LIVE: 'Whether it's Afghanistan or India, LeT, JeM operating with impunity'

Afghanistan crisis LIVE updates: Biden administration suspends all arms sales to Afghanistan govt

5:08 PM

Afghans protest Taliban in emerging challenge to their rule

Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations that were met with renewed violence by the militants who are facing growing challenges to their rule, AP reported.

 

A UN official warned of dire food shortages in this nation of 38 million people reliant on imports and experts said the country was severely short on cash, highlighting that the Taliban face the same problems as the civilian government they dethroned without the level of international aid it enjoyed.

 

In light of these challenges, the militants have moved quickly to suppress any dissent, despite their promises that they have become more moderate since they last imposed draconian rule on Afghanistan. Many fear the Taliban will succeed in erasing two decades of efforts to expand women's and human rights and remake the country.

5:07 PM

Spirits run low in Delhi's 'Little Kabul' on Afghanistan's Independence Day

For the Afghan community living in India, August 19 is a milestone as Afghanistan had achieved Independence on this very day in 1919, but following the takeover of the war-torn country by the Taliban, the mood at Delhi's 'Little Kabul' is anything but celebratory, PTI reported.

From restaurants to departmental stores, the spirit of freedom, otherwise peaking on the anniversary day, was running low on Thursday in Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and neighbouring Hazrat Nizamuddin area.

5:02 PM

A view of Kabul airport as people try to leave Afghanistan

4:30 PM

Desperate Afghan women throw babies over razor wire at Kabul airport compound

Kabul airport has become a picture of chaos and desperation after the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban, ANI reported.

 

As per the reports of Sky News, in a heartbreaking incident, desperate Afghan women were seen throwing their babies over the razor wire of the Kabul airport compound.

 

A senior British officer told Stuart Ramsay from Sky News that they can hear the sound of shouting, the noise of desperation as thousands of people are flooding towards Kabul airport that will, for some, be the gateway to freedom - and for many others, the end of a dream of escaping the Taliban.

4:29 PM

Resident of Karnataka's Ullal back home from Afghanistan

4:01 PM

Several Afghan nationals living in Delhi flock to foreign embassies in hope of getting visas

3:34 PM

Biden's promise to evacuate over 20,000 at-risk Afghans runs into obstacles

3:28 PM

Left Kabul to prevent bloodshed, says Ashraf Ghani

2:53 PM

A large portion of the Afghanistan Air Force has ended up in neighbouring Uzbekistan

2:49 PM

Several provinces across Afghanistan witness protests

2:13 PM

Several killed amid firing by Taliban and stampede during rally in Afghan city: Witness

Several people were killed on Thursday in the Afghan city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at an Independence Day rally, according to an eyewitness Reuters spoke to.
 

It was not clear if the casualties came from the firing or from a stampede it triggered, witness Mohammed Salim said from the eastern city, the capital of Kunar province.
 

A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

2:05 PM

Taliban limit access to Kabul airport to people with travelling documents

1:56 PM

Days before Taliban capture, IAF evacuated around 50 Indians from Mazar-e-Sharif

1:27 PM

Afghanistan's fate means West is now perceived as weak: UK minister

The fate of Afghanistan after a 20-year war led by the United States means that the West's resolve is now perceived as weak by major adversaries such as Russia, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday. "That is something we should all worry about: if the West is seen not to have resolve and it fractures, then our adversaries like Russia find that encouraging," Wallace told LBC radio, according to Reuters.

12:59 PM

EU diplomat warns against 'Afghanistan catastrophe'

The European Union's foreign policy chief branded developments in Afghanistan "a catastrophe and a nightmare" on Thursday, and said there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's return to power there. Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that a first group of 106 members of the EU staff in Afghanistan had been airlifted from the country and had arrived in Madrid, Reuters reported.