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Afghanistan Taliban Crisis LIVE Latest Updates: 13,400 people evacuated from Afghanistan on Wednesday, says White House
Afghanistan News Live Updates, Afghanistan Taliban Crisis Latest Update Live, Kabul Latest Live News, Panjshir Live News, Kabul Rescue flights latest News: Taliban broke Doha accord, situation very critical - Modi govt at all party meet
US Air Force Airmen guides evacuees aboard a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. (AP Photo)
Taliban Afghanistan Crisis Latest Update Live, Kabul Latest Updates August 26 today: On August 17, 48 hours after the near bullet-free takeover, the Taliban held an unprecedented press conference in Kabul. As the world watched, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed that nobody needs to fear the Taliban regime. Talking about women and media, Zabihullah had said that if women live as per Sharia law, ‘they will be happy, we will be happy.’ For media, the Taliban said that the journalists shouldn’t show anything that is against the national interest.
A week since the media briefing, it seems that the façade of ‘normalcy’ is coming off. In a chilling reminder of its brutal past, a reporter was allegedly thrashed in the busy intersection of Kabul today. The reporter working with Tolo News took to Twitter to narrate his horrific encounter with the Taliban fighters.
Also Read: China, Taliban hold their first dialogue in Kabul
Ziar Khan Yaad said that the Taliban fighters came out of a Land Cruiser and started beating him up at gunpoint. He also said that he was simply reporting about the present situation. His personal phone, camera and other equipment were also taken away by the Taliban men, the reporter tweeted. He said that he is still not clear about the reason behind the attack. ‘No arrest made so far’, Yaad said on Twitter. He said that the attack his a serious threat to the ‘freedom of expression.’
Has the Taliban 2.0 changed from its 1990s avatar? Not much, if you see all the ground stories coming from Kabul. Now, Taliban spokesperson Zabihulla Mujahid has said that Afghan women should stay home. Reason? Because the Taliban fighters are not ‘trained to respect women’. Ever since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, women have been virtually banned from coming out and attending their offices. There are reports that the sale of burqas has gone up exponentially.
Also Read: India may consider talks with inclusive government in Afghanistan, experts
In Panjshir, the situation is very unclear. Since there is no credible information about the movement of the Northern Alliance forces, we still don’t know if the concerns of ‘civil war’ are far-fetched or it Afghanistan may plunge into a deeper crisis once the August 31st deadline expires.
Earlier in the day, as thousands of Afghans continue to flock to the Hamid Karzai International Airport ahead of the August 31st deadline in a hope of miraculous rescue by Western forces, the US has issued an alert for its citizens in and around Afghan capital city Kabul. In an alert issued today, the US Embassy says that the Americans should avoid the airport and those who have already reached the airport should leave ‘immediately’. The alert comes a day after US President Joe Biden had spoken about the imminent ISIS threat during his G7 meeting. Meanwhile, the Indian Air Force’s special flight is set to bring back another batch of evacuees from Kabul today.
