A band of veteran Afghan leaders, including two regional strongmen, are angling for talks with the Taliban and plan to meet within weeks to form a new front for holding negotiations on the country’s next government, a member of a group said.Khalid Noor, son of Atta Mohammad Noor, the once-powerful governor of northern Afghanistan’s Balkh province, said the group comprised of veteran ethnic Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum and others opposed to the Taliban’s takeover.”We prefer to negotiate collectively, because it is not that the problem of Afghanistan will be solved just by one of us,” Noor, 27, told Reuters in an interview from an undisclosed location.”So, it is important for the entire political community of the country to be involved, especially the traditional leaders, those with power, with public support,” Noor said.Atta Noor and Dostum, veterans of four decades of conflict in Afghanistan, both fled the country when the northern city of Mazar-i Sharif fell to the Taliban, the hardline Islamist group, without a fight.The U.S.-backed government and military folded elsewhere as the Taliban swept into Kabul on Aug. 15.However, the backroom discussions are a sign of the country’s traditional strongmen coming back to life after the Taliban’s stunning military campaign.It will be a challenge for any entity to rule Afghanistan for long without consensus between the country’s patchwork of ethnicities, most analysts say.Unlike their previous period in power before 2001, the predominantly Pashtun Taliban did seek support from Tajiks, Uzbeks and other minorities as they prepared their offensive last month.”The Taliban at this point are very, very arrogant, because they just won militarily. But what we assume (is) that they know the risk of ruling the way they did before,” Noor said, referring to the previous Taliban regime’s exclusion of minority ethnic groups.Despite a commitment to negotiations, Noor said there was a “huge risk” that the talks could fail, leading the group to already prepare for an armed resistance against the Taliban.”Surrender is out of the question for us,” said Noor, the youngest member of the erstwhile Afghan government’s team that held talks with the Taliban in Qatar.Ahmad Massoud, leader of Afghanistan’s last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance, last week also said he hoped talks with the Taliban would lead to an inclusive government, failing which his forces were ready to fight.It remains uncertain how much popular support is actually enjoyed by leaders like Atta Noor, widely accused of corruption, and Dostum, accused of multiple acts of torture and brutality, and described in a U.S. State Department report as a “quintessential warlord.” Both leaders deny the accusations.The Taliban, already a formidable military force, are now in possession of an estimated 2,000 armored vehicles and up to 40 aircraft, among other arms left behind by fleeing Afghan forces, potentially bolstering their firepower.Still, Noor said the Taliban would not be able to hold out against a popular resistance.”History has shown that no one in Afghanistan can rule by force, it is impossible,” the Western-educated politician said, “No matter how much support they have from international community, it will fail.”
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Afghanistan’s two athletes made an “extremely emotional” arrival at the Tokyo Paralympic Village, Games chiefs said Sunday, after a top-secret flight from Paris following their evacuation from Kabul.Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli arrived in Japan ready to compete at the Games, after leaving Taliban-controlled Afghanistan last weekend in a “major global operation.””Both athletes are here in Tokyo to fulfil their dreams, sending out a very strong message of hope to many others around the world,” said International Paralympic Committee spokesperson Craig Spence.Khudadadi and Rasouli were welcomed to the athletes’ village Saturday night by IPC chief Andrew Parsons and IPC Athletes’ Council chairperson Chelsey Gotell, as well as the Afghan team’s chef de mission Arian Sadiqi.”As you can imagine, the meeting was extremely emotional,” said Spence. “There were lots of tears from everyone in the room. It really was a remarkable meeting.”The pair spent a week in Paris at a French sports ministry training center following their evacuation from Kabul.Sprinter Rasouli was scheduled to compete in the men’s T47 100-meter but arrived too late for Saturday’s heats.Instead, he will enter the T47 long jump final Tuesday, while Khudadadi will compete in the women’s taekwondo K44-49kg category Thursday.Spence said the athletes’ mental health and wellbeing was the IPC’s “top priority.””Every day we’ve checked in on primarily their mental health, because as you can imagine, the situation they’ve gone through in the last few days is a serious one,” he said.Their arrival comes after Afghanistan’s swift fall to the Taliban earlier this month left them among the tens of thousands trapped and unable to leave the country.At Tuesday’s opening ceremony, the Afghan flag was featured in a symbolic fashion, carried by a volunteer.Spence said the two athletes would not speak to reporters while they were at the Games.He said organizers wanted to avoid “a selfie-fest” with other athletes taking pictures in the village but stressed that the pair would be allowed to mingle.”We’re not saying ‘you shouldn’t just stay in your apartments and not go out,’” he said. “We’re saying, once you’ve gone through your three-day quarantine, you need to fulfill this experience of being at the athletes’ village.’”The Tokyo Paralympics are taking place under strict coronavirus rules and largely behind closed doors, after a year’s delay because of the pandemic.In Afghanistan, the Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule compared with their first stint in power from 1996-2001.But many Afghans fear a repeat of their brutal interpretation of Islamic law.
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The final American evacuation flights from Afghanistan—likely Tuesday—will be the most perilous. They will carry the last detachments of rearguard U.S. troops out of the country and will have no friendly ground force to protect them, Western military officials say.  
 
They will have to depend on Taliban fighters to ensure no rocket or mortar attack is launched by Islamic State Khorasan, or ISIS-K, on the airport as the rearguard draws down—or as the planes take off from the airport, say American and British officials. The final flight will be highly risky, they admit.
 
General Nick Carter, chief of Britain’s Defense Staff, said Saturday everyone should be aware of the daunting test U.S. commanders and soldiers will face in trying to ensure the final planes leave Afghanistan safely. “We should be holding our breath and thinking of that last plane and what a challenge it’s going to be for those brave people,” he told Britain’s Sky News.
 
Britain will have ended its evacuation operations Saturday, but the final British aircraft will be departing under the watchful eye of U.S. ground forces. Thirteen U.S. servicemen and at least 170 Afghan civilians were killed after an Islamic State suicide bombing Thursday near the airport, prompting many western countries to scramble to complete their final evacuation flights from Afghanistan. The Pentagon said at least 18 troops were injured in the attack.  
 
Many of the Afghan civilians killed were left piled in a sewage ditch, and at least 200 were wounded, according to Taliban officials.
 
ISIS-K claimed responsibility on its Amaq news agency for the attack, and the first American combat fatalities in Afghanistan since February 2020.  
 
