LIVE: Afghanistan now emancipated, we seek no revenge, says Taliban

Afghanistan crisis LIVE updates: An IAF aircraft today left from Kabul to India carrying the Indian ambassador and other personnel as part of the emergency evacuation

2:12 PM

The AI-126 Chicago-Delhi flight that was diverted to Sharjah has landed

1:40 PM

At least five killed at Kabul airport, says report

At least five people were killed in Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the Afghan capital, witnesses told Reuters. One witness said he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle. Another witness said it was not clear whether the victims were killed by gunshots or in a stampede.

 

US troops, who are in charge of the airport, earlier fired in the air to scatter the crowd, an US official said.

1:34 PM

Ashraf Ghani has done wrong with the Afghans: Abdul, an Afghan national living in Delhi

I've been living in India for the last 11 yrs now. Earlier, I was staying in Kabul where I used to be an eye doctor. Once Taliban had asked me to treat their people but I refused to help them. Ashraf Ghani has done wrong with the Afghans: Abdul, an Afghan national living in Delhi

 

1:25 PM

UN Security Council to meet today to discuss Afghan situation

With Kabul falling into the hands of the Taliban, the UN Security Council under India's current Presidency will hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday, the second time in just over a week.

 

The longstanding war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday when the Taliban insurgents closed in on Afghanistan's capital Kabul and entered the city and took over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to leave the country.

 

UN Security Council to meet on Afghanistan. Indian Presidency will convene briefing and consultations on Afghanistan tomorrow 16th AugustUN Secretary-General @antonioguterres to brief UNSC," India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador T S Tirumurti tweeted.

1:21 PM

Afghanistan latest news: Italy evacuates staff, Afghan workers from Kabul

Italy has evacuated 70 embassy staff and Afghan employees from the capital city of Kabul.

 

The plane was scheduled to arrive in Rome on Monday. Video taken at Kabul's international airport and released by the Italian Defence Ministry shows people walking up a mobile staircase to board the plane in darkness.

 

The evacuation is part of Italy's Operation Aquila Omnia (Eagle Ready for Anything) to quickly evacuate Italian diplomatic staff, citizens and Afghan employees and family members.

 

Italy had one of the largest contingents in Afghanistan before the pullout.

1:09 PM

Urge MEA to arrange for immediate evacuation of all Indians, including around 200 Sikhs: Punjab CM

12:47 PM

Afghanistan LIVE updates: Vistara's Delhi-London flights stop using Afghanistan airspace

Vistara's flights from Delhi to London have stopped using Afghanistan airspace as the country faces an uncertain future after Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on Sunday.

 

The Afghanistan airspace on Monday was declared "uncontrolled" by the Kabul airport and transit flights have been asked to avoid it.

 

Vistara spokesperson said on Monday, "We have stopped using Afghanistan airspace and are taking an alternate route for our flights to and from London Heathrow."

 

"We are closely working with the relevant authorities to monitor and assess the situation and taking necessary steps to ensure the safety of our passengers, staff and aircraft," the spokesperson added.

12:45 PM

Aghanistan LIVE: Saudi embassy evacuated, New Zealand sends plane

Saudi Arabia says it has evacuated all its diplomats from its embassy in the Afghan capital, and New Zealand's government is sending a plane to help its people leave the country.

 

Saudi Arabia said all staff were evacuated from the embassy in Kabul on Sunday due to the changing conditions on the ground, joining other countries that have also shuttered their embassies as the Taliban advance on the Afghan capital.

 

New Zealand's government says its sending a C-130 Hercules military transport plane to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation of 53 New Zealanders and dozens of Afghanis and their immediate families who helped New Zealand troops when they were stationed there.

 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they had so far identified 37 Afghanis who had helped, but the number of evacuees would be in the hundreds once dependents and others were included.

 

12:16 PM

Temporarily closed embassy in Kabul: South Korea Foreign Ministry

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said it has temporarily closed its embassy in Kabul and evacuated most of its staff to an unspecified third country in the Middle East.

 

The ministry said a few diplomats, including Ambassador Choi Taeho, remain at a safe location in Afghanistan to support the evacuation of a South Korean national in the country and that the Seoul government is closely working with the United States and other countries to ensure their safe evacuation.

 

Afghanistan has been on South Korea's travel ban list since 2007. There were reportedly around five South Koreans living in Afghanistan before the Seoul government in June called for all of them to leave the country within 10 days as the United States and NATO proceeded with troop pullouts.

12:02 PM

Air India's AI 126 Chicago-Delhi flight diverted to Gulf airspace due to the closure of Afghan airspace

Air India's AI 126 Chicago-Delhi flight diverted to Gulf airspace due to the closure of Afghan airspace

11:48 AM

As Kabul falls, the burqa shops get busy and young women fear for future

As the Taliban entered the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, university lecturers gathered their female students for some final goodbyes. Telling the shocked young women “we may not meet again,” the lecturers, along with everyone else, were evacuated, and the universities, along with schools, offices and shops, were shuttered.

 

I spoke by phone with Aisha Khurram, one of those students whose academic dreams have been cut short. There are thousands more like her. The 22-year-old is in the final semester of her international relations degree at Kabul University. With just two months left, she says, “now it seems I will never graduate.” Her monograph was on United Nations Security Council reforms and how they’ll affect special missions in countries like Afghanistan. Just one more thing the world will be deprived of now the Taliban are back in power. Read on...

11:48 AM

Due to the closure of Afghan airspace flights can't operate: Air India

Due to the closure of Afghan airspace flights can't operate: Air India tells ANI.

11:27 AM

Rashid Khan worried, he can't get his family out of Afghanistan, says Pietersen

Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen has revealed that spinner Rashid Khan is worried about the situation in Afghanistan and he is not able to get his family out of the country.

 

Flight operations from around the world are affected at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International (HKI) airport due to the ongoing turmoil in Afghanistan.

 

Rashid is currently in the UK playing for Trent Rockets in the inaugural edition of the Hundred.

 

"There's a lot of things that are happening at home. We had a long chat here on the boundary talking about it and he's worried: he can't get his family out of Afghanistan and there's a lot of things happening for him," Pietersen said on Sky Sports.

 

"For him to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under... for him to be able to forget that stuff and navigate his story and continue the momentum that he has - I think that's probably one of the most heart-warming stories of this Hundred so far," he added.

11:08 AM

Afghan national Zara breaks down over the current situation in her country

10:48 AM

Afghanistan crisis: After 20 years, we are back in the 2000s. We want peace..., says Aghan journalist

After 20 years, we are back in the 2000s. We want peace... If the Taliban takes over, there will be thousands of other Osama Bin Ladens, thousands of Mullah Omars... & they will unite with Pakistan, and go all over Central Asia: Hamdarf Gafoori, former Afghan journalist