An Afghan family enter into Pakistan through a border crossing point, in Chaman, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. (AP)Afghanistan-Taliban crisis Highlights: The United States on Saturday advised Americans in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport as thousands thronged the place trying to flee the country almost a week after the Taliban took control of the south Asian nation.
Meanwhile, a Taliban official denied abduction of any foreigner by the Islamist militant group, however, stating that some were being questioned before leaving Afghanistan. As several countries struggled to ramp up evacuations in Afghanistan amid chaos, there were reports of the Taliban kidnapping foreigners. “Our fighters will continue to demonstrate restraint,” news agency Reuters quoted the Taliban official as saying. Ruling out incidents of reported kidnappings, he added, “We are questioning some of them before they exit the country.”
A group of 72 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were stopped by the Taliban from boarding an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane to India. An IAF C-130J transport aircraft took off from Kabul with around 85 Indians, PTI reported. It landed in Dushanbe in Tajikistan for refuelling, before making its way to New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Taliban are likely to unveil a new governing framework for Afghanistan within the next few weeks, a spokesperson said on Saturday. “Legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban aim to present the new governing framework in the next few weeks,” the official told Reuters. Since returning to power in the country, the Taliban has sought to present a more moderate face. The co-founder of the militant group, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government.
The Taliban will be accountable for its actions and will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by members, an official of the Islamist militant group told Reuters on Saturday.
The ongoing evacuation of US citizens and Afghan nationals who supported Americans over the last two decades is one of the largest and most difficult airlifts in history, US President Joe Biden said Friday. He had earlier pledged to bring back all Americans from the country, which descended into a state of chaos after the Taliban’s return to power.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has found refuge in the United Arab Emirates. (File photo from Facebook/Ashraf Ghani/via REUTERS)
Forces holding out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan say they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.
Defence Minister General Bismillah Mohammadi, who has vowed to resist the Taliban, said in a tweet that the districts of Deh Saleh, Bano and Pul-Hesar in the neighbouring province of Baghlan to the north of Panjshir had been taken.
It was not immediately clear what forces were involved but the incident adds to scattered indications of opposition to the Taliban who swept to power in a lightning campaign that saw them take all of Afghanistan’s main cities in a week. Read more
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday spoke to his German counterpart Heiko Maas on the latest developments in Afghanistan and challenges relating to emergency evacuation from Kabul. "Appreciate the call from Foreign Minister @HeikoMaas of Germany. Discussed the evacuation challenges in Afghanistan and the policy implications of the changes there," Jaishankar tweeted. --PTI
The United States on Saturday advised Americans in Afghanistan to avoid travelling to Kabul airport as thousands thronged the place trying to flee the country almost a week after the Taliban took control of the south Asian nation, Reuters reported.
France's says it has evacuated over 570 people, including at least 407 Afghan citizens, from Kabul onboard its military aircraft since Monday. In a statement, the Defense Ministry added that a fourth evacuation plane landed Friday evening in Paris, carrying 4 French citizens and 99 Afghans, mostly people who worked with the French government or French groups in Afghanistan. --AP
For people with family members trying to get out of Afghanistan, recent days have brought a frantic mix of fear and frustration. In west London, many relatives are doing what they can: seeking advice and information from the Afghanistan & Central Asian Association. The organization was set up to support refugees 20 years ago, the same year a U.S.-led international force drove the Taliban from power after the 9/11 attacks. --AP
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK's diplomatic efforts to find a solution in Afghanistan remain ongoing, which leaves open the prospect of working with the Taliban "if necessary". Speaking to the media after an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms (COBRA) meeting to discuss the crisis in the region on Friday, Johnson said "formidable" challenges remain around the evacuation of British nationals and supporters from Kabul airport but the situation was getting "slightly better". "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 and our commitment to Afghanistan is lasting," Johnson said. --PTI
Days after vowing to respect women’s rights in Afghanistan, Taliban officials in the restive Herat province have banned co-education in government and private universities, describing it as the ‘root of all evils in society’.
