A week after the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul, growing numbers of people in the Afghan capital are facing a daily struggle to get by with their jobs gone, banks still shuttered and food prices soaring.The thousands crowded outside the airport entry points and fighting for seats on flights out of Kabul have provided the starkest image of the turmoil in the city since the Western-backed government collapsed.But as the days pass, everyday worries about food and rent are adding to the uncertainty in a country whose fragile economy has been crushed by the disappearance of international support.”I am totally lost, I don’t know what should I think about first, my safety and survival or feeding my kids and family,” said a former policeman, now in hiding who has lost the $260 a month salary that used to support his wife and four children.Like many lower-level government employees, who have often gone long periods without being paid, for the past two months he has not even received that.”I’m living in a rental apartment, I have not paid the owner for past three months,” he said.During the week he said he tried to sell a couple of rings and a pair of earrings belonging to his wife, but like many businesses, the gold market was closed and he could not find a buyer.”I am very helpless and don’t know what to do.”Even before the Taliban swept into the city last Sunday, conditions had been getting worse, with the insurgents’ rapid advance through the provincial cities sending the value of the local afghani currency plunging against the U.S. dollar and pushing prices of basic foodstuffs ever higher.Prices of staples like flour, oil and rice have risen by as much as 10%-20% in a few days and with banks still closed, many people have been unable to access their savings. With Western Union offices also closed, remittances from overseas have dried up.”Everything is because of the dollar situation. There are some food shops open but the bazaars are empty,” said one former government employee now in hiding for fear of reprisal by the Taliban.While traffic has restarted over the main land borders into neighboring Pakistan, severe drought conditions across the country have exacerbated the hardships many face and driven thousands to the cities to try to survive in tents and makeshift shelters.On Sunday, international aid groups said the suspension of commercial flights into Afghanistan meant there was no way of getting in supplies of medicines and other aid.Now, the hardship is increasingly reaching into the cities, hitting the lower middle classes who had seen an improvement in their standard of living in the two decades since the Taliban were last in power.”Everything is finished. It wasn’t just the government that fell, it was thousands of people like me whose lives depended on a monthly salary of around 15,000 afghanis ($200),” said a government employee who did not want to be quoted by name.”We are already in debt because the government haven’t paid our salaries for the past two months,” he said. “My elderly mother is sick, she needs medicine, and my children and family need food. God help us.”
…

 The chaotic aftermath of Washington’s troop withdrawal from Afghanistan is being followed with a mix of trepidation and glee thousands of kilometers away — in Africa’s Sahel, where another foreign power, France, also vows to wind down its long-running counterinsurgency operation, at least in its present form.  As the United States continued to evacuate thousands of citizens and allies at Kabul’s airport this week, dozens of civilians and soldiers were killed in several Islamist attacks across a vast and dangerous three-border region that straddles Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. It was just another marker in a protracted fight that has killed thousands, displaced 2 million and — like Afghanistan — is considered by some as unwinnable.  FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron pays his respect in front of the flag-draped coffins of the thirteen French soldiers killed in Mali, during a ceremony at the Hotel National des Invalides in Paris, Dec. 2, 2019.If there many stark differences between America’s war in Afghanistan and France’s in the Sahel — from their size and nature to their Islamist targets — there are also haunting similarities, analysts say.  Both involve yearslong foreign involvement in countries with weak and  unstable governments.  Both operations have struggled against troop fatigue, casualties, and dwindling support at home. Both are against Islamist groups which, many say, are patiently confident they will outlast their enemy.  “If there’s any lesson to draw, it’s that indefinite military solutions aren’t sustainable,” said Bakary Sambe,  Senegal-based director of the Timbuktu Institute think tank. “Sooner or later, there’s got to be an exit,” he said.  Staying put  Unlike the U.S., France for now has no intention of withdrawing from the Sahel, a vast area below the Sahara. It will, however, soon begin decreasing its 5,100-troop Barkhane operation, the linchpin of a regional counterterrorist fight spanning five West and Central African countries.  FILE – French President Macron reacts during a joint press conference with Niger’s president in Paris, on July 9, 2021, following a video summit with leaders of G5 Sahel countries.Nor was the Sahel mentioned in French President Emmanuel Macron’s first major response to the Taliban’s swift victory. Rather, he warned against resurgent terrorism in Afghanistan and illegal migration to Europe.  Yet it may be hard to compartmentalize.   “I think the French cannot afford not to look at what’s going on in Afghanistan when preparing for the very gradual drawdown” of Barkhane forces, said University of Kent conflict expert Yvan Guichaoua.  Images of mayhem and anguish at Kabul’s airport and elsewhere “is something that certainly shocked French officials,” he said, “and maybe made them think about the circumstances in which they are going to leave.”  FILE – Taliban fighters display their flag on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 19, 2021.Others are not so sure.  “I don’t think [the French] are drawing this kind of direct parallel,” between Afghanistan and the Sahel, said Jean-Herve Jezequel, Sahel Project director for the International Crisis Group policy group.“Maybe this is a mistake. But the French are downsizing, they’re not withdrawing. They’re still the biggest military force in the region,” he said. 
