Flag-waving protesters took to the streets of several Afghan cities today as popular opposition to the Taliban spread, and a witness said several people were killed when the terrorists fired on a crowd.
"Our flag, our identity," a crowd of men and some women waving black, red and green national flags shouted in the capital Kabul, a video clip posted on social media showed, on the day Afghanistan celebrates its 1919 independence from British control.
The Taliban have presented a moderate face to the world since they marched into Kabul on Sunday, saying they want peace, will not take revenge against old enemies and will respect the rights of women within the framework of Islamic law.
In Asadabad, capital of the eastern province of Kunar, several people were killed during a rally but it was not clear if the casualties resulted from Taliban firing or from a stampede that it triggered, witness Mohammed Salim said.
Here are the Highlights on Afghanistan-Taliban crisis:
Foreign ministers from the G7 countries on Thursday urged the Taliban to provide safe passage for those trying to flee Kabul, in the group's first formal statement on the crisis.
The ministers "called for the Taliban to guarantee safe passage to foreign nationals and Afghans wanting to leave", according to Britain's foreign office.
G7 countries are "continuing efforts to do everything possible to evacuate vulnerable persons from Kabul airport", they added.
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.
The world should guide and support Afghanistan as it transitions to a new government instead of putting more pressure on it, China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Thursday in a call with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
The situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has retaken power 20 years after it was forced out by a US-led invasion, remains unstable and uncertain, Wang was quoted as saying by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Afghan Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said on Thursday China could contribute to the development of Afghanistan in the future, Chinese state media reported.
Suhail Shaheen made the remark in an interview with China's state CGTN television, it said.
An Afghan woman journalist has said she was barred from working at her TV station after the Taliban took control of the country, and pleaded for help in a video posted online.
Wearing a hijab and showing her office card, well-known news anchor Shabnam Dawran said "our lives are under threat" in the clip on social media.
Under the Taliban's regime from 1996 to 2001, women were excluded from public life, girls could not attend school, entertainment was banned and brutal punishments were imposed.
BJP MP Maneka Gandhi on Thursday said the Taliban is a threat to the world and doesn't respect women.
She said it is unfortunate that a country like Afghanistan, which has been self-sufficient for centuries, will have to fight again.
"The Taliban is a threat to the whole world. Earlier also they they could not give any good result by fighting. We don't think they will have improved. The Taliban is very dangerous," she said while talking to reporters on a three-day visit to her constituency.
Canada is temporarily closing its embassy in Kabul after evacuating staff ahead of Taliban fighters' arrival in the Afghan capital, the Foreign Ministry in Ottawa announced Sunday.
The ministry said in a statement that Canadian personnel were already on their way back to Canada.
"Canada firmly condemns the escalating violence, and we are heartbroken at the situation the Afghan people find themselves in today," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Britain's operation to evacuate its nationals and protected individuals stepped up on Thursday, with planes landing in Dubai before passengers travel on to the UK, reported AFP.
At Dubai's Al-Maktoum airport, a Royal Air Force transport plane carrying evacuees from Afghanistan took off around 1040 GMT with another batch of UK-bound passengers due in from Kabul shortly afterwards, an AFP correspondent reported.
Dozens of people, many with large rucksacks, waited at one of the airport's departure gates ahead of boarding what they hoped will be a flight to safety.
Flag-waving protesters took to the streets of several Afghan cities today as popular opposition to the Taliban spread, and a witness said several people were killed when the terrorists fired on a crowd.
Wali Salek was at home with his family in Kabul on Monday when they heard a loud sound from the roof.
"It was like a truck tyre exploding," said the 49-year-old security guard. He rushed three flights up to the terrace and found, to his horror, two bodies.
The skulls had cracked open and the stomach spilling out.
His wife fainted at the sight.
Kabul airport has become a picture of chaos and desperation after the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban.
As per the reports of Sky News, in a heartbreaking incident, desperate Afghan women were seen throwing their babies over the razor wire of the Kabul airport compound.
A senior British officer told Stuart Ramsay from Sky News that they can hear the sound of shouting, the noise of desperation as thousands of people are flooding towards Kabul airport that will, for some, be the gateway to freedom - and for many others, the end of a dream of escaping the Taliban.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is the most important geopolitical event since Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Thursday, reported AFP.
Josep Borrell told the European Parliament major worries included a possible surge in refugees and increasing complexity in Central Asia -- with Turkey, China and Russia all vying to increase their influence in the region.
Borrell reiterated that the EU was being forced to "establish channels of communication" with the Taliban to ensure the evacuation of its nationals and Afghan staff and their families.
The son of Afghanistan's most famed anti-Taliban fighter says he has the forces to mount an effective resistance, but called on the United States to supply arms and ammunition to his militia.
In an op-ed published Wednesday in The Washington Post, Ahmad Massoud said "America can still be a great arsenal of democracy" by supporting his fighters.
"I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father's footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban," he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will return to India on Friday and not travel onwards to Mexico, Panama and Guyana in view of the developments in Afghanistan, sources said.
India on Tuesday rushed back home its ambassador Rudrendra Tandon and staff from the embassy in Kabul in a military transport aircraft following escalating tension, fear and uncertainty gripping the Afghan capital after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on Sunday.
Nations must respect the rule of law , not violence. Afghanistan is too big for Pakistan to swallow and too big for Talibs to govern. Don't let your histories have a chapter on humiliation and bowing to terror groups. https://t.co/nNo84Z7tEf
- Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) August 19, 2021