The decision was taken after a meeting between varsity professors, owners of private institutions, and Taliban authorities, Khaama Press News Agency reported on Saturday.
This is the first ‘fatwa’ issued by the Taliban after its swift takeover of Afghanistan last week. Capital Kabul’s capture on Sunday signified the end of the US’s longest war, launched after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Read more
National Reconciliation Council chairperson Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai met Abdul Rahman Mansoor, the acting Taliban governor for Kabul, and discussed the priority of protecting people's lives and property.
A Taliban official on Saturday denied abduction of any foreigner by the Islamist militant group, however, stating that some are being questioned before leaving Afghanistan. As several countries struggled to ramp up evacuations in Afghanistan amid chaos just a week after Taliban took over the south Asian nation, there were reports of the Taliban kidnapping foreigners. "Our fighters will continue to demonstrate restraint," news agency Reuters quoted the Taliban official as saying. Ruling out incidents of reported kidnappings, he added, "We are questioning some of them before they exit the country."
Fourteen people were arrested from across Assam for alleged social media posts supporting the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, police said on Saturday.
The arrests were made since Friday night and they have been booked under different sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IT Act and CrPC, a senior police officer said. "We were on alert and monitoring social media for inflammatory posts," the officer said. Two people each were arrested from Kamrup Metropolitan, Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj districts, police said. (PTI)
A group of 72 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were Saturday stopped by the Taliban from boarding an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane to India. An IAF C-130J transport aircraft took off from Kabul with around 85 Indians. It landed in Dushanbe in Tajikistan for refuelling, before making its way to New Delhi.
Taiwan's foreign minister accused China on Saturday of wanting to "emulate" the Taliban, saying the island that Beijing claims as sovereign Chinese territory did not wish to be subject to communism or crimes against humanity.
The rapid fall of the U.S.-backed Afghan government has sparked heated debate in Taiwan about whether they could suffer the same fate to a Chinese invasion, while state media in China has said Kabul's fate showed Taiwan it cannot trust Washington.Writing on Twitter in response to the U.S. State Department reiterating a call for China to stop pressuring the island, Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu expressed his thanks to the United States for upholding the wishes and best interests of Taiwan's people.
"They include democracy & freedom from communism, authoritarianism & crimes against humanity," Wu said. (Reuters)
The island kingdom of Bahrain has said it is "allowing flights to make use of Bahrain's transit facilities" amid the evacuations of Afghanistan. The kingdom made the announcement in a statement released early Saturday. Bahrain, in the Persian Gulf off Saudi Arabia, is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. The announcement comes as the U.S. faced issues Friday with its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar filling up with those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country. (AP)
The Taliban's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government, AFP reported.
"He will be in Kabul to meet jihadi leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up," a senior Taliban official told AFP.
An Indian Air Force C-130J transport aircraft took off from Kabul with over 85 Indians, ANI reported. The aircraft landed in Tajikistan for refuelling, sources said.
President Joe Biden made up his mind about Afghanistan months, really years, ago. For more than a decade, Biden advocated for an end to American involvement in Afghanistan. But he did so as something of an outsider, a senator whose ultimate power came in the form of a single vote on Capitol Hill or a vice president who advised another president.
But authority over America's longest war finally fell into Biden's hands this year and he insisted that the US withdraw from Afghanistan, settling on an August 31 deadline. And despite the rapid collapse of the Afghan government, spurring a humanitarian crisis and searing criticism at home and from traditional allies, he was resolute, at times defiant. He took responsibility and in turns leveled blame at his predecessor. (AP)
The Pakistan Cricket Board has put on hold a training camp that was scheduled to start on Saturday in Lahore and also the announcement of its squad for the One-Day series against Afghanistan next month in Sri Lanka.
With Taliban taking over the reins of Afghanistan and the country facing its worst crisis in last two decades, the PCB wants a confirmation from Afghanistan Cricket Board whether the series is on and only the will they announce the squad.