General Kenneth McKenzie, head of the Pentagon’s central command, says he expects ISIS-K to try to strike again. “We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks … and we’re doing everything we can to be prepared,” he told reporters in Washington.
 
On Friday, the U.S. conducted a drone strike targeting an IS planner, U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “U.S. military forces conducted an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation today [Friday] against an ISIS-K planner. The unmanned airstrike occurred in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan,” spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said.
 
“Initial indications are that we killed the target. We know of no civilian casualties,” Urban added. The announcement of the strike came a day after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to retaliate for the attack on Kabul airport. FILE – A U.S. Air Force security forces maintain a security cordon outside a U.S. Air Force C-17, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2021. (Senior Airman Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via AFP)At a press briefing Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the White House national security team had advised Biden “another terror attack at Kabul airport is likely.”  
 
“The threat is ongoing, and it is active. Our troops are still in danger,” she continued before adding, “this is the most dangerous part of the mission.”
More than 5,000 U.S. service members are still deployed at Kabul airport and will be slowly drawn down over the next few days. That’s a larger number than remained deployed in the final days of the American military evacuation from Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, when all but 1,250 Americans—few enough to be removed in a single day’s helicopter airlift—were left to guard the airport.The Pentagon had to alter at the last minute its final evacuation plans from Vietnam, which had called for fixed-wing aircraft to be used. But because of rocket fire and debris on the runways at the airport at Tan Son Nhut air base, the final withdrawal was conducted by helicopters able to fly to U.S. warships in the South China Sea.   
 
As Pentagon strategists and commanders on the ground run through their plans and try to refine them for the final day of U.S. flights from Kabul airport, officials say discussions are being held with Taliban leaders about security. They say they’re hopeful the Taliban and the U.S. have a shared interest in ensuring the final flights go off without mishap.
 
American military officials have asked for the Taliban to block more roads and to widen the security perimeter around the airport. But as the last planes are readying for departure, there will be no trained Western security observers around to ensure there is nothing approaching the aircraft and that no suicide bomber gets close.  
 
“There will be no security-in-depth,” a Pentagon official told VOA on the condition of anonymity. He added that patrolling armed drones will try to provide as much protection as possible.   
 
At some point, U.S. ground forces likely will be replaced by Taliban fighters in parts of the airport as U.S. troops withdraw, U.S. officials told VOA. It is unclear, though, whether that will happen as part of an orchestrated handover that’s being negotiated with commanders of the militant Islamic group.  
 
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby denied reports Friday the Taliban had taken over some security duties at the airport. “I saw that report, too,” Kirby said. “It’s false. They’re not in charge of any of the gates. They are not in charge of any of the airport operations. That is still under U.S. military control,” he said in Washington.  
 
Since Thursday, Taliban and IS fighters have clashed several times in west Kabul, according to local media reports. Several hundred Islamic State fighters are estimated to have been freed when the Taliban took control of Kabul and other major cities, including Kandahar, and opened prison gates.
  
