Afghanistan Highlights: Biden defends Afghanistan exit, calls US evacuation ‘extraordinary success’

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledge that the Afghan military and government forces collapsed much faster than anticipated, but the US forces were prepared for this. “We were ready when the Afghan security forces…did not hold on as long as anyone expected,” he said.

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday addressed the nation and thanked the US military for their work in evacuating people since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. “No nation has ever done anything like it in all of history,” he highlighted.

The evacuation of over 120,000 people from Kabul, Biden says, would not have been possible without the skill, bravery and selfless courage of the American troops.

United States President Joe Biden will address the nation after ending its 20 year military presence in Afghanistan. Watch the address live here. 

Amid the escalating crisis in Afghanistan each day, United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned of a "catastrophe" in the country and called for humanitarian assistance from the world.

Carrying his rifle down by his side, Major General Chris Donahue, commander of the storied 82nd Airborne Division, became the last US soldier to board the final flight out of Afghanistan a minute before midnight on Monday.

Taken with a night vision device from a side window of the C-17 transport plane, the ghostly green and black image of the general striding toward the aircraft waiting on the tarmac at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport was released by the Pentagon hours after the United States ended its 20-year military presence in Afghanistan.

As a moment in history, the image of Donahue’s departure could be cast alongside that of a Soviet general, who led an armoured column across the Friendship Bridge to Uzbekistan, when the Red Army made its final exit from Afghanistan in 1989. More details here.

France says “a few dozen” French nationals remain in Afghanistan, including some who wanted to be evacuated but could not as the last flight left Kabul.

Defense Ministry spokesman Herve Grandjean said in a news conference Tuesday that “all efforts are being done” to allow those left behind to get “a safe and orderly evacuation.”

He said “that is the goal of the talks under way within the United Nations framework with the Taliban power.” (AP)

Canada said on Tuesday it would take in and resettle some 5,000 Afghan refugees who had been evacuated by the United States after the withdrawal of the last American troops after almost two decades of war. "We're pulling out all the stops to help as many Afghans as possible who want to make their home in Canada," Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"Over the weekend, Canada and its allies received assurances from the Taliban that Afghan citizens with travel authorization from other countries would be safely allowed to leave Afghanistan," he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that the discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit India also came up. India also raised its concern that Afghanistan's soil should not be used for anti-Indian activities and terrorism in any manner.

The Ministry of External Affairs Tuesday said that the Indian envoy in Qatar Deepak Mittal met Taliban leader Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai in Doha. “Discussions focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan. The travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, who wish to visit to India also came up,” it said in a statement.

Doctors at Poland’s main children’s hospital said Tuesday that they will carry out a liver transplant on a 6-year-old Afghan boy who ate highly poisonous mushrooms with his family. However, his 5-year-old brother is in a coma and they are carrying out tests to establish if he is brain dead.

The boys and their older sister, recently evacuated from Afghanistan, were hospitalized last week. The family picked and ate highly poisonous death cap mushrooms in the forest near the center where they were accommodated in Podkowa Lesna, near Warsaw. More details here.

Afghanistan will form a government within days, Pakistan's foreign minister said on Tuesday, after weeks of uncertainty following the Taliban's conquest of the country. "We expect that a consensus government will be formed in the coming days in Afghanistan," Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted as saying by Reuters in Islamabad.

For the first time since 2001, there are no American troops in Afghanistan after the United States completed the evacuation of most of its citizens and thousands of at-risk Afghans. More than 114,000 people have been airlifted from Kabul airport in the past two weeks as part of the US effort. But the end of the US military involvement in Afghanistan raises a new set of questions for Biden and his administration. Click here to read our explainer.

Fahim Dashti, a spokesman for the National Resistance Forces, a group loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, told Reuters that the fighting occurred on the western entrance to the valley where Taliban attacked NRF positions. 

He said the attack, which may have been a probe to test the valley's defences, was repulsed with eight Taliban killed and a similar number wounded, while two members of the NRF forces were wounded. News agency Reuters said it was not immediately possible to reach a Taliban spokesman for comment.

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

Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, the Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Taliban, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces.

Japan's top diplomat says his country has temporarily moved its embassy from Afghanistan to Turkey but now plans to relocate it to Qatar, where the Taliban have an office. 