 Different — but also echoes of Afghanistan Macron announced in July France’s Barkhane operation would formally end early next year, with troops shrinking to up to half their current numbers and shifted to other anti-terrorist missions — notably forming backbone of the European Union’s fledgling Takuba force, currently aimed at helping Mali fight terrorism in the Sahel region. FILE – The France-led special operations logo for the new Barkhane Task Force Takuba, a multinational military mission in sub-Saharan Africa’s troubled Sahel region, is seen Nov. 3, 2020.Yet France’s revamped mission with its narrowed goals — counterterrorism and beefing up local forces rather than securing large tracts of territory — comes after mounting casualties, fading support at home, a spreading insurgency and growing anti-French sentiment in some Sahel nations.  Born in 2013, France’s military intervention in that region is half as old as the U.S. war in Afghanistan was, with a fraction of its scope and troop losses. Originally aimed to fight jihadist groups in Mali, it later expanded to four other vulnerable former colonies — Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania — that together now form a regional G5 Sahel counterinsurgency operation. Meanwhile, the jihadists are moving south, into parts of sub-Saharan Africa.   
While Paris pushes for greater governance and democracy — in June, Macron briefly suspended operations in Mali after its second coup in a year — the nation-building efforts seen in Afghanistan are not likely, Crisis Watch’s Jezequel said.  “It’s a failure,” he added. “But it’s a failure of the Sahel states.”  Today, some of those states, especially Mali, are watching Afghanistan’s swift unraveling with alarm, experts say, even as extremists celebrate.  The Sahel’s myriad jihadi groups lack the deep roots and experience of the Taliban, which held power in the 1990s. Yet, especially Western recognition of Afghanistan’s new rulers “will comfort the idea that the Islamist alternative is possible,” Sambe said. “It will galvanize radical Islamist groups—and that’s the fear,” he said. The European Union’s executive arm said Saturday it does not recognize the Taliban.  Moving forward For France, moving forward in the Sahel means focusing southward, where the insurgency has spread, and beefing up the Takuba Task Force. Nearly a dozen European countries, including Estonia, Italy, Denmark and non-EU-member Norway have joined or promised to take part in the military mission. But many others remain on the sidelines, including Germany. “The fear of many European countries is to commit troops and then be confronted with a fiasco or death of soldiers,” Guichaoua said.  However, he and others add, French persuasion, from raising fears of conflict-driven migration to Europe, to offering military support in other areas, appears to be working.  Not under French consideration, though, is any dialogue with extremists — an effort controversially tried with the Taliban that is earning support among some Sahel authorities, at least when it comes to homegrown groups.  “The French have considered this a red line,” Guichaoua said. “Because that would mean somewhat that French soldiers died for nothing. But it is on the agenda for Malian authorities.”  Local-level negotiations with jihadi groups have long taken place, he said — to gain access to markets, for example, or get hostages released — but not high-level ones, “and the main reason is France.” For their part, the Sahel’s extremists appear willing to wait, as the Taliban did in Afghanistan. Both, Guichaoua said, are convinced foreign powers will eventually leave, so time is on their side. 