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U.N. and private aid agencies say human rights violations have been surging in Afghanistan since Taliban militants seized control of the country.Aid agencies say Afghanistan is at a very dangerous point. They say an increasingly brutal conflict is worsening the already serious human rights violations in the country.CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network Najeeba Wazedafost says many people feared the resurgence of the Taliban, as the U.S. and NATO withdrew troops from Afghanistan. But she says few people thought the Taliban would gain control over the country so quickly.She says it is horrifying to see the rapid escalation of human suffering and displacement under Taliban rule.“It has been quite heartbreaking, especially in the past week, receiving a vast amount of calls to our ASPRN crisis helpline, where people have been reporting executions and beatings, and clampdown on media and radio stations. They have been reporting to us about Taliban door-to-door searches, targeted killings and looting in the capital. And again, we have been hearing about schools, and hospitals, and thousands of homes being attacked,” she said.Afghan women clad in burqas walk on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021.Wazedafost says she is most concerned about the voices of fear she is hearing from women. She says they talk about their fear of being killed simply because they are female. She says she also fears border closures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will prevent women and girls fleeing violence and persecution from finding safety.Wazedafost  is appealing to western countries that are leaving Afghanistan to not abandon the women and girls left behind and leave them without hope and the support they need to survive their changed circumstances.The United Nations says decades of conflict, compounded by a second drought in four years and the devastating socioeconomic impact of COVID-19, have wiped out Afghanistan’s ability to survive without international support.The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says nearly half of Afghanistan’s population, about 18 million people, need humanitarian assistance. The head of OCHA’s coordination division, Wafaa Saeed Abdelatef, says at least a third of the population does not have enough to eat and is suffering from acute hunger.“We also estimate that half the children under five are acutely malnourished. And when a child is malnourished, this means also no access to enough food, to health, to water, to hygiene, to sanitation. And, also, malnutrition has a severe and irreversible impact on children. So, this is something that we cannot let continue,” she said.This year’s United Nations humanitarian appeal for $1.3 billion has received just $500 million, leaving a funding gap of $800 million. 
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Here are the latest developments in Afghanistan as of Friday:U.S. military launches drone strike, targeting a member of an IS Afghan affiliate group. One person is killed in the U.S. drone strike. The person is believed to have been responsible for planning deadly attacks on the U.S. in Kabul. It was not immediately clear whether the target was involved in Thursday’s deadly attack outside Kabul airport. The strike was launched less than 48 hours after the Kabul airport attack.
 The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens not to come to the Kabul airport because of security threats and to leave immediately if they were near any of four gates to the airport, according to a statement on the State Department’s website.
 “There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from Hamid Karzai International Airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
 U.S. Army General Hank Taylor said Friday a single suicide bomber, not two as previously believed, carried out Thursday’s attack.
 Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. believes there are other “specific credible” threats against Kabul airport.
 Despite the risks, crowds of people desperate to leave Afghanistan gathered outside Kabul’s airport early Friday as evacuation flights resumed.
 A VOA reporter who visited the area outside the airport later in the day saw mostly empty streets, with Taliban security blocking access to nearby streets.
 About 106,000 people have left Afghanistan on evacuation flights since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul.
 Taylor said some gates to the airport have been closed, but U.S. personnel continue to process for departure American citizens, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans who have the proper credentials. 
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Steve Nikoui had been glued to TV reports on Thursday, desperate for hints his son, Lance Corporal Kareem Nikoui, survived the deadly airport suicide bombing in Afghanistan when three Marines arrived at his door with the worst news possible.The 20-year-old Marine, who the previous day had sent home a video of himself giving candy to Afghan children, was among 13 U.S. service members killed in the bombing. Others included an expectant father from Wyoming, the son of a California police officer and a medic from Ohio.“He was born the same year it started and ended his life with the end of this war,” Nikoui said from his home in Norco, California, referring to the 2001 start of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.The U.S. Defense Department has not formally announced the names of the service members killed in the attack at Kabul airport, but details of their lives began to emerge on Friday as family and friends were notified.Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing, carried out during a massive evacuation of U.S. and other foreign nationals as well as some Afghan civilians following the Taliban takeover.On Friday, Nikoui was waiting for a Marine liaison to come to his house to help with arrangements to fly him and his wife to an Air Force base in Delaware, where their son’s body will arrive in the coming days.He said he was angry.“I’m really disappointed in the way that the president has handled this, even more so the way the military has handled it. The commanders on the ground should have recognized this threat and addressed it,” Nikoui said.Also, among the troops killed was Rylee McCollum of Wyoming, a Marine who was married with a baby due in three weeks, his sister, Roice, said in a Facebook post on Friday.“He wanted to be a Marine his whole life and carried around his rifle in his diapers and cowboy boots,” his sister wrote, adding that he wanted to be a history teacher and a wrestling coach upon leaving the military.Along with wrestling, McCollum played football before graduating from Wyoming’s Jackson Hole High School in 2019.“Saying that I am grateful for Rylee’s service to our country does not begin to encapsulate the grief and sadness I feel today as a mother and as an American,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said in a statement. “My heart and prayers are with Rylee’s family, friends, and the entire Jackson community.”Regi Stone, whose son Eli enlisted around the same time as McCollum, described him as “smart, strong and courageous” and said he drew comfort when the two hung out together.”We always knew that Rylee had his back and my son his,” Stone told Reuters, adding that he got to know McCollum during visits for dinner at their house. “He’s a defender. He loved his country and wanted to make a difference.”Cool older brotherNavy medic Max Soviak’s sister Marilyn described him as only a sibling could.“My beautiful, intelligent, beat-to-the-sound of his own drum, annoying, charming baby brother was killed yesterday helping to save lives,” she wrote on Instagram.Soviak’s death was confirmed on Twitter by U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, the medic’s home state.Pictures on Max Soviak’s Instagram page show him laughing on the beach, rock-climbing, skiing and posing with two young children. “Not just an older brother, I’m the cool older brother,” Soviak wrote in 2019.His last post was more foreboding.“It’s kill or be killed, definitely trynna be on the kill side,” Soviak wrote on June 10.The accompanying photo appeared to show him alongside two other troops in uniform holding weapons.Hunter Lopez, 22, another Marine killed in the blast, was the son of a captain and a deputy in the Riverside County, California, sheriff’s office, according to a Facebook post by Sheriff Chad Bianco. Lopez had planned on following in his parents’ footsteps and becoming a deputy when he returned home, the post said.“I am unbelievably saddened and heartbroken for the Lopez family as they grieve over the loss of their American Hero,” Bianco wrote in a different post on his personal Facebook page.The explosion also took the life of Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover from Utah, according to a Facebook post by his aunt, Brittany Jones Barnett. She and other relatives described him on social media as brave and kind.“The world has lost a true light. Our hearts are broken. Shock, disbelief, horror, sadness, sorrow, anger and grief,” she wrote.The father of Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, 20 called into a local radio station in Missouri on Friday to speak about his son’s death and his passion for military service.“He was not the type that liked to just sit around and get his four years done and walk away,” Mark Schmitz told KMOX. “He wanted to be in a situation where he actually made a difference.”Schmitz said his son had been stationed in Jordan before being called to Afghanistan two weeks before the attack.The last publicly visible post on Jared Schmitz’s Facebook page was a July 29 photograph of him at the archeological site of Petra, in Jordan. A friend commented that he hoped Schmitz was staying safe, to which Schmitz replied, “always my guy.” 