According to AP, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi earlier this month visited the Middle East. He told reporters on Tuesday that his talks with leaders in the region suggest that Doha, the capital of Qatar, will carry growing political importance.

The Gulf Arab country is also expected to play an important political role in what comes next for Afghanistan.

A high-level group comprising External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval and a number of other senior officials is focusing on India's immediate priorities in Afghanistan following the drawdown of American forces from the country after 20 years of presence. Official sources said on Tuesday that the group has been meeting regularly over the last few days following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India's immediate priorities have been the safe return of the Indians still in Afghanistan, bringing back the Afghan nationals who stood by New Delhi, and ensuring that Afghan soil is not used for terrorism directed at India 'In view of the evolving situation in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently directed that a high-level group comprising of External Affairs Minister, the National Security Adviser and senior officials focus on the immediate priorities of India,' said a source. (PTI)

The Taliban triumphantly marched into Kabul's international airport on Tuesday, hours after the final U.S. troop withdrawal that ended America's longest war. Standing on the tarmac, Taliban leaders pledged to secure the country, quickly reopen the airport and grant amnesty to former opponents.

In a show of control, turbaned Taliban leaders were flanked by the insurgents' elite Badri unit as they walked across the tarmac. The commandos in camouflage uniforms proudly posed for photos.

Getting the airport running again is just one of the sizeable challenges the Taliban face in governing a nation of 38 million people that for two decades had survived on billions of dollars in foreign aid. (AP)

CALIBRATING its response to overtures Sunday by Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, New Delhi is keenly aware of the power structure emerging in the region.

Officials told The Indian Express that much before the Taliban takeover, India was being reminded by Russia of the need to come to terms with the shifting sands in Afghanistan.

China made its stand public when Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjin on July 28. “The Afghan Taliban,” Wang said, “is an important political and military force… expected to play an important role in the country’s peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process.” Read More

As the final five U.S. military transport aircraft lifted off out of Afghanistan, they left behind up to 200 Americans and thousands of desperate Afghans who couldn't get out and now must rely on the Taliban to allow their departure.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. will continue to try to get Americans and Afghans out of the country, and will work with Afghanistan's neighbors to secure their departure either over land or by charter flight once the Kabul airport reopens.

"We have no illusion that any of this will be easy, or rapid," said Blinken, adding that the total number of Americans who are in Afghanistan and still want to leave may be closer to 100.

Pakistan on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of allowing the long-term presence of US troops coming from Afghanistan in Islamabad, saying the American forces' stay in the country would be for a limited period.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's response came after pictures of US troops at Islamabad airport circulated on social media, sparking rumours about a possible long-term presence of American forces on Pakistani soil.

The minister told the Dawn newspaper that the foreigners came to Pakistan after evacuation from Afghanistan and their stay would be for a limited period and have been issued transit visas ranging from 21 to 30 days.

With the final stream of U.S. cargo planes soaring over the peaks of the Hindu Kush, President Joe Biden fulfilled a campaign promise to end America's longest war, one it could not win.

But as the war ended with a chaotic, bloody evacuation that left stranded hundreds of U.S. citizens and thousands of Afghans who had aided the American war effort, the president kept notably out of sight. He left it to a senior military commander and his secretary of state to tell Americans about the final moments of a conflict that ended in resounding American defeat. 

Biden, for his part, issued a written statement praising U.S. troops who oversaw the airlift of more than 120,000 Afghans, U.S. citizens and allies for their "unmatched courage, professionalism, and resolve." He said he would have more to say on Tuesday.

The Taliban held full control of Kabul's international airport Tuesday after the last US plane left its runway, marking the end of America's longest war and leaving behind a now-quiet airfield and Afghans outside it still hoping to flee the insurgents' rule. 

Vehicles raced back and forth along the Hamid Karzai International Airport's sole runway on the northern military side of the airfield. Before dawn broke, heavily armed Taliban fighters walked through hangars on the military side, passing some of the seven CH-46 helicopters the State Department used in its evacuations before rendering them unflyable. 