Stay with us as we bring you the latest on the Afghanistan crisis:
Situation in Afghanistan "extremely complex", India has to explore independent and meaningful role in region, instead of playing part roles set by other nations, says former prime minister H D Deve Gowda (ANI)
Canada ends Afghanistan evacuation operations (AFP)
The security threat that prompted the State Department to urge Americans to move away from the perimeter of the Kabul airport was credible and urgent, the acting U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Thursday. Speaking to ABC News from Kabul, Ross Wilson said he could not discuss specifics of the threat or its current status. (AP)
Hundreds of Afghan families who have been camping in searing heat at a Kabul park after the Taliban overran their provinces begged for food and shelter on Thursday, the most visible face of a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the war-torn country.The Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan this month, culminating in the capture of Kabul on Aug. 15, has thrown the country into turmoil.While thousands of people have crowded the airport https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/western-nations-race-complete-afghan-evacuation-deadline-looms-2021-08-25 to try to flee, many others, like the families in the park, are stuck in limbo, unsure whether it is safer to try to go home or stay where they are. (Reuters)
Canada has ended evacuations from Kabul's airport, a Canadian general said on Thursday, as the clock ticks down on dramatic Western efforts to help people flee the Taliban takeover ahead of a full American withdrawal. General Wayne Eyre, the country's acting chief of Defence Staff, said all the other countries have to leave the airport before the Americans can wrap up their mission. Canadian military flights evacuated about 3,700 people. "We stayed in Afghanistan for as long as we could. We were amongst the last to cease evacuation operations. We wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone who was so desperate to leave. That we could not is truly heartbreaking, but the circumstances on the ground rapidly deteriorated," Eyre said. (AP)
The United States says as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan amid growing warnings Thursday of terrorist threats targeting the Kabul airport as President Joe Biden's deadline for withdrawing troops fast approaches. Untold thousands of at-risk Afghans are struggling to get into the airport even as many thousands of other Afghans already had been flown to safety in nearly two weeks of round-the-clock flights. The airlift continued Thursday despite warnings of vehicle-borne bomb threats near the airport. The White House said 13,400 people had been evacuated in the 24 hours that ended early Thursday morning Washington time. That included 5,100 people aboard U.S. military planes and 8,300 on coalition and partner aircraft. That was a substantial drop from the 19,000 airlifted by all means the day before. (AP)
The European Union still has a skeleton staff in Kabul working to evacuate people as the end of airlifts from the chaotic airport looms. A number of European nations have said that they are ending their evacuation efforts ahead of the August 31 deadline for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. (AP)
Russia has yet to determine its position towards the Taliban, and will see how they act toward the Afghan population and Russian diplomats, President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said on Thursday."We think that the Taliban's dominance, the de facto rise to power of the Taliban in Afghanistan and them taking most over the country under their control is de facto an accomplished process," Dmitry Peskov told a briefing. He said Moscow now wanted to see how this would translate into the security situation for the Afghan people and Russian diplomats in the country. Moscow is interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan and will likely continue contacts with Washington on issues arising there, he added. (Reuters)
Roughly 13,400 people were airlifted from Afghanistan on Wednesday, raising the total number of those evacuated by the U.S. and coalition partners since Aug. 14 to about 95,700, the White House said on Thursday. (Reuters)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday called for the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan and asked the international community for positive engagement with Kabul as a way forward to avert any humanitarian crisis and ensure peace and stability in the war-ravaged country. Khan made the comments during his meeting with Executive Director of United Nations World Food Program (WFP) David Beasley here. During the meeting, they discussed ways of facilitating the continued provision of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people. (PTI)
The foundation created by toymaker Lego and its parent company say they will donate 100 million kroner ($16 million) to support vulnerable children in Haiti and Afghanistan. ‘The humanitarian crises that are happening in Haiti and Afghanistan are unimaginable and only intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic,’ said Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, chairman of the LEGO Foundation. Since May 2021, more than 500,000 people have been displaced in Afghanistan. As for Haiti, the Aug. 14 violent earthquake that was followed by a tropical storm ‘has left half-a-million Haitian children with limited or no access to shelter, safe water, health care, and nutrition.’ ‘With COVID-19 still (being) an imminent threat to the health and safety of Haiti's population, the loss and damage associated with these most recent natural disasters only further compounds the dire situation so many children and families are experiencing,’ they said in a joint statement. - AP
Russia has yet to determine its position towards the Taliban, and will see how they act toward the Afghan population and Russian diplomats, President Vladimir Putin's spokesperson said on Thursday.Moscow is interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan and will likely continue contacts with Washington on issues arising there, Dmitry Peskov told a briefing. – Reuters