…

The United States said Sunday it has evacuated another 7,400 people from Kabul in the last 24 hours, even as American officials confront what Secretary of State Antony Blinken described as an “incredibly volatile situation at the airport” after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan a week ago. Afghan people gather along a road as they wait to board a U S military aircraft to leave the country, at a military airport in Kabul, Aug. 20, 2021 days after Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan.Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin activated the use of 18 civilian U.S. passenger jets from six airlines to help ferry Americans and Afghans from safe havens where they were staying after leaving Kabul. It is only the third time in the last 30 years the U.S. has invoked use of civilian aircraft to assist the military.  Watch President Biden’s address at 4PM:Blinken told the “Fox News Sunday” show that the latest group of evacuees, Americans and Afghans who had assisted them in 20 years of U.S. fighting in Afghanistan, left on 60 flights, with many of them headed to Mideastern countries. In all, a White House official said the U.S. has evacuated 25,100 people in the last week and a total of 30,000 since the end of July. In this image courtesy of the US Air Force, a loadmaster assists evacuees aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of Operation Allies Refuge at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Aug. 20, 2021. Chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport of Americans trying to flee Afghanistan and Afghans trying to escape their homeland from the Taliban takeover have been broadcast around the world for days now. But White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” show that U.S. forces have “secured the capacity to get large numbers of Americans safe passage through the airport and onto the airfield.”  U.S soldiers stand guard behind barbed wire as Afghans sit on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul, Aug. 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.“At the moment, we believe we have sufficient forces on the ground” to control the crowds trying to leave the country, Sullivan said in a separate interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Sullivan said that “every single day” President Joe Biden “asks his military commanders, including those at the airport and those at the Pentagon, whether they need additional resources, additional troops. So far, the answer has been ‘no,’ but he will ask again today.” He said that “if in the end Americans are blocked from getting to the airport, blocked from leaving the country, or our operations are disrupted or our evacuations are in some way interfered with, we have explained to [the Taliban] that there will be a swift and forceful response.” He said the U.S. has “agreements with 26 nations around the world to logistically move Afghans and Americans and third country nationals out of the country and to air bases throughout neighboring countries and further afield.” While most of the evacuations have occurred at the Kabul airport, the U.S. also deployed three military helicopters to rescue 169 Americans from a hotel. Blinken declared, “We will do what is necessary to get Americans out of harm’s way.” He deflected questions about U.S. miscalculations about the swift Taliban takeover of the Afghan government, saying there would be “plenty of time to determine what might have been done differently and what lessons could be learned.” But he acknowledged, “We believed the government was not about to collapse and the [Afghan] military fade away.”  In July, Biden said it was “highly unlikely” that the Taliban would abruptly assume control, as it did in a matter of days a week ago. A Biden critic, Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, said the U.S. leader “needs to step up and be a commander in chief” to control the evacuation. He said the U.S. needs to consider retaking the Bagram air base outside Kabul that it abandoned as U.S. forces ended their operations there.  FILE – An Afghan army soldier walks past Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, MRAP, that were left after the American military left Bagram air base, in Parwan province north of Kabul, Afghanistan, July 5, 2021.Sasse called leaving Bagram “one of the stupidest blunders,” leaving the Kabul airport as the only major departure point. Defense Secretary Austin said the commercial airlines assisting the military will not fly into Kabul but rather be used “for the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases.” Most likely the U.S. commercial jets will carry Afghans from such Persian Gulf states as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates where many Afghans are awaiting next moves after escaping Kabul. The activation of the aircraft includes four from United Airlines, three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air and two from Hawaiian Airlines. The Defense Department said it “does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights from this activation.” The Civil Reserve Air Fleet was created in 1952 to assist the U.S. military in emergencies such as what has quickly evolved in Kabul over the last week, where thousands of Americans and Afghans who assisted them during 20 years of war in Afghanistan have tried desperately to leave the country. Civilian aircraft were previously used during the first Gulf War in 1990 and 1991 and in Iraq in 2002 and 2003. The Defense Department said the use of the civilian aircraft will allow the U.S. military “to focus on operations in and out of in Kabul.” Some of the Afghan evacuees are expected to move to the United States and others elsewhere in the world. 
…

Seven people were killed near Kabul’s airport Saturday as thousands gathered in a desperate effort to leave the country as the Taliban take control, the British Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.The Taliban, after a 10-day offensive, entered the Afghanistan capital just a week ago, on August 15. Since then, the airport has been a chaotic site as thousands of people have tried to flee the country, fearing a return to the harsh interpretation of Islamic law practiced when the Taliban controlled the country 20 years ago.  “Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible,” the British Defense Ministry said in a statement.FILE – Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 16, 2021.Temperatures on Saturday in Kabul reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). The Associated Press reported that it wasn’t immediately clear whether those killed had been physically crushed, suffocated or suffered a fatal heart attack in the crowds.   A Sky News correspondent who was at the Kabul airport, however, said tens of thousands of Afghans turned up on Saturday with those at the front crushed against the barricades, Reuters reported. Also Saturday, U.S. citizens in Afghanistan who want to leave the country have been advised not to go to Kabul’s airport unless they have received “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.”  