Afghanistan
Watch | Desperate Afghan civilians cling to American aircraft wing; human remains found in landing gear, says US Air Force
Photographs showing stranded citizens packed up on the floor of the aeroplane, flying to Qatar, have been going viral on social media. Women with newborns and toddlers can be seen bottle feeding them on the C-17 cargo aircraft. There were around 640 people inside the plane, while many were hanging on to the side of the plane, a US official told Reuters.
Lessons need to be learned from Afghanistan: NATO chief
"The big question we have to ask and understand in a clear-eyed way is: why didn't the forces we trained, and equipped, and supported over so many years, why were they not able to stand up against the Taliban in a stronger and better way than they did?" Stoltenberg said at a press conference after a special meeting of NATO ambassadors to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
We will have to talk with Taliban: EU foreign policy chief
"The Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk with them," Borrell said after an emergency video conference of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday afternoon, adding that this does not mean moving quickly to officially recognize the Taliban's government, "I just said that we have to talk with them about everything, even to try to protect women and girls. Even for that, you have to get in touch with them," Borrell said.
Taliban ready to provide safe passage of civilians to airport: US
"The Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport. And we intend to hold them to that commitment," Sullivan told reporters in a White House briefing on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. He said the US believes the evacuation underway in Kabul could last until the end of this month. "We're talking to them (the Taliban) about what the exact timetable is for how this will all play out."
Johnson, Biden vow to work together on Afghan situation
The two leaders welcomed their countries' cooperation in recent days to help evacuate their nationals, current and former staff, and others from Afghanistan, the statement said, Xinhua news agency reported. "They resolved to continue working closely together on this in the days and weeks ahead to allow as many people as possible to leave the country," it added.
No plans to recognise Taliban as Afghan legitimate govt: Trudeau
"Canada has no plans to recognise the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. When they were in government 20 years ago, Canada did not recognise them," said Trudeau, Xinhua reported. "Our focus right now is on getting people out of Afghanistan and the Taliban need to ensure free access to people to get to the airport," he said on Tuesday.
We don't want internal or external enemies: Taliban
"We want to do away with the factors for conflict. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate does not have any kind of hostility or animosity towards anybody," Mujahid said in his first press conference since the Taliban overthrew the Afghanistan government on Sunday. He added that all animosity "has come to an end". "We would like to live peacefully. We do not want any internal or external enemies," he said, Geo News reported.
Former Afghan central bank chief hints directions to not fight came from top
Ahmady said this has been repeated by Atta Noor and Ismael Khan. These two were the warlords who had taken up the cudgels against Taliban. Atta Mohammed Noor had earlier said about this conspiracy, "Despite our firm resistance, sadly, all the government & the #ANDSF equipment were handed over to the #Taliban as a result of a big organised & cowardly plot.
Joe Biden breaks his silence over Afghan pullout, says "squarely behind" withdrawal decision
After visuals of chaos dominated television news channels for days, Biden broke his silence on the US exit, blaming the Taliban's takeover in Afghanistan on Afghan political leaders who fled the country and the refusal of the US-trained Afghan army to combat the militant group. In a televised speech at the White House, Biden said, "I stand completely behind my decision." "After 20 years, I've learned the hard way that withdrawing from the US military is never a wise idea," he added.
As Taliban with Kalashnikovs roam Kabul, dress code turns to salwar kameez
The other big change from a week ago was the presence of women. On a normal day in Kabul, one could see a significant number of women on the streets dressed in jeans, long tunics and headscarves and full burqas. Not now. The small group of women on the streets were fully covered in hijabs and wearing face masks to protect against the coronavirus.
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