US Airmen and Marines personnel guide qualified evacuees aboard a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport. (Photo: Reuters)
1 min read Last Updated : Aug 25 2021 | 12:50 AM IST
European Council President Charles Michel says a number of G-7 leaders raised concerns with U.S. President Joe Biden about the Aug. 31 deadline for getting their nationals and Afghan helpers out of Kabul. Michel says that several leaders expressed concerns about the timing of August 31, during Tuesday's G-7 summit. He declined to tell reporters after the meeting what response Biden gave the leaders.
According to an administration official, Biden plans to stick with his deadline for completing the U.S.-led evacuation from Afghanistan. The decision reflects in part the U.S. military's concern about heightened security threats to the massive airlift that began 10 days ago.
Michel says the EU remains concerned about European citizens and Afghan people who worked with them being able to safely reach Kabul airport.
Michel says the EU raised this issue with our American friends and partners notably the need to secure the airport, as long as necessary, to complete the operations; and second, a fair and equitable access to the airport, for all nationals entitled to evacuation.
11:29 PM
Joe Biden decides to stick with Aug. 31 final pullout from Kabul
US President Joe Biden has decided not to extend his August 31 deadline for completing the US-led evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, an administration official said Tuesday.
Biden made the decision after consultation with his national security team. Weighing the risks of keeping forces on the ground beyond the deadline, he opted to complete the mission by next Tuesday, which was the deadline he set well before the Taliban completed its takeover of Afghanistan on August 15.
Biden asked his national security team to create contingency plans in case a situation arose for which the deadline needed to be extended slightly, the official said.
9:32 PM
Hardeep Puri targets opposition on CAA after Afghan Sikhs, Hindus brought to India
After a number of Afghan Sikhs and Hindus were brought to India from Afghanistan, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday sought to underline the significance of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and targeted those who had opposed the legislation.
Addressing a press conference, the minister said a total of 626 people, including 228 Indian citizens, have been evacuated from Afghanistan till now. The number of Afghan Sikhs, who have been evacuated from Afghanistan, is 77, he said.
"Those who were opposing the enactment of the CAA are today demanding that its cut off date should be extended from 2014 to 2021," Puri told reporters without naming anyone.
9:19 PM
At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan test Covid positive
At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan tested COVID-19 positive after their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International airport here on Tuesday, according to people coordinating evacuation efforts with the Indian government.
An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) official said 81 people, who arrived from Afghanistan on Monday and Tuesday, have been sent to the ITBP's quarantine facility at Chhawla in south-west Delhi.
According to an office memorandum issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday, people arriving from Afghanistan have to undergo a mandatory minimum 14-day institutional quarantine at the ITBP facility.
Any person testing positive or detected as symptomatic shall be shifted to dedicated Covid Care Centre or Covid hospital of NCT of Delhi, the memorandum read.
8:58 PM
3 copies of Guru Granth Sahib, 44 Afghan Sikhs flown in from Afghanistan
Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and V Muraleedharan on Tuesday received three copies of Sikh scripture Guru Granth Sahib and 44 Afghan Sikhs who reached India from Kabul via Dushanbe in Tajikistan on a special Air India flight, PTI reported.
The Guru Granth Sahib copies will be taken to Guru Arjan Dev Ji Gurdwara in New Mahavir Nagar here, according to people coordinating the evacuation efforts with the Indian government.
"The Afghan Sikhs will stay at a hotel in Karol Bagh till further arrangements are made," said Kanv Bhalla, an entrepreneur coordinating rehabilitation efforts on behalf of New York-based philanthropist Mandeep Singh Sobti.
8:55 PM
EU officials speak on Afghanistan
8:52 PM
At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan test Covid positive
At least 10 evacuees from Afghanistan tested COVID-19 positive after their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International airport here on Tuesday, according to people coordinating evacuation efforts with the Indian government, PTI reported.
An Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) official said 81 people, who arrived from Afghanistan on Monday and Tuesday, have been sent to the ITBP's quarantine facility at Chhawla in south-west Delhi.
According to an office memorandum issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday, people arriving from Afghanistan have to undergo a mandatory minimum 14-day institutional quarantine at the ITBP facility.
8:29 PM
Taliban says no evacuation extension as G7 meets on Afghan crisis
Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers said on Tuesday they wanted all foreign evacuations from the country completed by an Aug. 31 deadline and they would not agree to an extension, Reuters reported.
8:04 PM
Afghan airlift records best day yet: 20,000-plus flown out
The US military on Tuesday pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights from Afghanistan since the operation began. But deadly violence that has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul's airport persisted, and the Taliban signaled they might soon seek to shut down the airlifts, AP reported.
Amid the tense operation to get people out of the country, CIA Director William Burns secretly swooped into Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban's top political leader, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
About 21,600 people were flown safely out of Taliban-held Afghanistan in the 24-hour period that ended early Tuesday, the White House said. That compares with about 16,000 the previous day.
8:03 PM
Some Afghans vow to resist Taliban from mountain enclave
In a mountain valley north of Kabul, the last remnants of Afghanistan's shattered security forces have vowed to resist the Taliban in a remote region that has defied conquerors before. But any attempt to reenact that history could end in tragedy or farce, AP reported.
Nestled in the towering Hindu Kush, the Panjshir Valley has a single narrow entrance and 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.
7:40 PM
Afghan evacuation on 'war footing' as G7 meets on pullout deadline
Western troops at Kabul airport worked frantically on Tuesday to evacuate people from Afghanistan before an Aug. 31 deadline as U.S. President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift of thousands trying to flee, Reuters reported.
7:39 PM
US must complete evacuation of people by August 31: Taliban spokesman
7:32 PM
Female Afghan govt workers asked to stay home until security allows
7:04 PM
Russia says it and others ready to mediate in Afghanistan
Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan are interested in serving as mediators in resolving the crisis in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
7:03 PM
US should not encourage Afghan elite to leave: Taliban
The Taliban warned of “consequences” if the US delays withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan past an end of month deadline. “It’s a red line,” Qatar-based Taliban spokesman and negotiator Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Sky News. If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations “the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” he added.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on Afghanistan to, to address the "serious human rights concerns" following the Taliban takeover of the war-torn country.
Back home, the People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is likely to in Srinagar today to discuss the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and have wider consultations on the way forward.
On the economic front, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be visiting the financial capital for two days starting on Tuesday to meet key stakeholders (officials from the Income Tax department and goods and services tax and customs departments.
On the education front, the academic council of the University of Delhi (DU) is likely to pass a resolution today on opening two new colleges.
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