The series is due to begin on September 3 in Hambantota in Sri Lanka with the Sri Lanka board hosting the matches on behalf of the ACB. (PTI)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says 13 countries have thus far agreed to at least temporarily host at-risk Afghans evacuated from Afghanistan and a dozen more have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others. Blinken says in a Friday statement that potential Afghan refugees not already cleared for resettlement in the United States will be housed at facilities in Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda, Ukraine and Uganda. (AP)
On the outskirts of Pakistan's populous metropolitan city of Karachi is nestled a slum township, which in recent days is seeing an influx of Afghan families fleeing from the Taliban rule in the northern Kunduz province in conflict-ridden Afghanistan.
Located on the northern outskirts, just off the super highway outside Karachi, the Afghan basti (slum township), which is made up of concrete and mud houses and even has families residing in tarpaulin tents, is seeing more displaced Afghan families reaching here since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and also took over Kabul. (PTI)
The Taliban will be accountable for its actions and will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by members, an official of the Islamist militant group told Reuters on Saturday.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that the group planned to ready a new model for governing Afghanistan within the next few weeks.
It has been just a week since the Taliban completed a lighting fast takeover of the country, finally walking into Kabul last Sunday without firing a shot.Since then, individual Afghans and international aid and advocacy groups have reported harsh retaliation against protests, and roundups of those who formerly held government positions, criticised the Taliban or worked with Americans. (Reuters)
India should keep diplomatic channels open for talks with the Taliban, but move very cautiously towards legitimising it, former diplomat Gautam Mukhopadhyay said on Friday.
Speaking at a discussion organised by the Press Club of India, he said "a false narrative" is being built to project the Taliban as different from what the world saw in Afghanistan two decades ago. "We must talk to them. That is diplomacy.... We should be very careful in legitimising the Taliban," he said. (PTI)
A heart-rending video of a baby being handed to US marines over a barbed-wire fence at the Kabul airport surfaced on Friday, days after the Taliban siezed control of the country. In an explanation issued at a recent press briefing, the US Department of Defense said that the infant required medical attention and has been reunited with its family, the New York Times reported.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby on Friday said that the family asked US troops to give medical care to their child. Soon after the baby was treated at a Norwegian hospital, it was handed back to its family.
The Taliban aim to unveil a new governing framework for Afghanistan in the next few weeks, a spokesman for the Islamist movement said on Saturday, after the insurgents' swift takeover of the South Asian nation.
'Legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban aim to present the new governing framework in the next few
weeks,' the official told Reuters. (Reuters)
The Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) on Friday condemned the killing of an Afghan journalist's relative by Taliban fighters and called upon the international community to make every effort to stop such "barbarity".
It also hoped that the Taliban will keep its word and protect the freedom of press, not harass journalists, particularly women, and allow the media to do its work freely. Taliban fighters recently killed a family member of an Afghan journalist, who works for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
"The IWPC strongly condemns the targeted killing of journalists and their relatives in Afghanistan by the Taliban and calls upon the international community to make every effort to stop this barbarity," it said in a statement. (PTI)
The United States is going to retain a laser focus on its counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said Friday and warned the Taliban of a forceful response to any attack on American forces or disruption of its operations at the Kabul airport.
"We made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response,"Biden told reporters at a White House news conference. (PTI)
Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of the Afghan civil war into Pakistani territory, an American Inspector General has said, citing inputs from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"Pakistan continues to support peace talks while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban. According to the DIA, Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover into Pakistani territory," US Department of State Office of the Inspector General said in its latest quarterly report on Afghanistan. (PTI)
The strategic partnership between India and the United States is more critical than ever in containing the Taliban and preventing terrorism, an influential American lawmaker said Friday.
"The US-India strategic partnership is now even more critical in containing the Taliban and preventing terrorism," Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna said in a tweet. (PTI)
Taliban websites that delivered the victorious insurgents' official messages to Afghans and the world at large in five languages went offline abruptly Friday, indicating an effort to try to squelch them.
It is not immediately clear, though, why the sites in the Pashto, Urdu, Arabic, English and Dari languages went offline Friday. They had been shielded by Cloudflare, a San Francisco-based content delivery network and denial-of-service protection provider.