Qatar is offering COVID-19 vaccines to evacuees from Afghanistan who are temporarily staying in the Gulf Arab state, which has been facilitating global evacuation efforts since the Taliban seized Kabul, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, has so far helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to Doha and will continue to facilitate international efforts in "the coming days", the ministry said in a statement.Those who do not immediately transit to other countries are being provided with a PCR test and COVID-19 vaccine, if requested, it said, adding that Doha is temporarily hosting "a large number of evacuees most of them students, families and journalists".Pressure to complete moving out thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped Western countries during the 20-year war against the Taliban has intensified, with all U.S. and allied troops due to leave the airport next week.Qatar has also agreed with the United States to temporarily host 8,000 Afghan nationals while the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have both said they would host 5,000. – Reuters
The Dutch government said it expects to carry out its last evacuation flight out of Afghanistan on Thursday, leaving some who are eligible to leave behind, and called on citizens not to go to Kabul airport due to a deteriorating security situation."The Netherlands has been informed by the United States that it has to depart today and will most likely perform the last flights later today," the government said in a letter to parliament."This is a painful moment because it means that despite all the great efforts of the past period, people who are eligible for evacuation to the Netherlands will be left behind."Dutch evacuees can no longer be assisted in and around the airport due to the security situation and are "strongly recommended not to come to the airport," it said. – Reuters
Evacuating Indian personnel from Afghanistan, where the situation is "critical", was a top priority, the government said on Thursday at the all-party meet, convened to brief on the Afghan situation. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week. Besides Jaishankar, Union minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi were also present during the briefing in the Parliament House Annexe. India was trying to evacuate as many people as possible from Afghanistan, the minister said and asserted that evacuating Indian personnel was a "top priority", according to some of the participants at the meeting. The government also described the situation in the war-torn country as "critical" and said the Taliban has broken the promises made in the Doha agreement. - PTI
Hungary's two military passenger planes and all its troops taking part in evacuations have left Afghanistan and returned safely to Hungary, the Hungarian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday that Hungary's evacuation flights from Afghanistan were nearing an end after the central European country airlifted more than 500 people from Kabul. – Reuters
France will no longer be able to evacuate people from Afghanistan from Friday evening onwards, French Prime Minister Jean Castex told RTL radio."We are going to continue until tomorrow evening," said Castex on Thursday.The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport on Thursday due to the threat of a terror attack by Islamic State militants as Western troops hurry to evacuate as many people as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline.Pressure to complete the evacuations of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped Western countries during the 20-year war against the Taliban has intensified, with all U.S. and allied troops due to leave the airport next week. – Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the crisis in Afghanistan with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, and Macron will host Rakhmon at a meeting in France on Oct, 13, a statement from Macron's office said.Tajikistan will not recognise an Afghan government that is not inclusive and representative of all its ethnic groups, Rakhmon said on Wednesday, accusing the Taliban of failing to fulfil their promise of inclusivity. – Reuters
There is "very, very credible" intelligence that Islamic State militants are planning an imminent attack on those gathering at Kabul airport in an attempt to flee Afghanistan, British armed forces minister James Heappey said on Thursday.Late on Wednesday, Britain's foreign ministry advised people not to travel to the Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport where thousands are waiting for flights out of the country ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline when the United States and its allies will pull out their remaining troops.Heappey confirmed that intelligence of a possible suicide bomb attack by IS militants had become "much firmer"."There is now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack, and hence why the Foreign Office advice was changed last night, that people should not come to Kabul Airport, they should move to a safe place and await further instructions," Heappey told BBC radio.- Reuters
Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday the Group of 20 major economies must be committed to making sure women preserve fundamental freedoms and basic rights in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan."The G20 must do all it can to ensure that Afghan women preserve their fundamental freedoms and basic rights, especially the right to education. Progress made over the past twenty years must be preserved," Draghi said in opening remarks at the G20 Conference on Women's Empowerment. – Reuters
The government on Thursday briefed leaders of political parties on the situation in Afghanistan. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar briefed the leaders on the latest situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there last week. Besides Jaishankar, Union minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi are also present during the briefing in Parliament House annexe. Apart from India's evacuation mission from Afghanistan, the ministers are also expected to share the government's assessment of the situation in the war-torn country. - PTI
Afghanistan's two para-athletes, who were forced to pull out of the Tokyo Paralympics because of Taliban's takeover of their country, have been safely evacuated, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) said but declined to comment on their whereabouts. The two taekwondo athletes, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli, were due to compete at the Tokyo Paralympics but were forced out of the Games after the Taliban's takeover trapped them in their own country. When asked about the athletes and the possibility they will compete at the Games, IPC spokesman Craig Spence said, "The situation hasn't changed." "We displayed the flag in the Opening Ceremony as a sign of solidarity. The two athletes are outside of Afghanistan now, they've been evacuated. We know where they are," he added at the daily press briefing. - PTI