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According to the White House, the U.S. has evacuated more than 105,000 people from Afghanistan since the Taliban took over Kabul. VOA’s Saba Shah Khan spoke to some of them at the Dulles International Airport in Virginia as they arrived and shared their experiences.
Camera: Qazafi Babar          Producer: Saba Shah Khan
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The U.S. Embassy urged U.S. citizens not to come to the Kabul airport because of security threats and to leave immediately if they were near any of four gates to the airport, according to a statement on the State Department website Friday.The warning comes one day after a suicide bomber killed more than 170 Afghans, according to press reports, and 13 U.S. service members outside Kabul’s airport on Thursday, the U.S. Defense Department said Friday.Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said at the briefing the U.S. believes there are other “specific, credible” threats against the airport, noting that “we certainly are prepared and would expect future attempts.”The security threats have made the evacuation of Americans and some Afghans more difficult.”There doesn’t appear to be any concerted effort to get SIVs [Special Immigrant Visa holders] out at this point,” a State Department official told VOA from Hamid Karzai International Airport. But the department is still trying to evacuate local embassy staff, U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.Thursday’s deadly attack was carried out by a single suicide bomber, not two as previously believed, the Defense Department said Friday.“It’s not any surprise that the confusion of very dynamic events like this can cause information sometimes to be misreported or garbled,” U.S. Army General Hank Taylor told reporters at a Pentagon media briefing.He went on to say, “we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, that it was one suicide bomber.” But many witnesses reported hearing two blasts, The New York Times reported.Despite the risks, crowds of people desperate to leave Afghanistan gathered outside Kabul’s airport early Friday as evacuation flights resumed.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
An Afghan woman tries to identify a body at a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 27, 2021, a day after a deadly attack outside the airport.A regional offshoot of the Islamic State group known as ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, has been blamed for the attacks.U.S. President Joe Biden is vowing vengeance on those responsible.”To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Biden said in a nationally broadcast address. “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”Biden said he had ordered commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities, saying, “We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose and the moment of our choosing.”When asked if the U.S. is capable of simultaneously planning and executing counterattacks while leading the evacuation, Taylor said, “We have resources with the Centcom commander, with the commanders on the ground and the capabilities to allow us to execute any type of those operations.”About 170 Afghans died in the attack, according to The New York Times, The Associated Press and Afghan news agency Pajhwok. Including the 13 American service members, nearly 200 people died.The U.S. service members who were killed included 11 Marines, one on his first tour in Afghanistan, a Navy sailor and an Army soldier.Two British citizens and the child of another were killed in the blast, Dominic Raab, British foreign minister said.Afghan refugees arrive at Dulles International Airport on Aug. 27, 2021 in Dulles, Virginia, after being evacuated from Kabul following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.Eighteen injured American military personnel were evacuated from Afghanistan on specially equipped C-17s with surgical units, according to Captain Bill Urban, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command.Taylor said that two flights carrying injured service members arrived Friday in Germany, and the personnel were transported to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center for treatment.About 109,000 people have left Afghanistan on evacuation flights since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul, and a total of almost 115,000 people since the end of July, a White House official said late Friday.Taylor said that more than 300 Americans had been evacuated since Thursday, increasing the total to about 5,100 since the evacuations began. He said the State Department continues to process evacuations, despite the risks.“Some gates have been closed … but American citizens, SIV applicants and vulnerable Afghans who have the designated and proper credentials will continue to be processed for departure from the airfield.”Meanwhile, Kirby said Friday the Pentagon has authorized three military installations in the U.S. to join four other U.S. military bases in providing “support to the U.S. mission to evacuate Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants, their families and other at-risk individuals.”Biden vowed Thursday the evacuations would continue until the Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw all troops. More than 20 allies helped with the evacuations. Most have completed their operations.”We will get Americans out who want to get out,” the president said.Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. 
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​A first group of 121 evacuees from Afghanistan arrived early Friday in Albania, after the country agreed to temporarily house at-risk Afghan nationals at the request of the United States.More are expected to go to the Western Balkan country, but the timing is uncertain because of the chaos and evolving situation at the Kabul airport, as the United States and other countries race to get Americans and others out of the country ahead of an Tuesday deadline for complete withdrawal, amid the threat of more terror attacks.Officials in Albania said the first group of 121 was made up of civil society activists and others, including children and 11 babies. The flight made one stop in Tbilisi, Georgia, then departed for Albania, arriving at the country’s main airport in Tirana at 3 a.m. local time.Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama offers a gift to a boy during his visit to a resort accommodating Afghan refugees in Golem, west of Tirana, Aug. 27, 2021.They were being sheltered temporarily in three hotels near the coastal town of Durrës, about 38 kilometers (23.5 miles) from Tirana.“We have prepared for everything, including processing documentation and registration, health checks, sanitary packages, food, transportation and of course safety,” said Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka, who welcomed the group at the airport.U.S. Ambassador to Albania Yuri Kim was also present, thanking Albania for the hospitality.FM An Afghan family gathers at a resort that is accommodating Afghan refugees in Golem, Albania, Aug. 27, 2021.While the length of the Afghan evacuees’ stay in these countries remains to be seen, Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a global affairs think tank, told VOA the priority is to move them out of Afghanistan.”Right now, I think the key is to get them to a place where they are safe to begin the paperwork, the background checks, other necessary steps to process to them for refugee status and for ultimate resettlement,” he said, adding that the Biden administration “is very appreciative for any country that is willing to help out.” Ilirian Agolli contributed to this report.