Taliban leaders later symbolically walked across the runway, marking their victory. "The world should have learned their lesson and this is the enjoyable moment of victory," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a livestream posted by a militant. (AP)

The UN Security Council, under India's Presidency, adopted a strong resolution demanding that territory of Afghanistan not be used to threaten any country or shelter terrorists and that it expects the Taliban will adhere to commitments made by it on regarding the safe and orderly departure from the country of Afghans and all foreign nationals.

The Security Council on Monday adopted the resolution sponsored by France, UK and the US with 13 members voting in favour, none against and permanent, veto-wielding members Russia and China abstaining. This was the first resolution adopted by the powerful 15-nation Council on the situation in Afghanistan following the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban and came on the penultimate day of India's Presidency of the Security Council for the month of August.

Celebratory gunfire echoed across Kabul as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn on Tuesday following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, ending 20 years of war that left the Islamic militia stronger than it was in 2001.Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters entering the airport after the last U.S. troops took off a minute before midnight, marking the end of a hasty and humiliating exit for Washington and its NATO allies."The last U.S. soldier has left Kabul airport and our country gained complete independence," Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf said, according to Al Jazeera TV. (Reuters)

The Taliban have to earn international legitimacy and support, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. He said the group can do this by meeting its commitments and obligations.

"The Taliban seek international legitimacy and support. Our message is: any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned," Blinken said in an address to the nation hours after the US concluded its mission to Afghanistan early Tuesday.

"The Taliban can do that by meeting commitments and obligations -- on freedom of travel; respecting the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women and minorities; upholding its commitments on counterterrorism; not carrying out reprisal violence against those who choose to stay in Afghanistan; and forming an inclusive government that can meet the needs and reflect the aspirations of the Afghan people," he said.

In the hours before the Taliban walked into Kabul, and the two-decade quest to build a democratic Afghanistan tumbled into fear and uncertainty, I left my parents’ home to take a bus around the city. This was not a reporting outing. It was personal.

I had woken up that morning, Aug. 15, with a feeling that the window on Kabul as my generation knew it was closing. City after city had fallen to the Taliban, at such dizzying speed that my colleagues reporting on the war could not keep up. As the map changed, the possibilities for the capital were down to two: Kabul would get turned into rubble again in a stubborn quest to save those in power, or Kabul would fall to extremists who, when last in power, had ruled with oppression and banished some of the most basic liberties. Read full story here

Kabul airport is without air traffic control services now that the U.S. military has withdrawn from Afghanistan, and U.S. civil aircraft are barred from operating over the country unless given prior authorization, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday.

The FAA said in a statement that "due to both the lack of air traffic services and a functional civil aviation authority in Afghanistan, as well as ongoing security concerns, U.S. civil operators, pilots, and U.S.-registered civil aircraft are prohibited from operating at any altitude over much of Afghanistan.

"Earlier this month, the U.S. military said it had assumed air traffic control responsibilities in Kabul to facilitate the evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan.

Less than 40% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden's handling of the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and three quarters wanted U.S. forces to remain in the country until all American civilians could get out, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday.The national survey, conducted Aug. 27-30, found that 51% disapproved of Biden's approach to the pullout while 38% approved.

Six Afghan refugee families who had resettled in California only to end up stranded in their homeland during a summer visit that coincided with the U.S. troop withdrawal have made it safely out, San Diego-area school officials said on Monday.

At least one and perhaps two other Afghan immigrant families with students in the Cajon Valley Union School District east of San Diego remained stuck in Afghanistan. U.S. airlift evacuations from the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, came to an end on Monday.

The plight of the eight Cajon Valley school district families was disclosed last week by district officials. They initially reported six families - about 16 adults and 24 students - were stranded and that one of those families returned to California by last Wednesday.

The United Nations Security Council, under India's Presidency, adopted a resolution demanding that the Afghanistan territory should not be used to threaten or attack any country or to shelter and train terrorists.

The resolution said that it expects that the Taliban will adhere to commitments made by it regarding the safe, secure, and orderly departure from Afghanistan of Afghans and foreign nationals. The Council adopted the resolution proposed by France, the UK and the US with 13 Council members voting in favour and Russia and China abstaining.

This was the first resolution adopted by the Council on the situation in Afghanistan following the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban and came on the penultimate day of India's Presidency of the Security Council for the month of August.

The United States has begun a new diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as the US withdrew its last troops from the country ending the 20-year war in the South Asian nation. Blinken said the US has shut down its diplomatic mission in Kabul and moved the embassy to Doha in Qatar.