The US has so far evacuated over 82,000 people from Kabul, with about 19,000 in the last 24 hours alone, in "one of the largest" airlifts in the world history, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said. Starting on August 14, the day when the Taliban toppled the US-backed Afghanistan government, there were 6,000 American citizens in the war-torn country who wanted to leave. Over the last 10 days, roughly 4,500 of these Americans have been safely evacuated along with their immediate family members, Blinken told reporters here on Wednesday. ‘Since August 14th, more than 82,300 people have been safely flown out of Kabul. In the 24-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday, approximately 19,000 people were evacuated on 90 US military and coalition flights. Only the US could organise and execute a mission of this scale and this complexity,’ he said. Blinken said, "This is one of the largest airlifts in history, a massive military, diplomatic, security, and humanitarian undertaking." - PTI
n Afghan evacuee under surveillance in France for possible indirect links to the Taliban was convicted and given a suspended sentence Wednesday for leaving the hotel where he was restricted and travelling to Paris. The man, identified only as Ahmat M, was among five evacuees suspected of direct or indirect links with the Taliban, but not the principle suspect. He was arrested Monday in Paris after leaving the hotel east of the capital where all five men were confined along with family members. Ahmat M was given a 10-month suspended prison sentence at the urgent court hearing Wednesday, just days after his arrival in France. The prosecutor had sought a 12-month sentence with six months suspended for failing to respect an administrative surveillance order. The maximum possible sentence was three years in prison and a 45,000-euro ($52,875) fine if convicted, the prosecutor's office said. - AP
Tolo News, a prominent media channel in Kabul, has tweeted that one of its journalists was brutally beaten up by the Taliban fighters in the Afghan capital today. In the report, Tolo News says that the reporter, identified as Ziar Khan Yaad was thrashed at the Haji Yaqub intersection by the Taliban gunmen. The report says that there was no provocation and the journalist was brutally beaten up for reporting on issues such as unemployment etc. Yaad took to Twitter to narrate his horrific experience.
Australia on Thursday advised its citizens in Afghanistan not to travel to Kabul's airport, where there as a ‘very high threat of a terrorist attack.’ Australians in the airport's vicinity were advised to move to a safe location and await further advice. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the travel advice was consistent with revised British and New Zealand advice. The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned American citizens away from three specific airport gates over an unspecified security issue. Australia has helped evacuated around 4,000 people from the airport since Wednesday last week including 1,200 overnight, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said. AP
The Taliban have strengthened their measures of access and control around the Kabul airport, the Pentagon has said. The Hamid Karzai International Airport is the only access point for the international community to reach out to people in Afghanistan, a land locked country. ‘The Taliban have bolstered their own security at their checkpoints and have gotten involved in crowd control...every day is a different day, and yesterday we estimated that crowds were about half the size they had been the previous days,’ Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. - PTI
A group of US lawmakers has urged President Joe Biden to ensure that the Taliban, which is now the de facto ruler of Afghanistan, do not destabilise Pakistan and acquire nuclear weapons. The lawmakers demanded that Biden should answer critical questions on what happened in Afghanistan and what are his plans to move forward. ‘Are you prepared to support regional allies militarily in the event that the Taliban militarise the Afghanistan border? What is your plan to help to ensure that the Taliban do not destabilise its nuclear neighbour Pakistan?’ the group of 68 lawmakers from the Senate and the House of Representatives asked in a letter addressed to Biden on Wednesday. - PTI
The head of the US military's European Command says that so far more than 7,000 evacuees from Afghanistan have been flown to eight locations around Europe, mainly in Germany and Italy. General Tod Wolters said Wednesday that 55 evacuation flights from Afghanistan have flown into Ramstein Air Base in Germany and three into Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. He says the flights brought nearly 5,800 evacuees from Kabul to Ramstein and 662 to Sigonella. Smaller numbers of flights and people have gone to six other European locations, largely bases in Germany. Flights will soon be going into the base at Rota, Spain. Wolters says there have been few medical or security problems. He says fewer than 100 individuals have needed additional medical screening, and of those fewer than 25 needed medical attention at the military hospital. More than half of them have already returned to Ramstein for further processing and travel onward to more permanent destinations. - AP
President Joe Biden has favoured the Taliban against US' traditional friends and allies, a top Republican leader has alleged, slamming the government's Afghan policy. ‘The president's misguided decisions run the risk of creating the largest international hostage situation we have ever faced as a nation,’ House Minority Leader McCarthy told reporters at a Capitol Hill press conference on Wednesday. Ripping apart the Afghan policy of the Biden administration, McCarthy said the president has ruined America's reputation on the world stage, not for a week, but for decades to come. ‘Our own allies are criticising us...asking us to extend the (August 31 withdrawal) deadline so they can get their own citizens home, not for any other reason,’ he said. - PTI
An Afghan evacuee who was among five men placed under surveillance in France for suspected direct or indirect links to the Taliban is scheduled to appear before a judge Wednesday for allegedly leaving the Paris region hotel where he was confined.