Cloudflare has not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment on the development, which was first reported by The Washington Post. The Cloudflare shield prevents the public from knowing who exactly hosts the sites. (AP)
Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of the Afghan civil war into Pakistani territory, an American Inspector General has said, citing inputs from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
"Pakistan continues to support peace talks while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban. According to the DIA, Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover into Pakistani territory," US Department of State Office of the Inspector General said in its latest quarterly report on Afghanistan. (PTI)
The United States is going to retain a laser focus on its counterterrorism mission in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden said Friday and warned the Taliban of a forceful response to any attack on American forces or disruption of its operations at the Kabul airport.
"We made clear to the Taliban that any attack, any attack on our forces or disruption of our operations at the airport will be met with a swift and forceful response,"Biden told reporters at a White House news conference.
"We're also keeping a close watch on any potential terrorist threat at or around the airport, including from the ISIS affiliates in Afghanistan," he said. (PTI)
The ongoing evacuation of US citizens and Afghan nationals who supported Americans over the last 20 years is one of the largest and most difficult airlifts in history, US President Joe Biden said here Friday.
He said the US has already evacuated more than 18,000 people since July and approximately 13,000 since its military airlift began on August 14.
This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history, and the only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America," Biden told reporters at a White House news conference. (PTI)
The UN food agency says it has been able to negotiate access with the Taliban to distribute aid in one provincial capital in Afghanistan but hasn't been able to resume food deliveries to three other provincial capitals it supplies.
The World Food Program, headquartered in Rome, has said that some 14 million people are facing severe hunger in the nation of some 39 million. A second drought in three years, combined with fighting, had afflicted Afghanistan even before the Taliban takeover of the country on Sunday. (AP)
The Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC) on Friday condemned the killing of an Afghan journalist's relative by Taliban fighters and called upon the international community to make every effort to stop such "barbarity".
It also hoped that the Taliban will keep its word and protect the freedom of press, not harass journalists, particularly women, and allow the media to do its work freely.
Taliban fighters recently killed a family member of an Afghan journalist, who works for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. (PTI)
President Joe Biden is pledging to Americans still trapped in Afghanistan: "We will get you home."
Biden's comments at a White House news conference Friday come as the U.S. government struggles to ramp up a massive airlift clearing Americans and other foreigners and vulnerable Afghans through the Kabul airport, rescuing them from a Taliban takeover of the country.
Biden is facing criticism for a chaotic and often violent scene outside the airport and crowds struggle to reach safety inside. (AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that other countries should not impose their own values on Afghanistan and that the reality was that the Taliban had taken control of most of the country, Reuters reported.
In his first remarks on the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, Putin also said he hoped that the Taliban would make good on its promises to restore order in Afghanistan and that it was important to prevent terrorists from getting into neighbouring.
In line with its historical ties with Afghan people, India will prioritise granting visas to civil society members, opinion makers, women activists, students and NGO workers from Afghanistan in view of the current situation in the country, people familiar with the development said on Friday.
Afghan people feeling threatened or facing the fear of persecution and those who supported India in rolling out various welfare and development projects will also be given priority for grant of visas, they said.
However, they said the government's immediate priority is to evacuate the stranded Indians from Kabul and arrangements are being made in coordination with the US and other partner countries to bring them home. (PTI)
Germany has said that the United States will use its Ramstein Air Base as a temporary transit point to transport people from Afghanistan seeking protection to the United States. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that the focus is on evacuating as many people from Kabul "as is possible under the very difficult circumstances" and that Germany is working closely with international partners.
The Taliban have appealed to the international community to recognise it amid growing resentment against it at home and abroad, even as the Afghan militant group sought to placate China, saying Beijing can play a 'big role' under its rule in the strife-torn country. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the international community should 'respect the will of the Afghan people' and officially recognise his group which has taken over power in Kabul. (PTI)
President Joe Biden, who is facing intense criticism over the chaotic push to get Americans and Afghan allies out of Afghanistan, will speak about the evacuation effort on Friday afternoon, the NYT said. The remarks, planned for 1 pm, come after days of tumult in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport since the Taliban took Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Most Afghans are unable to leave their homeland and those who may be in danger “have no clear way out”, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. “The vast majority of Afghans are not able to leave the country through regular channels,” Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said during a media briefing.