"Now, US military flights have ended, and our troops have departed Afghanistan. A new chapter of America's engagement with Afghanistan has begun.  It's one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission is over. A new diplomatic mission has begun," Blinken said in his address to the nation.

More than 1,23,000 people have been safely flown out of Afghanistan, including about 6,000 American citizens, he said.

America's 20-year-old military presence in Afghanistan has ended, President Joe Biden announced, hours after the United States withdrew all of its soldiers from the war-ravaged country.

"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended," he said, thanking armed forces for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled -- in the early hours of Tuesday (August 31) -- with no further loss of American lives.

Biden said he will address the nation on Tuesday. "For now, I will report that it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned. Their view was that ending our military mission was the best way to protect the lives of our troops, and secure the prospects of civilian departures for those who want to leave Afghanistan in the weeks and months ahead."

Ending the 20-year-old war in Afghanistan is a historic accomplishment of President Joe Biden, Indian-American Democratic leader Ajay Jain Bhutoria has said. Bhutoria has been one of the strongest supporters of Biden from the very first day of his presidential campaign.

"This is a historic accomplishment and milestone achievement by President Biden to put an end to this chaotic and 20 years long war," Bhutoria, who is from the Silicon Valley, said. He said Biden as a commander in chief successfully led troops and diplomats to carry out "this highly risky mission in Kabul with unparalleled results".

Never in history has a withdrawal from war been handled so badly or incompetently as by Americans from Afghanistan, former president Donald Trump has said as the United States flew its last military flight out of Kabul bringing back all of its armed forces from the country.

"Never in history has a withdrawal from war been handled so badly or incompetently as the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan," Trump said as the longest American war came to an end, with the Taliban regaining power in the country which they had lost after the American invasion weeks after the September 9/11 attacks.

"In addition to the obvious, ALL EQUIPMENT should be demanded to be immediately returned to the United States, and that includes every penny of the USD 85 billion dollars in cost," Trump said.

The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.

'I'm here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end of the mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals and vulnerable Afghans,' US Central Command Commander Marine Corps General Frank McKenzie told reporters through a virtual news conference.

'Every single US service member is now out of Afghanistan,' McKenzie said, announcing the formal end of America's longest war, less than a fortnight before the 20th anniversary of the September 9/11, in which Al Qaeda terrorists blew up the twin towers in New York.

President Joe Biden, in a statement issued just hours after the U.S. military completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, said on Monday the world will hold the Taliban to its commitment to allow safe passage for those to want to leave Afghanistan.Biden said he would address the American people on the withdrawal on Tuesday afternoon.

Calibrating its response to overtures Sunday by Taliban leader Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, New Delhi is keenly aware of the power structure emerging in the region. Officials told The Indian Express that much before the Taliban takeover, India was being reminded by Russia of the need to come to terms with the shifting sands in Afghanistan. China made its stand public when Foreign Minister Wang Yi met a Taliban delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Tianjin on July 28. “The Afghan Taliban,” Wang said, “is an important political and military force… expected to play an important role in the country’s peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process.” On August 11, four days before the fall of Kabul, the Extended Troika on Afghanistan, comprising Russia, China, Pakistan and the US, met in Qatar’s capital Doha. Read full story

A divided U.N. Security Council on Monday adopted a resolution calling on the Taliban to allow safe passage for those seeking to leave Afghanistan but did not mention the creation of a safe zone in Kabul, as suggested by the French president on Sunday.The resolution, which had 13 votes in favor and abstentions by Russia and China, also stressed the importance of maintaining humanitarian access, upholding human rights, reaching an inclusive political settlement and combating terrorism.

The United States on Monday completed a chaotic evacuation of its forces from Afghanistan nearly 20 years after it invaded in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.U.S.-backed forces ousted Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in retaliation for harboring the al Qaeda militant group blamed for those attacks, only to see the Taliban return to power after a lightning advance across Afghanistan this year. (Reuters)

Take a look at the Taliban fighters firing guns in the air to celebrate their victory as the last US evacuation flight left the Afghan soil.