The man, who has not been identified by name, faces up to three years in prison and a maximum 45,000-euro ($52,875) fine if convicted during the urgent hearing of failing to respect an administrative surveillance order, the Paris prosecutor's office said. The man and three others are believed to be close to another evacuee of interest to French security officials and not "directly suspected" of links to the Taliban, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said.
The man "obviously linked" to the Taliban admitted belonging to the group and bearing arms at a blockade in Kabul, the interior minister said this week. Darmanin said that man also helped in the evacuation of the French Embassy, assisting the French army, citizens and journalists.
French intelligence agents were tracking the five via geopositioning and saw on Monday that one of them had left his restricted zone, Darmanin said on Tuesday. It has not been made clear how far the man who left the security parameter strayed or why. He arrived in Paris last weekend and was immediately placed under watch, along with the four others, at the hotel east of Paris. All evacuees who arrive in France without having been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 were required to observe quarantines. (AP)
Russia has allowed around 1,000 Afghans to enter the country from Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban (Reuters)
US troops maintain security at Kabul Airport in Afghanistan, and that security is strong. Since Aug 20, the US European Command has assisted approximately 10,000 vulnerable Afghans and evacuees for transit to onward locations: US Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor (ANI)
Germany will try to help Afghans who worked with its soldiers and aid organisations and wish to leave Afghanistan after an Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops expires, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
'The end of the air bridge in a few days must not mean the end of efforts to protect Afghan helpers and help those Afghans who have been left in a bigger emergency with the takeover of the Taliban,' Merkel told the German parliament.
'That's why we are working intensively at all levels to find how we can protect those who helped us, including through the civilian operation of the airport in Kabul,' she added.
Merkel's government and its allies in the NATO military alliance have been criticized for failing to predict that the Taliban would take control of the country quickly as foreign troops started to pull out.
The scramble to lift Germans and Afghans out of Kabul has damaged Merkel's conservatives whose poll ratings have been falling five weeks before an election on Sept. 26.
Merkel said Germany and its allies in the European Union and NATO should learn the lessons from the chaotic withdrawal to avoid similar outcomes in future military engagements. (Reuters)
Western nations rushed to evacuate people from Afghanistan on Wednesday as the Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops drew closer and fears grew that many could be left behind to an uncertain fate under the country's new Taliban rulers.
In one of the biggest such airlifts ever, the United States and its allies have evacuated more than 70,000 people, including their citizens, NATO personnel and Afghans at risk, since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban swept into the capital Kabul to bring to an end the 20-year foreign military presence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S. troops in Afghanistan faced mounting danger, while aid agencies warned of an impending humanitarian crisis for those left behind.
Biden has spurned calls from allies to extend the deadline, set under an agreement struck by the previous administration ofDonald Trump with the hardline Islamist group last year. But he said on Tuesday the deadline could be met.
"The sooner we can finish, the better," Biden said. "Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops."
Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was growing concern about the risk of suicide bombings by Islamic State at the airport.
British foreign minister Dominic Raab said the deadline for evacuating people was up to the last minute of the month.
France said it would push on with evacuations as long as possible but it was likely to end these operations in the coming hours or days.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would try to help Afghans who worked with its soldiers and aid organisations and wished to leave Afghanistan after the deadline expires.