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The World Health Organization says only a few days of medical supplies are left in Afghanistan to treat the health needs of millions of people in the fractured country.Trauma kits are especially in demand following Thursday’s suicide bombing by Islamic State militants at Kabul airport, killing more than 100 people and injuring scores of others.The WHO says emergency health kits containing essential supplies and medicine for hospitals and clinics, nutritional food for acutely malnourished children and items for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic also are in short supply.The WHO’s emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, Rick Brennan, says commercial aircraft are blocked from flying into Kabul airport because of security concerns. Therefore, he says, the WHO is exploring other ways of bringing medicine into the country.“There are multiple security and logistics constraints to doing so but we hope and expect that we will be able to bring in more supplies in the coming days, with the support of the Pakistan government. Kabul airport is not an option for bringing in supplies at this stage and so we are likely to use Mazar-i-Sharif airport, with our first flight hopefully going in the next few days,” Brennan said.The situation in Afghanistan is volatile and fluid. Humanitarian needs across the country are enormous and growing. The United Nations says some 18 million people require international support. They include an estimated 3.5 million internally displaced people, among them more than half-a-million newly displaced this year.Brennan says the WHO is committed to staying in Afghanistan and meeting the needs of the displaced and other vulnerable people. He says the welfare of women and children are of particular concern.“Already we are hearing that some female health workers are not attending work and that there has been a decline in the attendance of women and children at some facilities. This again highlights the need to ensure the availability of medical supplies, to support female health workers in their work, and to encourage families to bring their mothers…and children to seek health care when they need it,” he said.Brennan says the WHO has staff in all 34 provinces across the country monitoring the health situation. He says that fortunately, most of the 2,200 health facilities the WHO are monitoring remain open and functioning.However, he warns an increasing number of people will get sick and die unless the medical supplies that are rapidly running out can be replenished in a timely manner.
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U.N. agencies are appealing for nearly $300 million in preparation for the possible exodus of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, seeking safety and protection from conflict and persecution under Taliban rule.The U.N. refugee agency and partners are planning for what they call a worst-case scenario of more than 515,000 newly displaced refugees fleeing to countries neighboring Afghanistan.UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner Kelly Clements says preparations are underway to assist host governments in the region with financial and material support to care for a large influx of refugees.She says discussions with national authorities are underway on scaling up the humanitarian response. She notes the proposed regional response plan is a critical part of that process.“While we have not seen large outflows of Afghans at this point, the situation inside Afghanistan has evolved more rapidly than anyone expected. We need therefore to be prepared for any number of eventualities. That takes resources, preparation and a reasonable amount of lead time,” Clements said.Most of the support is likely to go to Iran and Pakistan, countries that are already hosting 2.2 million Afghans, many of whom have been living there for decades.  Clements says the generosity shown by these governments in sheltering Afghan refugees for nearly 40 years cannot be taken for granted.“Increased and immediate funding will allow us to preposition core relief items and be ready for emergency interventions…. Given the critical COVID situation, especially in Iran, we have an unusually high ask in regard to health assistance. It is critical that both refugees and hosts are protected and that vaccines are made available to all,” she said.Money from the appeal will support the humanitarian operations of 11 U.N. and non-governmental organizations on behalf of the Afghan refugees until the end of the year. The agencies will provide food, shelter, health care, education, protection, and other vital humanitarian assistance. 
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At least 16 people were killed in a factory fire on Friday in Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub, Karachi, raising questions about the industrial safety in a country not new to such accidents.
The fire broke out at a multi-story chemical factory in eastern part of the city, and most windows of the factory were blocked, police and fire officials said.Many factory workers died after being trapped on the second floor in the fire, which broke out on the ground floor of the three-story factory.“At least 16 people have died in the fire,” Saqib Ismail Memon, deputy inspector general of Karachi’s eastern part, told Reuters.Private television channels’ footage showed thick grey smoke billowing out from the top floors of the factory.“The factory had only one entry point, which was also being used as exit, and the roof exit was blocked, which badly hampered rescue efforts,” Mubeen Ahmed, chief fire officer of the fire department, told a Geo, a private television channel.Over 260 workers were burnt alive when a multi-storey garment factory was set on fire in September 2012 in what became the deadliest industrial blaze in Pakistan’s history.Blazes and accidents are common in South Asia’s factories, many of which operate illegally and without proper fire safety measures.
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U.S. President Joe Biden is vowing vengeance on those responsible for Thursday’s deadly attacks outside the Kabul airport that killed at least 13 American military personnel and dozens of civilians who had gathered there in hopes of fleeing the Taliban-controlled country. ”To those who carried out this attack, as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive,” Biden said in a nationally broadcast address. “We will hunt you down and make you pay.”The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a report on its news agency’s Telegram channel, hours after suicide bombers had struck two locations along the perimeter of the Hamid Karzai International Airport: near the Abbey Gate and outside a nearby hotel. A map of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, showing the location of two explosions on Aug. 26, 2021.A regional offshoot of Islamic State known as ISIS-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K, has been blamed for the attacks.Biden said he had ordered commanders to develop operational plans to strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities, saying, “We will respond with force and precision at our time, at the place we choose and the moment of our choosing.”  Shortly after the president’s remark, the White House press secretary amplified his message: “We will hunt down these terrorists and kill them wherever they are.”A screen grab shows people carrying an injured person to a hospital after an attack at Kabul’s airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan Aug. 26, 2021. An Islamic State offshoot claimed responsibility for deadly suicide attacks outside the airport.Biden and Psaki said there was no evidence, so far, of collusion between the Taliban, which seized control of Kabul nearly two weeks ago, and ISIS in carrying out the attacks. The United Nations and NATO condemned the attacks, as did Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid. Speaking about the first blast, a senior Taliban source confirmed to VOA that a suicide bomber had blown himself up in an area holding a large number of people.   Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 6 MB480p | 8 MB540p | 10 MB720p | 22 MB1080p | 43 MBOriginal | 49 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe explosions came hours after Western governments had warned of the threat of a terror attack at the airport and said those gathered in the area should move to a safe location.    ”The overall sense of mission is focused right now at the (passenger) terminal. Lots of Marines and consular officers cared deeply about the Afghans we were helping,” said a U.S. State Department official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity. The U.S. is ”trying to carry on with the mission ahead while knowing our security is severely compromised,” the official said. “Attacks occurred right at our shift change; otherwise, consular officers might have been casualties, too.”  Many of those wounded Thursday arrived at Kabul’s Emergency Hospital, run by an international nongovernmental organization that treats victims of war and landmines. Afghan news channels tweeted pictures of civilians transporting their wounded in wheelbarrows.In Pictures: People injured in explosion near Kabul airport pic.twitter.com/WQ8sdjvODG— 1TVNewsAF (@1TVNewsAF) August 26, 2021 Pakistan officials have asked that beginning Friday, hotels across the capital, Islamabad, cancel reservations and keep all rooms at the government’s disposal for at least three weeks to accommodate the thousands of foreigners being urgently evacuated from Afghanistan. Biden on Thursday issued a proclamation lowering U.S. flags across the country through August 30 “as a mark of respect for the U.S. service members and other victims killed in the terrorist attack.”Minutes later, the flag above the White House was lowered to half-staff.The flag has just been lowered here at the @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/0T4o4g7fn1— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) August 26, 2021Ayaz Gul, Ayesha Tanzeem, Carla Babb, Patsy Widakuswara  contributed to this report.    