After the last US flight evacuated from Afghanistan, Taliban fighters fired guns into the sky, celebrating their victory and independence after 20 years of US military presence. ' I cannot express my happiness in words, our 20 years of sacrifice worked,' Hemad Sherzad, a Taliban fighter stationed at Kabul International airport said.

United States’ military presence in Afghanistan, spanning over 20 years ended on Tuesday as its last evacuation flight left the Afghan soil, marking an end of its war in the country. The last flight out of Kabul, “is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan,” the head of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie said.

The announcement was made at a Pentagon news briefing after the last troops sent to evacuate Americans and Afghans at risk following the Taliban's return to power flew out of the capital Kabul.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged his counterparts from other countries on Monday to work together to provide safe passage out of Afghanistan for eligible Afghans still in the country, the ministry said.Raab also said the Taliban leadership should be judged on its actions and on whether people are allowed to leave, the Foreign Office said in a statement.Raab took part in a virtual meeting of foreign ministers and officials from the United States, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, NATO, Qatar and Turkey.

The Panjshir Valley is the last region not under Taliban control following their stunning blitz across Afghanistan. Local fighters held off the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban a decade later under the leadership of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a guerrilla fighter who attained near-mythic status before he was killed in a suicide bombing in 2001. 

The Pentagon says it remains prepared to airlift more Americans from the Kabul airport, even as the evacuation winds down. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters Monday “there is still time” for remaining Americans to get out. He would not be more specific about the state of the evacuation. He said a total of 5,400 Americans have been airlifted thus far. (AP)

Afghanistan's healthcare system is at risk of collapse, two major aid agencies told Reuters, after foreign donors stopped providing aid following the Taliban takeover.

"One of the great risks for the health system here is basically to collapse because of lack of support," said Filipe Ribeiro, Afghanistan representative for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), one of the largest medical aid agencies in the country. "The overall health system in Afghanistan is understaffed, under-equipped and underfunded, for years. And the great risk is that this underfunding will continue over time."

A plane provided by the government of Pakistan has brought medicine and health supplies from the World Health Organization to Afghanistan. WHO said Monday's shipment was the first of medical supplies to land in Afghanistan since the country came under control of the Taliban two weeks ago. The plane, which departed from Dubai, landed in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, fell to the Taliban on August 14, a day before Kabul.

WHO said the supplies included trauma kits and emergency health kits enough to cover the basic needs of more than 200,000 people, as well as treat 6,500 trauma patients. It said the supplies will be delivered to 40 health facilities in 29 provinces across Afghanistan. (AP)

A news report by Politico says that US commanders were prepared for a "mass casualty" attack at Kabul Airport and were planning to close gates at the airport last week, but chose to keep them open to allow the British to continue to evacuate.

The report says: "Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin instructed more than a dozen of the department’s top leaders around the world to make preparations for an imminent “mass casualty event,” according to classified detailed notes of the gathering shared with POLITICO."

"On a separate call at 4 that afternoon, or 12:30 a.m. on Thursday in Kabul, the commanders detailed a plan to close Abbey Gate by Thursday afternoon Kabul time. But the Americans decided to keep the gate open longer than they wanted in order to allow their British allies, who had accelerated their withdrawal timeline, to continue evacuating their personnel, based at the nearby Baron Hotel."

Over 200 people, including 13 US service members were killed in the explosion.

Amin-ul-Haq, a major al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, has returned to his native Nangarhar province after it fell to the Taliban, reports indicated. Amin-ul-Haq was a close aide to former al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who was killed in 2011 by US forces in Pakistan.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Kabul airport earlier today, the group's Nasher News said on its Telegram channel. "By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate targeted Kabul International Airport with six Katyusha rockets," it said. US anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets fired at Kabul's airport early morning.

The final US departure from Kabul airport is underway and "core diplomatic staff" have departed, a US official who left Kabul earlier on Monday told Reuters. A second official confirmed that the bulk of diplomats had pulled out.

The officials did not say whether they included top envoy Ross Wilson, expected to be among the last to leave. Washington is expected to withdraw all its diplomats from Kabul before pulling out the final troops by a Tuesday deadline.

Five months ago, 35-year-old Abadat left Afghanistan with her two teenage daughters for the Gulf fearing for their safety after a series of explosions rocked the neighbourhood where they lived. Now safely in the United Arab Emirates, Abadat fears for her family back in Afghanistan following the swift take over by the Taliban that culminated in the capture of Kabul on Aug. 15.