Spain's defence minister says the country's military transport planes are leaving Kabul partly empty because chaos at the city's airport is preventing Afghans from evacuating.
According to AP, Defence Minister Margarita Robles today said that one Afghan family taken out by Spain had left behind a daughter they lost in the airport crush.
She told Spanish public radio RNE that an ideal solution would be to set up corridors into the airport, but that’s impossible because “nobody’s in control of the situation.”
An Afghan official familiar with talks with the Taliban told the Associated Press that the group does not plan to make any decisions or announcements about the upcoming government until after the August 31 US withdrawal date passes.
The official, who is not authorised to give information to the media and thus spoke anonymously, says Taliban lead negotiator Anas Haqqani has told his ex-government interlocutors that the group has a deal with the US “to do nothing” until after the final withdrawal date passes.
He did not elaborate on whether the reference to doing nothing was only in the political field.
The Vatican’s newspaper is calling on the international community to welcome Afghan civilians fleeing the Taliban. According to AP, in a front-page article in the Friday edition of L’Osservatore Romano, deputy editor Gaetano Vallini said the West was obliged to urgently remedy the situation with concrete action and welcome refugees to avoid a “catastrophic humanitarian emergency.”
A German man was shot while traveling to the airport in Kabul and is being treated, DW reported citing a government spokesperson. The person, described as a civilian, is being treated and is not in a life-threatening condition. "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," deputy government spokesperson Ulrike Demmer said.
According to the Associated Press, Friday prayers were uneventful in Kabul, with no Taliban gunmen seen guarding the entrances of mosques or enforcing dress code restrictions as they have in the past. Some mosques even saw higher numbers than normal in attendance.
The Taliban had issued guidance to imams around Afghanistan yesterday, saying they should use the weekly sermons and prayers to appeal for unity, urge people not to flee the country, and to counter “negative propaganda” about them.
Taliban fighters tortured and killed members of an ethnic minority (Hazaras) in Afghanistan after recently overrunning their village, Amnesty International said.
The rights group said that its researchers spoke to eyewitnesses in Ghazni province who recounted how the Taliban killed nine Hazara men in the village of Mundarakht on July 4-6. It said six of the men were shot, and three were tortured to death.
The brutality of the killings was “a reminder of the Taliban’s past record, and a horrifying indicator of what Taliban rule may bring,” said Agnes Callamard, the head of Amnesty International.
More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, news agency Reuters reported citing a NATO official on Friday. Thousands of people, desperate to flee the country, were still thronging the airport, the official who declined to be identified told Reuters, even though the Taliban have urged people without legal travel documents to go home.
Pakistan's state-run airline has resumed special flights for Kabul, in order to evacuate Pakistanis and foreigners stranded in Afghanistan.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry in a tweet said Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will send its two planes to the Afghan capital on Friday to evacuate 350 passengers. Chaudhry says Pakistan's interior ministry is also facilitating the evacuation of Pakistanis and foreigners from Afghanistan through border crossings.
The latest development comes days after PIA halted all flights to Kabul to protect passengers, the crew and the planes after consulting the Afghan civil aviation authorities. (AP)
BJP councillor and South Delhi Municipal Corporation's (SDMC) central zone chairman has urged the civic body to open its community halls and schools for people coming from Afghanistan following the political turmoil in the country.
Rajpal Singh, chairman SDMC's central zone, in a letter to civic body's commissioner Gyanesh Bharti said many individuals and families, including Hindus and Sikhs, are coming to India from Afghanistan after a crisis like situation there.
Singh said a sizeable number of Afghans live in areas like Lajpat Nagar, Amar Colony and Bhogal and they have businesses here. (PTI)
Thousands of people, desperate to flee Afghanistan, are still thronging to the Kabul airport. More than 18,000 people have been flown out of the capital city since the Taliban took over, said a NATO official.
