The Taliban entered at least two of India's consulates in Afghanistan on Wednesday, searched for documents and took away parked cars, government sources said today, expressing worry that it meant the group is acting against the assurances its leaders have been giving to the world.
Members of the Taliban "ransacked" the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat, which are closed, according to the sources. They "searched closets" in Kandahar for papers and took away vehicles parked at both the consulates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that destructive forces and people who follow the ideology of creating empires through terror can dominate for some time, but their existence is not permanent as they cannot suppress humanity forever.
Taliban fighters in Afghanistan have shot and killed a relative of a Deutsche Welle journalist while hunting for him, the German public broadcaster said.
The terrorists were conducting a house-to-house search for the journalist, who now works in Germany, DW said Thursday.
A second relative was seriously wounded but others were able to escape, it said, without giving details of the incident.
DW director general Peter Limbourg condemned the killing, which he said showed the danger to media workers and their families in Afghanistan.
"The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves," he said.
"It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!"
Here are the Highlights on Afghanistan-Taliban crisis:
President Joe Biden said Friday he could not guarantee the final outcome of the emergency evacuation from Kabul's airport, calling it one of the most "difficult" airlift operations ever.
"This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history," Biden said in a televised address from the White House. "I cannot promise what the final outcome will be."
The United States is expected to announce that its evacuation flights from Kabul will now be able to land in several locations across Europe, U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, as its largest military base in the Middle East has reached capacity, reported Reuters.
The United States is desperately trying to evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan as reports of Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked with U.S.-led forces increase, forcing foreign powers to accelerate the evacuation effort.
China has said Afghanistan must not become a "gathering place" for terrorism again and should be supported in its resolute fight against the scourge after the Taliban insurgents swept to power in the war-torn country.
China has been striking what observers call a nuanced stand on the evolving situation in Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban, calling on the militant group to shun terrorism and form an inclusive Islamic government with all parties and ethnic groups.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday Britain would work with the Taliban if necessary after the militants capture of Afghanistan, and defended his foreign minister who has come under fire for his handling of the situation.
"What I want to assure people is that our political and diplomatic efforts to find a solution for Afghanistan, working with the Taliban, of course if necessary, will go on," Johnson told media.
Johnson said the situation at Kabul airport, where thousands of desperate Afghans have thronged seeking exodus from the country, was getting "slightly better".
President Joe Biden was to speak Friday on the US evacuation from Afghanistan, as he tried to navigate the biggest crisis of his administration and prevent the Kabul debacle from derailing his ambitious agenda.
The Democrat's entire brand, from the election campaign to his first half year in office, has been based on restoring competency at home and respect for the United States abroad.
With the desperate and chaotic exit from Afghanistan challenging both those goals, Biden is scrambling to change the political narrative -- while also managing the life-or-death situation unfolding at Kabul's airport.
The US government does not know exactly how many Americans are currently in Afghanistan, the White House communications director said on Friday, even as it races to evacuate thousands of people from the chaotic Kabul airport, reported AFP.
"We don't have a precise number and there's a reason for that," Communications Director Kate Bedingfield told CNN, adding that is partly because the current count "includes people who may have left the country, who may have left over the course of the last six months."
Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan praised the conduct of the Taliban on Friday in the days since its takeover, saying there was no alternative to the terrorist group and resistance to it would fail, reported Reuters.
The comments by Ambassador Dmitry Zhirnov reflect efforts by Russia to deepen already well-established ties with the Taliban while stopping short, for now, of recognising them as the legitimate rulers of a country Moscow tried and failed to control before the Soviet Union withdrew its last forces in 1989.
NATO on Friday called on the Taliban to allow people being evacuated to leave Afghanistan, and vowed that the allies would remain in "close coordination" while operations continue, reported AFP.
The joint declaration by NATO's 30 member countries was made following an emergency videolink conference of their foreign ministers to discuss evacuation efforts and the next steps to take.
The names of 110 Uttarakhand natives stuck in Afghanistan have been sent to the Ministry of External Affairs by the state government, official sources here said on Friday.
On Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami's direction the administration has sent a list of 110 names to the MEA on the basis of information available with it so far, they said.
The list has been sent with a request that any information about them should also be shared with the state government, the sources said.
Britain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Friday defied demands to quit after failing to make a telephone call to help translators fleeing Afghanistan, saying the Taliban's rapid advance made contact impossible, reported AFP.
Raab was on holiday in Crete when his office was advised to call his Afghan counterpart to urge him to help evacuate local translators who had helped British forces.
But the call was never made, leading to demands that Raab quit and accusations that Britain had abandoned the translators.
A German civilian was shot on his was to Kabul airport but is not in a life-threatening condition and will soon be flown out of Afghanistan, a German government spokeswoman said on Friday.
"A German civilian suffered a gunshot wound on his way to Kabul airport. He is receiving medical attention, but his life is not in danger and he will be flown out soon," the spokeswoman told a regular government news conference in Berlin.
Pakistan's Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan has said that Islamabad was in contact with the Taliban, adding that it wished for an inclusive government in the neighbouring country.
"We are in contact with the Taliban," Khan said in an interview, reported The News International.
"Our special envoy was in contact with them in Qatar, and Mullah Baradar and other leaders of the Taliban held talks with us there. We had also spoken to the Afghan delegation, which Abdullah Abdullah was leading," he added.
The Taliban did not want India to evacuate diplomats from its Kabul embassy, sources told NDTV today, indicating that the government had received messages from the group's Qatar office assuring them of the safety of Indian staff and security personnel.
These messages - sent from the office of Abbas Stanikzai, the chief of the Taliban's political unit - were routed via contacts in Kabul and Delhi, and were delivered before the embassy evacuations.
The Taliban entered at least two of India's consulates in Afghanistan on Wednesday, searched for documents and took away parked cars, government sources said today, expressing worry that it meant the group is acting against the assurances its leaders have been giving to the world.
Members of the Taliban "ransacked" the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Herat, which are closed, according to the sources. They "searched closets" in Kandahar for papers and took away vehicles parked at both the consulates.
As the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Devi Sharan, Captain of the Air India flight IC 814, which was hijacked in December 1999 by the Taliban in Kandahar, said there was no change in the visuals (as seen on television) of Afghanistan now from what he could recall seeing through the cockpit of the hijacked flight during that time.
Speaking to ANI, Mr Sharan said, "I do not think that there is much difference in 20 years. The only difference is that maybe now they seem to be a little educated. People, who had surrounded our aircraft, were not polished."