“I’m really scared for them and I wish I can help them and bring them to me or to any other country that is safe,” she said of her mother and three sisters, all Kabul residents.

The UAE, which sent troops to Afghanistan during the twenty-year war including to train Afghan forces, says it has facilitated the evacuation of at least 36,500 people from Afghanistan and that as of this week it was temporarily housing around 8,500 Afghans. Read the full report here.

Swiss journalist Franz Marty, who is in Kabul, said the mode of Monday's rocket attack, using a rocket launcher hidden in a car, was typical of the methods used by the extremist IS group. He said the airport had been the apparent target.

Marty told DW that the airport in Kabul was now largely closed off and that only US passport-holders and military personnel were being allowed in.

US and allied forces are rushing to complete their own withdrawal by a Tuesday deadline agreed with the Taliban, the militant Islamist group that is set to rule Afghanistan. 

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called for the protection of Afghans, whether they choose to stay in Amsterdam or seek to leave after the end of the evacuation mission.

"The airlifts out of Kabul will end in a matter of days, and the tragedy that has unfolded will no longer be as visible. But it will still be a daily reality for millions of Afghans," UNHCR chief said Filippo Grandi said in a statement.

"We must not turn away. A far greater humanitarian crisis is just beginning," he added.

According to DW, Grandi called for humanitarian assistance to people in Afghanistan and urged countries to open their borders to Afghans seeking protection.

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.

He also said no anti-national force should be allowed to encourage terrorism from across the border by taking advantage of the developments in Afghanistan.

Rajnath was addressing the third Balramji Dass Tandon memorial lecture organised by Panjab University on the issue of national security. Read the full report here.

Russia’s embassy in Kabul said on Monday it was laying on extra evacuation flights from Afghanistan, while Russian troops carried out military drills close to the Afghan border amid heightened regional security risks.

It was not clear whether the extra flights would continue past a Tuesday deadline agreed between US President Joe Biden and the Taliban for the withdrawal of the US troops who have led security at the airport since the Western-backed government collapsed. More details here.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul said on Monday that his country’s national carrier is setting up an airlift for medical supplies from the World Health Organization to Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

The diplomat, Mansoor Ahmad Khan, announced on Twitter that the state-run Pakistan International Airlines will serve as a humanitarian air bridge for essential supplies to Afghanistan, in coordination with international agencies. (AP)

US anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul’s airport earlier today. Afghan media reports said the rocket attack was mounted from the back of a vehicle and struck different parts of the Afghan capital.

According to AP, in the capital's Chahr-e-Shaheed neighbourhood, a crowd quickly gathered around the remains of a four-door sedan used by the attackers, which had what appeared to be six homemade rocket tubes mounted where the backseat should be. The Islamic State group and other militants routinely mount such tubes into vehicles and quietly transport them undetected close to a target.

The rockets landed across town in Kabul's Salim Karwan neighbourhood, striking residential apartment blocks, witnesses said. That neighbourhood is some 3 kilometres (1.86 miles) from the airport. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Parts of Afghanistan have warmed twice as much as the global average. Spring rains have declined, most worryingly in some of the country’s most important farmland. Droughts are more frequent in vast swaths of the country, including a punishing dry spell now in the north and west, the second in three years.

Afghanistan embodies a new breed of international crisis, where the hazards of war collide with the hazards of climate change, creating a nightmarish feedback loop that punishes some of the world’s most vulnerable people and destroys their countries’ ability to cope. (Read more)

Qatar played an outsized role in US efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan. Now the tiny Gulf Arab state is being asked to help shape what is next for Afghanistan because of its ties with both Washington and the Taliban, who are in charge in Kabul.

Qatar will be among global heavyweights on Monday when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosts a virtual meeting to discuss a coordinated approach for the days ahead, as the US completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country. The meeting will also include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the European Union and NATO.

Qatar has also reportedly been asked by the Taliban to provide civilian technical assistance at Kabul's international airport, once the US military withdrawal is complete on Tuesday. Authorities in Qatar have not commented on the reports. Meanwhile, international UN agencies are asking Qatar for help and support in delivering aid to Afghanistan. (AP)