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At kitchen tables around the U.S., former military members who served in Afghanistan have been working around the clock to get their Afghan colleagues out of the country. They fear the Taliban will imprison or even kill interpreters and their families who don’t make it out by Aug. 31. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb reports on one family that has upended its life to help.
Camera: Michelle Quinn
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Two Afghan American families who were in Afghanistan when the U.S.-backed government fell last week are talking about their harrowing journey from the Kabul airport back to America. VOA Afghan service reporter Mohammad Ahmadi visited with the families and filed this report.  Camera: Mohammad Ahmadi 
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Thousands of Afghans have arrived in the United States since the hurried evacuation of Afghanistan began in mid-August, including many who helped U.S. forces during their 20-year involvement in the country.Why is the U.S. military evacuating Afghans?President Joe Biden said the United States aimed to evacuate 50,000 to 65,000 Afghan allies before an August 31 deadline for U.S. withdrawal.Biden’s estimate appeared to refer to Afghans who have applied for a humanitarian visa, known as a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV), and their family members.The U.S. government has declined to say how many Afghans have arrived in the United States since the evacuation from Kabul began or to describe their immigration status.What is the SIV program?SIVs are available to certain Afghans who aided U.S. forces — as interpreters and translators or in other roles — and fear reprisals by the Taliban, the Islamist militant group that swiftly seized power 11 days ago.An estimated 5,000 SIV applicants have been evacuated from Afghanistan, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Association of Wartime Allies, a group advocating for SIV applicants in Afghanistan and Iraq.The group estimates that 65,000 SIV applicants and family members remain in Afghanistan.SIV-eligible Afghans and other Afghan arrivals will go to military bases in Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin and New Jersey for processing.Who are the Afghans arriving in the U.S.?U.S. military evacuation flights from Kabul have carried U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, Afghan SIV applicants and other vulnerable Afghans, according to the Pentagon.Among the Afghans entering the United States are people with approved SIVs and applicants to the program.Other arriving Afghans may seek U.S. asylum or similar forms of relief, advocates say.Afghans who lack valid immigration status when they arrive in the United States can be permitted to enter for a temporary period through “humanitarian parole.”The Biden administration has not said how many Afghans have been paroled into the United States, but advocates expect many arrivals will lack visas and require parole.What happens to Afghans when they arrive in the U.S.?U.S. evacuation flights so far have landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia.U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can go on to their destinations after they have been tested for COVID-19. SIV-eligible Afghans and other Afghan arrivals go to U.S. military bases in Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin and New Jersey for processing, according to people familiar with the procedure.Afghans sent to the military bases receive a health screening and help in applying for work authorization, along with other services. The processing can take anywhere from a day to a week or more, a refugee staffer working at Fort Lee in Virginia told Reuters.After processing at the military bases, Afghans will be connected with a U.S. refugee resettlement organization, a senior U.S. official said.The groups provide SIV-eligible Afghans and others with housing, furniture and food, and help them adjust to life in the United States.Are the arriving Afghans vetted for possible security threats?Afghans seeking SIVs must complete a 14-step application process that includes a visa interview and security screening.The Biden administration has said that SIV applicants further along in the application process have been allowed to enter the United States.Applicants in earlier stages are being sent to third countries, including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Germany. In those countries, the Afghans undergo “robust security processing,” the senior administration official said.”That process involves biometric and biographic security screenings conducted by our intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals who are working quite literally around the clock to vet all of these Afghans before they’re allowed into the United States,” the official said.The Biden administration has not said what type of vetting would be applied to any Afghans entering the United States who are not applying to the SIV program.Are U.S. refugee resettlement groups prepared?U.S. refugee resettlement organizations typically receive at least two weeks’ notice from the U.S. government or United Nations to prepare for new arrivals, but the hectic evacuation has cut that timeline to days or hours.The hurried pace forced one refugee group in Texas to turn to emergency housing and petition for vacant Airbnb rental units, while others have scrambled to find mattresses and supplies for families.U.S. refugee groups and immigration advocates have for months urged the Biden administration to quickly evacuate vulnerable Afghans and were frustrated by what they perceived as a lack of urgency before the Taliban took control of Kabul.At the same time, the resettlement agencies are rebuilding after former President Donald Trump slashed refugee admissions to the lowest level since the U.S. program began in 1980, forcing the groups to cut staff and close offices.
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With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan, the European Union is looking to Turkey to bear the brunt of an expected exodus of Afghan refugees heading to Europe. But Turkey is resisting the call.  Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
Video editor: Marcus Harton
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Mexico received 124 media workers and their family members from Afghanistan, including New York Times journalists, the government said on Wednesday, as people flee after the Taliban militant group’s takeover.They arrived at Mexico City’s international airport early on Wednesday morning, where Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard waited to greet them.”Mexico has decided to support human rights applications for refuge, asylum and humanitarian visas for people in Afghanistan who have asked to have this humanitarian condition,” Ebrard said.Members of Afghan Robotics Team Reach MexicoGirls evacuated Afghanistan following Taliban takeover Ebrard helped to arrange the journalists’ departure from Kabul, which included a stopover in Qatar, before their eventual arrival in Mexico, according to the New York Times.Mexico was able to “cut through the red tape” to take in the media workers, unlike the United States, the Times said.A former Kabul and Mexico bureau chief for the Times whomaintained a cordial relationship with Ebrard made the request that Mexico receive the refugees, the Times said. Other journalists from the Wall Street Journal in Afghanistan could arrive later in Mexico, the Times added.The Mexican government touted the operation as an example of its commitment to freedom of expression, despite its past ridicule of coverage by local and international media including the New York Times.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan last week as the United States and its allies withdrew troops after two decades and the Western-backed Afghan government and military collapsed.The Taliban follow an ultra-hardline version of Sunni Islam. When in power from 1996-2001, guided by its interpretation of Islamic law, the Taliban banned television and it censored news.It has become more media-savvy since, using social media andpromising to allow a free press.Taliban fighters, however, have raided homes of journalists’ relatives and killed one family member of a reporter working for Deutsche Welle, the German public broadcaster said. In July,Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed in Afghanistan after getting stuck in a Taliban-controlled area.Reuters evacuated a group of 73 people made up of its workers and their families to Pakistan from Afghanistan on Monday.Afghanistan and Mexico are considered among the most dangerous countries for journalists. At least 141 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since 2000, according to non-profitdata. Journalists are often targeted for reporting on criminalgangs or corrupt officials.On Tuesday, five members of Afghanistan’s all-girls robotics team arrived in Mexico.