"The end of the air bridge in a few days must not mean the end of efforts to protect Afghan helpers and help those Afghans who have been left in a bigger emergency with the takeover of the Taliban," she told the German parliament. (Reuters)
Four Russian military planes evacuated Russian and other nationals from Kabul on Wednesday on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, as Moscow held military exercises involving its tank forces in neighbouring Tajikistan.
The flights mark a shift in Russia's stance on Afghanistan. Its ambassador to Kabul had previously praised the Taliban's conduct and said the group, still officially designated a terrorist organisation in Russia, had made Kabul safer in the first 24 hours than it had been under the previous authorities.
But the Kremlin said on Wednesday that the situation was very tense and, citing the presence of Islamic State in Afghanistan as well as the Taliban, said that the terrorist threat was "very high."
The Russian defence ministry said it was evacuating more than 500 people from Afghanistan, including Russians and citizens of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. (Reuters)
Two members of Congress flew unannounced into Kabul airport in the middle of the chaotic evacuation stunning State Department and U.S. military personnel who had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers, U.S. officials said.Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., flew in and out on charter aircraft and were on the ground at the Kabul airport for several hours Tuesday. That led officials to complain that they could be taking seats that would have otherwise gone to other Americans or Afghans fleeing the country, but the congressmen said in a joint statement that they made sure to leave on a flight with empty seats.
"As Members of Congress, we have a duty to provide oversight on the executive branch,'" the two said in their statement. "We conducted this visit in secret, speaking about it only after our departure, to minimise the risk and disruption to the people on the ground, and because we were there to gather information, not to grandstand." The two lawmakers are both military veterans, with backgrounds in the region. Moulton, a Marine who has been outspoken critic of the Iraq War, served multiple tours in Iraq. Meijer was deployed as part of the Army Reserves and later worked in Afghanistan at a nongovernmental organization providing aid. Moulton serves on the House Armed Services Committee and Meijer is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Three officials familiar with the flight said that State Department, Defense Department and White House officials were furious about the incident because it was done without coordination with diplomats or military commanders directing the evacuation.The U.S. military found out about the visit as the legislators' aircraft was inbound to Kabul, according to the officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing military operations.
One senior U.S. official said the administration saw the lawmakers' visit as manifestly unhelpful and several other officials said the visit was viewed as a distraction for troops and commanders at the airport who are waging a race against time to evacuate thousands of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others as quickly as possible.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Tuesday evening taking note of the desire of some legislators to visit Afghanistan and saying she was writing to "reiterate that the Departments of Defense and State have requested that Members not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger. Ensuring the safe and timely evacuation of individuals at risk requires the full focus and attention of the U.S. military and diplomatic teams on the ground in Afghanistan."The Pentagon has repeatedly expressed concerns about security threats in Kabul, including by the Islamic State group. When members of Congress have routinely gone to war zones over the past two decades, their visits are typically long planned and coordinated with officials on the ground in order to ensure their safety.President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he is sticking to his August 31 deadline for completing the risky airlift as people flee Taliban-Afghanistan.
The two congressmen said they went into their visit wanting "to push the president to extend the August 31st deadline. After talking with commanders on the ground and seeing the situation here, it is obvious that because we started the evacuation so late, that no matter what we do, we won't get everyone out on time, even by September 11." (AP)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday spoke to his British counterpart Dominic Raab on the developments in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the Taliban seizing control of the country."Spoke to UK Foreign Secretary @Dominicraab this afternoon. Our conversation focused on developments in Afghanistan," Jaishankar tweeted.India has been in touch with several leading powers over the situation in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the situation in the war-torn country.Almost all countries have been focusing on evacuating their citizens and partners from Afghanistan after its takeover by the Taliban on August 15.India began its evacuation mission on August 16 and it has already brought back over 800 people, including a number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. (PTI)
Afghanistan's Taliban have appointed senior veterans to the posts of finance minister and defence minister, two members of the group said, as it switches focus from a stunning military conquest to how to run a country in crisis.The movement's unexpectedly swift victory has left it struggling to govern, and alongside established Taliban names at the top, it has turned to several lower-level administrators to keep Kabul running. (Reuters