purpose of sustaining American military boots near Tajikistan or Pakistan or Iran, his National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said, defending the president's decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan. President BideninApril announced thatall American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by September 11 this year, thus bringing to end the country's longest war, spanning across two decades.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: Australia Says It Has Evacuated 26 People From Afghanistan
Australia flew 26 people out of Afghanistan in its first rescue flight, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday, after Australian troops arrived to help with the evacuation from Kabul airport that has been secured by US and British colleagues. Australia said on Monday it would send 250 military personnel to Kabul to evacuate it citizens and an unspecified number of Afghans who had been given visas after working for Australia.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: For Afghan Nationals In India, Home Is Where There Is No Taliban The takeover of Kabul and other regions of Afghanistan by the Taliban has unleashed a wave of panic among Afghan nationals residing in India, who fear for the safety of their friends and families back home.
Read more Afghanistan LIVE Updates: US Intel Had Warned Of Possible Taliban Takeover Of Afghanistan: Report
The United Nations Human Rights Council announced Tuesday it will hold a special session on Afghanistan on August 24 to address the "serious human rights concerns" following the Taliban takeover.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: Biden Has Not Spoken To Other World Leaders Since Kabul Fall: White House US President Joe Biden has not spoken with any of his fellow world leaders since Kabul fell to the Taliban, the White House said on Tuesday.
"He has not yet spoken with any other world leaders," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
"Myself, Secretary (Antony) Blinken, several other senior members of the team have been engaged on a regular basis with foreign counterparts and we intend to do so in the coming days," he added.
Afghanistan LIVE Updates: "Afghans Expected More From India": Journalist On IAF Flight From Kabul Afghans, who hold a far more favourable view about India than Pakistan, expected much more from New Delhi and there is a growing sense of abandonment in Kabul, a journalist who just made it back in time on an Indian Air Force (IAF) special flight told NDTV on Tuesday.
Read more Afghanistan LIVE Updates: Facebook Bans Accounts, Content Supporting Taliban: Report Social media giant Facebook has said that it has banned the Taliban and all content supporting it from its platforms as it considers the group to be a terrorist organisation, according to a media report. The company says it has a dedicated team of Afghan experts to monitor and remove content linked to the insurgent group. Read more
Inside Story Of How Indian Embassy Staff Made It To Kabul Airport After being confined to their mission compound for more than 36 hours, Indian diplomats were escorted to the airport on Tuesday morning by the Taliban but only after foreign agencies intervened and requested the terrorist group to provide safe passage for staffers of the Indian mission.
Read more US Military Evacuated 3,200 People From Afghanistan So Far: OfficialThe US military has evacuated more than 3,200 people from Afghanistan so far, including 1,100 on Tuesday alone, a White House official said.
"Today, US military flights evacuated approximately 1,100 US citizens, US permanent residents, and their families on 13 flights," the official said, adding: "Now that we have established the flow, we expect those numbers to escalate."
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that the 3,200 who had been taken out of the country so far included US personnel, and that nearly 2,000 Afghan "special immigrants" have been relocated to the United States.
Iran to make efforts to stabilise Afghanistan: President RaisiIranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday said that his country would make serious efforts to stabilise Afghanistan as the country's government fell on Sunday and the Taliban took over the control, a media report said.
"The military defeat and pull out of the US from Afghanistan must be turned into an opportunity to revive life, security and sustainable peace in the country," Tehran Times quoted Raisi as saying.
Afghan Students In India Worried About Families Back Home, Seek Help For Compatriots Stranded In Afghanistan Due To CovidIt has been sleepless nights and desperate efforts to contact their families back home for the thousands of Afghan students in educational institutions in various parts of India as they worry about the fate of their kin and country under the Taliban.
Many have also appealed to the Indian government to help their compatriots, who had gone back home due to the COVID-19-induced closure of educational institutions, to return to India and to extend their visas.
Human Remains Found In Landing Gear Of Military Flight From Kabul: US Air ForceThe U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding human remains that were found in the wheel well of one of its C-17s that flew out of Kabul amid the chaos of the Taliban taking over the city.
In a statement, the Air Force said that the aircraft landed at Kabul's airport on Monday and was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan civilians.
"Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield as quickly as possible," the statement said.
UK To Take 20,000 Afghans Refugees Under Resettlement SchemeBritain on Tuesday announced a resettlement scheme for Afghans fleeing the Taliban after their return to power, offering an initial 5,000 places in the first year, rising to up to 20,000 in the long term.
The announcement came on the eve of an extraordinary session of parliament on Wednesday, where MPs recalled from holiday will discuss the collapse of the Afghan government, so soon after the withdrawal of Western forces.
Some 900 British troops have been sent back to the Afghan capital to help repatriate thousands of UK nationals, including embassy staff, following the Islamists' return.
London said priority would be given to those most at risk, including Afghan women, children and others forced to flee or facing threats and persecution from the hardliners, offering them a chance to remain in Britain indefinitely.
"This resettlement scheme will be kept under further review for future years, with up to a total of 20,000 in the long term," the Home Office said in a statement.