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India’s most populous state will drop legal proceedings against farmers accused of burning crop waste, a major source of pollution, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party tries to placate growers ahead of elections next year to the state assembly.   The action comes at a time when some states have stepped up punishments for crop residue burning to avert an expected spike in air pollution that brings smog every year during the low temperatures of winter.   The predominantly agricultural northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which is home to more people than Brazil, is also considering waiving fines imposed on farmers, an influential voting bloc, for burning crop stubble.   “The idea was not to punish farmers but to spread awareness about crop stubble burning and its effect on the environment,” Navneet Sehgal, the top official in the state’s information department, told Reuters.   Shiv Kant Dixit, chief of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, or Indian Farmers’ Federation affiliated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP, said it had urged the state to withdraw legal cases against farmers for crop residue burning.   “About 10,000 farmers have been slapped with cases for stubble burning, and a fine of about 1 billion rupees was imposed,” Dixit said, referring to a total figure equivalent to $13 million.  The Uttar Pradesh government is looking to mollify angry farmers ahead of the state assembly election, said Sudhir Panwar, the chief of a farmers’ group, Kisan Jagriti Manch.   For more than eight months, tens of thousands of farmers have camped on major highways to the capital, New Delhi to oppose new farm laws, in the longest-running growers’ protest against Modi’s government. FILE – People raise their hands as they attend a Maha Panchayat or grand village council meeting as part of a farmers’ protest against farm laws at Bhainswal in Shamli district in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Feb. 5, 2021.The election in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 lawmakers, or more than any other state, to parliament in New Delhi, is often seen as a barometer of the popularity of the federal government.   Modi’s BJP is expected to pull out all the stops to hold on to the state, which has a population of 240 million. 
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The approach is filled with danger. The conditions on the ground are chaotic, but precise organization and timing are needed. And the passengers are exhausted and tense.For pilots in charge of the planes evacuating foreign nationals and Afghans from Taliban-controlled Kabul, the flights in and out of the Afghanistan capital have been a journey like no other.Pilots must deal with the already complex location of the airport at high altitude and surrounded by mountains, with intense air traffic like that of a major travel hub with military planes and evacuation flights, relying on their onboard Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) to avert crashes. As Western nations prepare to wind down one of the most complex evacuations of civilians since World War II, several pilots shared with AFP their experiences of landing and then taking off from Kabul airport as chaos gripped the country.U.S. forces, who have 5,800 personnel deployed at the airport, “are carrying out all air traffic control, ground control, tower control and approach control,” according to Commander Stephen, the captain of a French A400M military transport plane.FILE – U.S. soldiers arrive to provide security for evacuees, at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 20, 2021.”With a plane like this, we are helped very much by our systems, but we end up landing by sight,” he told AFP at French base 104 of Al-Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates, the transit point used by France, on condition that his surname was not published.”The fact that the system helps us a lot allows us to focus on the outside and monitor the threat,” he added.To ward off possible missile fire, the A400M can drop infrared decoys that emit intense heat to deceive the projectile. On approaching the runway, the plane veers sharply towards the ground in order to “avoid the threat during our approach”, he said.The incoming and outgoing air traffic is “regulated like sheet music,” said Stephen. “There is so much traffic from all the nations that if it was not organized it would not be possible,” he said.The pilots must “absolutely” respect their slots with only “half an hour between landing and takeoff”. There are a mass of planes on the ground, but it is “well-organized”, he said.French Special Forces soldiers stand guard near a military plane at airport in Kabul on August 17, 2021, as they arrive to evacuate French and Afghan nationals.’We are going to take off’The fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15, at a speed that was not anticipated by the international community, prompted thousands to head to the city’s airport, the only way to fly out of the country.When he landed a passenger airliner that morning, everything seemed normal, said Maqsoud Barajni, a pilot of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).Waiting on the tarmac to begin the return flight, “I started noticing that there was panic outside, and the situation was not normal. More people were rushing inside the airport and gunshots were also heard.”Barjani started to push back ahead of takeoff, but was then told by control that passenger flights had been suspended and he did not have authorization to take off. He then made the biggest call of his flying career.”I had a conversation with my second officer that we are going to take off even if they don’t authorize it. It was not a normal situation.” “After observing the situation for an hour, I finally took off. The visibility was good which enabled me to avoid the military traffic. There were some Chinooks, Gunship helicopter and some other cargoes.” “Had we delayed for few more minutes we wouldn’t have made it. It was the last commercial flight of that day.” His PIA colleague Uzair Khan had taken off from Kabul airport a little while before on the same day. He remembered having to himself impose calm on the plane with passengers in a state of panic.”Most of the passengers were either in the cabinet of president (Ashraf) Ghani or somehow part of the government. They were fleeing the country with their families and were pushing us to take off as soon as possible.””There was no communication and I was on my own when it came to the technical clearance. I was told to manage the situation by myself.”The passengers were “ready to fly and get out of Afghanistan at any cost” and experienced a wave of relief when the plane finally arrived in Islamabad, he said.FILE – People disembark from a Lufthansa aircraft coming from Tashkent in Uzbekistan that landed at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 18, 2021. On board were about 130 people that were evacuated from Afghanistan.’Do our job’The chaos only increased in the subsequent days. Photos of the hold of a British C-17 released by the Royal Air Force show people sitting cross-legged on the floor in rows of seven or eight, a single strap crossing the cabin to hang on. For the French colonel Yannick Desbois, commander of base 104, “you have to stay rational, analyze the performance of the aircraft and only accept the maximum number you can take, so as not to go too far.” A French A400M normally has 110 seats, “but here we are loading up to 235. People are seated on the ground — but in safe conditions,” he said. The American C-17s are designed to carry up to 400 passengers seated on the ground, but one of them in the early hours of the airlift took on 829.Desbois said “it is above all a question of weight” and while the passenger numbers are high, they include many children. After take-off, the job is easier. “People are tired. The pressure relents. In general, they sleep and we do our job,” said Commander Stephen.
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From trucks stuffed with carpets, bedding, clothes and even goats, around 200 Afghan refugees look beyond the horizon toward Spin Boldak in their country’s south, waiting to return home from Pakistan.Dreading another period of harsh rule after the Taliban’s rapid takeover following the U.S. troop withdrawal, thousands have been desperately trying to flee Afghanistan, with chaotic images emerging from the Kabul airport.But some families want to repatriate to their homeland, saying the Taliban will bring stability to the war-torn nation.”We emigrated from Afghanistan during bombing and hardships, when Muslims were in trouble, now, praise be to Allah, the situation is normal, so we are returning to Afghanistan,” Molavi Shaib told AFP while waiting at the border.Divided by a 3-meter-deep trench filled with barbed wire, the mountainous boundary separating Spin Boldak from Chaman in Pakistan’s southwest sees thousands crossing the trade route every day.As scores try to escape Taliban rule, Pakistan has ramped up security at the border, making the process more stringent.”People want to return but they are not allowed to cross, we request the Pakistani government to allow us to cross the border because there’s no war, and peace has been established,” Muhammad Nabi said. “We have our household with women and kids waiting — we want them to cross the border.”Pakistan has