LIVE: 5,800 US troops now in Kabul to help with evacuations, says official

Afghanistan crisis LIVE updates: Taliban's sudden victory, which comes as the US withdraws from the country following a 20-year-war, has sparked chaos

10:46 AM

Turkey won't become Europe's 'refugee warhouse', warns Erdogan as Afghans flee Taliban

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on other European countries to take responsibility for Afghans fleeing the Taliban, stating that Ankara has no obligation to be a "Europe refugee warehouse".

 

His remarks come as desperate Afghans attempt to leave the Taliban-led country. Thousands have flocked to Kabul airport in a bid to flee and now find themselves trapped without any means to escape.

 

"Europe, which has become the centre of attraction for millions of people, cannot stay out of this problem by closing its borders just to protect the welfare of its citizens. With this attitude, Europe is turning its back on human values," CNN quoted Erdogan as saying.

 

Erdogan said that about half of the "irregular" migrants Turkey has registered in the last three years are from Afghanistan.

 

Turkey hosts around 5 million foreign nationals -- including 3.6 million Syrians and 300,000 Afghans, Erdogan said.

9:50 AM

Afghanistan Taliban crisis LIVE updates: 12.2mn Afghans acutely food insecure, says UN

The UN humanitarians have said that the relief crisis in Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly, with 12.2 million people acutely food insecure.

 

While thousands of people are fleeing, or attempting to flee, through Kabul airport, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that 735,000 people returned to the country this year from Iran, Pakistan and other countries and are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

 

Another 550,000 people became internally displaced since January, reports Xinhua news agency.

 

"Humanitarian needs are expected to deteriorate further in the second half of the year due to drought," it said, adding that the majority of the 12.2 million people acutely food insecure will be further affected by drought.

 

The humanitarians said severe acute malnutrition increased by 16 per cent, impacting 900,000 people and moderate acute malnutrition increased by 11 per cent, hitting 3.1 million children.

9:49 AM

Afghanistan Taliban crisis LIVE updates: Canadian military resumes flights to Afghanistan

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have resumed flights to Afghanistan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced.

 

In a statement on Thursday, Trudeau said that CAF assets and personnel have arrived on the ground in Afghanistan to coordinate at the tactical level with the US and other allied partners, helping "get Canadians, Afghans and their families to safety", reports Xinhua news agency.

 

Trudeau said two CAF CC-177 planes will make regular flights into Kabul to support evacuation efforts.

 

"Canada has personnel on the ground now and we'll have more personnel arriving later today to help with the processing," he said, adding the images out of Kabul have been heartbreaking and that government remains committed to helping hundreds of Afghans who helped Canada.

9:35 AM

Facebook removes ability to view list of friends for accounts from Afghanistan

Facebook has temporarily removed the ability to view the list of friends for accounts from Afghanistan in an attempt to protect Afghan users from possible reprisal from the Taliban, head of the Facebook security policy Nathaniel Gleicher said.

He stressed that after a week of hard work, Facebook developed a one-click tool for people in Afghanistan that allows them to lock down their accounts.

"We also temporarily removed the ability to view and search the 'Friends' list for Facebook accounts in Afghanistan to help protect people from being targeted," Gleicher said in a Tweet on Thursday (local time).

9:25 AM

Impoverished Afghanistan got rid of America, but not the US dollar

The Taliban may have swept Afghanistan, but they haven’t yet conquered its financial system, big parts of which rest on support from outside the country. The U.S. has a heavy hand in the multilateral organizations that dictate the flow of international aid upon which this shaky economy relies. Americans may be evacuating, but the dollar’s influence will remain.

 

The International Monetary Fund, whose largest shareholder is the U.S., denied the Taliban access to reserve assets Wednesday, days before Afghanistan was set to receive almost $500 million. That came a day after a Biden administration official confirmed the U.S. froze nearly $9.5 billion belonging to the central bank and stopped shipments of cash to the nation. The IMF said the decision reflects the Taliban’s lack of international recognition, but it’s hard not see America's hand behind this refusal. Read on...

9:04 AM

Afghanistan Taliban crisis LIVE updates: US struggles to speed Kabul airlift

The United States struggled Thursday to pick up the pace of American and Afghan evacuations at Kabul airport, constrained by obstacles ranging from armed Taliban checkpoints to paperwork problems.

 

With an Aug 31 deadline looming, tens of thousands remained to be airlifted from the chaotic country.

 

Taliban fighters and their checkpoints ringed the airport

 

major barriers for Afghans who fear that their past work with Westerners makes them prime targets for retribution.

8:45 AM

Afghanistan Taliban LIVE updates: 84 Afghan evacuees arrive in Denmark

 group of 84 evacuees from Afghanistan arrived in Denmark on Thursday, after being picked up from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad by a Scandinavian Airlines plane.

 

The group, comprised mainly of Afghans who have worked for the Danish embassy in Kabul and their families, was evacuated following the takeover of Kabul by Taliban, the Xinhua news agency reported.

 

"I am pleased to be able to confirm that we have now got a plane with 84 evacuated people on safe ground in Denmark," said Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod on his Twitter account.

 

Upon arrival, the evacuees were transported to Center Sandholm, Denmark's largest asylum centre, 31 km north of Copenhagen. Initially, the Red Cross will be responsible for accommodating them, and they will have to quarantine for five days under Coronavirus rules.

8:30 AM

Afghanistan Taliban LIVE updates: In ending the war in Afghanistan, Biden leaves door open for war on terror

Although President Biden has held fast on his commitment to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan, he has thrown a few bones to advocates of U.S. power projection. One, in particular, stands out, and that is Biden’s promise to use our “counterterrorism over-the-horizon capability” in Afghanistan and the wider region if necessary.

 

What does this mean? On one level, it sounds like we’ll keep killing people with drones. That, after all, seems to be the real-life application of “over-the-horizon capability” in the other places that Biden mentioned — Somalia, Syria, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula.

 

More broadly, however, Biden is assuring us that the “War on Terror” will continue. This has serious implications not only for American foreign policy, but also our society, politics, and legal system. Read on...

8:20 AM

Afghanistan Taliban crisis LIVE updates: Jaishankar, Blinken agree to continued coordination on Afghanistan

Amid the fast unfolding situation in Afghanistan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of state Antony Blinken discussed over the phone the crisis in the war-torn country. It was the second phone call between the two officials since the Taliban takeover early this week.

 

According to US State Department, the two agreed to continued coordination on Afghanistan. The call comes as several countries including the US and India are evacuating their citizens from the country.

 

"Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar. Secretary Blinken and Minister Jaishankar discussed Afghanistan and agreed to continued coordination," State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a short statement.

 

Meanwhile, Antony Blinken has termed the phone call with Jaishankar as "productive".