About two dozen US diplomats in Afghanistan sent an internal cable last month warning Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the potential fall of Kabul to the Taliban as U.S. troops withdrew from the country, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The newspaper said the confidential cable sent through a so-called dissent channel was signed on July 13 and offered recommendations on ways to mitigate the crisis and accelerate an evacuation. US officials declined to confirm specific details or share the contents of the cable.
"I think the cable reflects what we've said all along, which is nobody had this exactly right in predicting that the government and army of Afghanistan were going to collapse in a matter of days," White House deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer told CNN. A source familiar with the situation said the State Department took on board the concerns of those who drafted the cable, including by condemning the Taliban's atrocities ahead of the group seizing the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said diplomats' views shared with Blinken through the channel were incorporated into policy and planning."We value constructive internal dissent. It’s patriotic. It’s protected. And it makes us more effective," Price said. (Reuters)
Faced with a potential new migration wave from Afghanistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on European nations Thursday to shoulder the responsibility for Afghans fleeing the Taliban and warned that his country won’t become Europe’s refugee warehouse.
In a televised address following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan also said his government would if necessary engage in talks with a government that could be formed by the Taliban for the stability and security of this country. (Read more)
The Taliban have pledged that women in Afghanistan will have rights “within the bounds of Islamic law,” or Shariah, under their newly established rule. But it is not clear what that will mean.
Shariah leaves considerable room for interpretation. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the past, they imposed a strict one, barring women from working outside the home or leaving the house without a male guardian, eliminating schooling for girls, and publicly flogging people who violated the group’s morality code.
The insurgents have not yet said how they intend to apply it now. But millions of Afghan women fear a return to the past ways. (Read more)
The air force of Indonesia has evacuated 26 of its citizens from Afghanistan, its foreign minister said on Friday.
Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim majority country, picked up 33 people in total on a plane that was now headed home via Pakistan, foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Twitter.
"The plane is now in Islamabad to continue on to Indonesia," she said, adding there were 26 Indonesians aboard, including embassy staff, plus five Filipinos and two Afghan nationals. (Reuters)
Afghan karate champion Meena Asadi pounds the heavy bag as part of her training routine, but she fears female athletes still in her homeland may have already lost their fight to compete now that the Taliban are back in power.
Meena left Afghanistan when she was 12 and went to Pakistan, where she started karate training and later represented Afghanistan in the 2010 South Asian Games.She returned to Kabul the next year and opened a fight club, but was forced to flee a second time due to violence and ended up in Indonesia with her husband and then 1-year-old daughter.
"I feel miserable. I lost my hope and the people of my country lost their hope, too," Meena told Reuters.
The Taliban are targeting their opponents and their families, including those who worked with US and NATO, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The reports deepen fears that the group, which initially projected a moderate face, were reneging on pledges of tolerance.
The Taliban have been conducting 'targeted door-to-door visits' of people who worked with US and NATO forces, according to a confidential document by the UN's threat assessment consultants seen by AFP.
The Taliban are targeting their opponents and their families, including those who worked with US and NATO, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The reports deepen fears that the group, which initially projected a moderate face, were reneging on pledges of tolerance.
The Taliban have been conducting "targeted door-to-door visits" of people who worked with US and NATO forces, according to a confidential document by the UN's threat assessment consultants seen by AFP.
Over two dozen Republican senators on Thursday sought accountability from the Biden administration over US military equipment that landed into the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"As we watched the images coming out of Afghanistan as the Taliban retook the country, we were horrified to see US equipment "including UH-60 Black Hawks" in the hands of the Taliban," Republican Senators wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
In the letter, Senators Bill Cassidy, Marco Rubio and 23 Senate Republicans asked the Biden administration to account for taxpayer-funded American military equipment that may have fallen into the Taliban's hands. (PTI)
An Afghan national team footballer died in a fall from a US plane at Kabul airport on Monday, the Afghan news agency Ariana said on Thursday.
Ariana said Zaki Anwari fell from a USAF Boeing C-17 and that the death had been confirmed by the General Directorate for Sport. (Read more)