housed more than 2 million Afghan refugees since the first wave of war broke out in Afghanistan over 40 years ago, with numbers fluctuating based on the conflict’s intensity, but the country has said it is not in a position to take in any more.Displaced Afghans have long complained about feeling unwelcome with little access to employment and citizenship rights.Many have become pawns in a diplomatic blame-game between the countries, which have accused each other of aiding militant groups. Islamabad has long been seen as protecting the Taliban and could be one of the few governments with close ties to the new regime in Kabul.With dust blowing over their belongings and children squeezed in between the furniture, dozens of trucks are parked in Chaman’s barren fields, as returnees complete document checks and wait for their crossing to be approved.On the back of one truck, a teenage boy holds a baby, surrounded by a hodgepodge of household goods including a bucket, a bed and a bicycle. Another boy sits next to him on a yellow cushion while a white goat can be seen milling about between them.The returnees say they will have better lives in Afghanistan.”I am returning to Ghazni, now peace has been established and we are happy that we are returning back to our home. It’s much better to go back and settle there,” Wali Ur Rahman told AFP.His words are a jarring contrast to the images from Kabul airport where people have clung to the exterior of planes and at least one person has fallen to their death off a departing jet.Many of those trying to get out of Afghanistan fear reprisals from the Taliban after working for foreign governments that fought the militants during the 20-year war.But Nabi told AFP he was confident the end of the conflict would bring a brighter future.”We migrated here to Pakistan because of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, now peace has been established,” he said.
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The Biden administration said Wednesday it was on track to evacuate all Americans out of Afghanistan by the Aug. 31 deadline for a military drawdown. But U.S. lawmakers say time is running out for the evacuation of Afghan allies who face significant challenges from the Taliban to make their way to Kabul airport. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
Producer: Katherine Gypson
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Afghanistan’s banks, critical to the country’s recovery from crisis, are facing an uncertain future, say its bankers, with doubts over everything from liquidity to employment of female staff after the Taliban swept to power.Banks were expected to reopen imminently, a Taliban spokesperson said Tuesday, after they were closed for some 10 days and the financial system ground to a halt as the Western-backed government collapsed amid the pullout of U.S. and allied troops.Yet there has been scant evidence so far of a reopening or of banking services returning to normal, with large crowds thronging the streets outside banks in Kabul on Wednesday.”The banks continue to be closed — with no clear signs of reopening, they have run out of money,” said Gazal Gailani, trade and economic adviser at the Afghan Embassy in London.”Afghanistan’s banking system is now in a state of collapse, and people are running out of money.”Many rural areas get by largely without banks. But in the cities, where government worker salaries are often paid into bank accounts, closures are causing hardship in a mostly cash-based economy.The outlook for lenders looks precarious, with looming questions about the Taliban’s grasp of finance and its ability to restart an economy shattered by 40 years of war.With no significant exports apart from illegal narcotics bringing in cash, one immediate obstacle is liquidity in a country that is heavily dollarized and relies on regular physical dollar-shipments that have been halted, according to former central bank chief Ajmal Ahmady.The Afghanistan Banks Association (ABA) had reached out to the central bank to coordinate steps on a return to normality, said Syed Moosa Kaleem Al-Falahi, chief executive and president of Islamic Bank of Afghanistan (IBA), one of Afghanistan’s three largest banks.Commercial banks had collectively decided to suspend services until the central bank confirmed liquidity and security arrangements, he said.”It would be rather difficult to control the rush if banks reopen immediately,” he added.’Major liquidity challenges’Liquidity had already been an issue in the run-up to the bank closures as people scrambled to withdraw cash.Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB), the central bank, provided financial support to banks during last week’s cash squeeze, said a banker at one of Afghanistan’s largest lenders, speaking on condition of anonymity.But its ability to continue to do so appears uncertain, with DAB’s roughly $9 billion in foreign reserves looking largely out of Taliban reach.”Banks will face major liquidity challenges as central bank officials have not had access to reserves yet,” the banker said.”They will face foreign currency liquidity issues which will cause huge fluctuations in the exchange rates.”The afghani plunged on the expectation of dollar scarcity and further volatility is expected, with Afghanistan’s import coverage reportedly collapsing from more than 15 months to a couple of days.Bankers in Afghanistan are also waiting for clarity from foreign-based correspondent banks, which provide services such as currency exchange and money transfers, on whether ties will continue after the Taliban takeover. Any new sanctions could see many links cut.A senior Afghan banker said their bank’s correspondent banks in Turkey, Russia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan and India were still showing support.Faith in the banking system was severely damaged by the 2010 collapse of Kabul Bank, in one of the biggest corruption scandals of the 20-year Western presence in Afghanistan.Banks emerged in generally good health from the COVID-19 pandemic, said DAB in its 2020 report, noticing no liquidity shortfall, while capital positions met regulatory thresholds and assets swelled 4% to 327 billion afghanis ($3.8 billion).But the current crisis will further set back confidence in a sector which has struggled to expand services in a thinly banked country.According to the International Monetary Fund, only 183 of every 1,000 people hold a deposit account; there are less than two bank branches or cash machines for every 100,000 adults.This week, the Taliban said it had named Haji Mohammad Idris, a loyalist with no formal financial training, as DAB’s acting governor. A senior Taliban leader defended the appointment, saying Idris was respected for his expertise.It is so far unclear whether Afghanistan’s less than a dozen banks, all but one of which are conventional, will have to convert to Islamic banking, a lengthy and costly procedure.More uncertainty surrounds the future employment of female staff.”So far there is no official communication from them (the Taliban) with respect to female staff,” said IBA’s Al-Falahi. “Our female staff will return to work when we reopen.”But given the Taliban’s track record, their assurances that women would be allowed to work consistent with Islamic law have been met with skepticism.The banker at one of Afghanistan’s largest lenders said their bank had a plan to ensure it could continue operations in the event of it having to dismiss its roughly 20% of female staff.”We expect we will face challenges such as losing qualified and high-skilled staff as most of them are planning to flee the country at the first opportunity,” the banker said.
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U.S. lawmakers pushed President Joe Biden on Wednesday to evacuate hundreds of people affiliated with the U.S. Agency for Global Media from Afghanistan as Washington rushes to meet a troop withdrawal deadline of August 31. In a letter sent to Biden on Tuesday, Senator Ben Cardin and Representative William Keating said about 550 people — employees of USAGM and their families — are still trying to leave Afghanistan. USAGM is an independent federal agency that encompasses several news networks, including the Voice of America and Radio Azadi. “We stress to you that the 550 USAGM employees and their families are no different from journalists you have already doggedly worked to evacuate,” the letter read, noting that the administration has worked with multiple American publications to evacuate their employees. “They have been and continue to be a target for the Taliban due to their association with the United States government,” the letter stated. USAGM did not respond to a request for comment. Evacuation efforts for Afghan journalists have increased this week amid reports that Taliban fighters have been searching the homes of some media workers.  In the past week, the Taliban searched properties belonging to at least five journalists, media rights organizations said.The reports of harassment and searches come a week after the Taliban held its first news conference in Kabul. The White House said Wednesday that more than 80,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since the end of July. 
 
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