Nilofar Bayat, captain of the Afghan wheelchair basketball team, arrives next to her compatriots who were evacuated from Kabul at Torrejon Air Base in Torrejon de Ardoz, outside Madrid, Spain, Aug. 20, 2021. (Mariscal/Pool via Reuters)On Saturday, a plane with 110 Afghan refugee families landed at a European Union hub at a military base on Madrid’s outskirts, Reuters reported. The group included 36 people who worked for the U.S. in Afghanistan. The base is the first stop for Afghans who worked for the European Union before they move on to EU host countries.     A week after retaking power in Afghanistan through stunning military victories, leaders of the Taliban insurgency are still conducting internal talks and meetings with former rivals on forming what they have promised will be an “inclusive Islamic government.”    The framework for the formation of the new government is expected to be announced soon, Taliban officials in Kabul said Saturday.    Senior Taliban leaders held new meetings Saturday with prominent figures in the Afghan capital to exchange views on the future governance system, said Mohamad Naeem, the group’s political spokesman.    He quoted a senior leader, Shahabuddin Dilawar, as telling Afghan interlocutors that the Taliban want a “strong central system that respects the rule of law, is free from corruption and every citizen has the opportunity to serve his country and people.”    The Taliban opened the political engagements after issuing a blanket amnesty for all who served or were part of the former Afghan government.     Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy Taliban leader, also has arrived in Kabul from the Islamist group’s southern stronghold of Kandahar to oversee the process of forming the new government.     FILE – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader and negotiator, and other delegation members attend the Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2021. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via Reuters)Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan this week from Qatar, where he headed the group’s political office and oversaw peace negotiations with the Trump administration that culminated in the February 2020 deal that paved the way for U.S.-led allied troops to withdraw from nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Biden delayed the May 1 withdrawal date that he inherited to August 31. But last week, Biden said during a national address from the White House that the U.S. may extend that deadline to evacuate Americans.   Abdullah Abdullah, coalition partner of the self-exiled President Ashraf Ghani, and former President Hamid Karzai have held repeated meetings with Taliban leaders over the past few days.     After a meeting Saturday, Abdullah said via Twitter that he and Karzai welcomed Taliban leaders at his residence.     “We exchanged views on the current security & political developments, & an inclusive political settlement for the future of the country,” Abdullah wrote.    Along with HE @KarzaiH, we welcomed members of the Taliban political office, & negotiation team. We exchanged views on the current security & political developments, & an inclusive political settlement for the future of the country. pic.twitter.com/360CccbBE3— Dr. Abdullah Abdullah (@DrabdullahCE) August 21, 2021
Meanwhile, thousands of Afghans continued to swamp the Kabul airport in hopes of finding place on one of the flights the U.S. military and other countries are operating to evacuate foreign personnel and Afghans who served international forces in different capacities.    The White House said Saturday that in the last 24 hours, six U.S. military C-17s and 32 charter flights had departed the Afghan capital, evacuating about 3,800 passengers.    “Since the end of July, we have relocated approximately 22,000 people. Since August 14th, we have evacuated approximately 17,000 people,” it said.     Some information in this article came from The Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
…

Here is the latest: Aug. 21 – A week after retaking power in Afghanistan through stunning military victories, leaders of the Taliban insurgency are still conducting internal talks and meetings with former rivals on forming what they have promised will be an “inclusive Islamic government.” The framework for the formation of the new government is expected to be announced soon, Taliban officials in Kabul said Saturday. Aug. 21 – The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a new security warning Saturday advising Americans not to go to the airport without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative,” noting possible security threats posed by the Islamic State group outside the airport gates. The security threats have prompted the U.S. military to come up with ways to get evacuees to the airport, a U.S. official said Saturday, according to The Associated Press. Aug. 21 – The World Health Organization reports that most of Afghanistan’s major health facilities are functioning.  However, there has been a jump in the reporting of various diseases and illnesses in places where people have fled, including Kabul. The international organization says it is working to ensure that women have access to female health workers.  WHO says concerns about COVID-19 spreading during Afghanistan’s political upheaval are growing.   Aug. 20 – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press that watching the scenes coming out of Afghanistan is “very personal for me.”  He said, “This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country, I know the people, and I know those who fought alongside me.”  The retired four-star Army general said, “We have a moral obligation to help those who helped us. And I feel the urgency deeply.” Aug. 20 — Opposition fighters loyal to Afghanistan’s ousted government retake three northern districts from the Taliban just days after the Islamist group reestablished its control over most of the country.    Aug. 20 — U.S. President Joe Biden pledges to evacuate any U.S. citizen in Afghanistan who wants to come home and says the United States is “committed” to rescuing Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort against the Taliban.   Aug. 20 — U.S. defense officials say American military planes resumed evacuation flights from the Kabul airport after being stopped for more than six hours because of a backup at a transit point for the refugees in Qatar.   Aug. 20 — Amnesty International says the Taliban are responsible for the torture and killing of several members of the Hazara community last month in Ghazni province.  Aug. 19 – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn announce they have taken measures to secure the identities of their Afghan customers as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan.  Aug. 19 – A high-profile Afghan national police officer, who worked with the U.S. military for years, was rescued this week in a daring operation entitled Operation Promise Kept, it was announced Thursday. Khalid Wardak, his wife and four sons had trouble getting to a rendezvous site, but all efforts came together Wednesday, and Wardak and his family were helicoptered out of Afghanistan’s capital.  Aug. 19 – It was reported Thursday that a 17-year-old soccer player, desperate to exit Afghanistan, died after falling from a U.S. military airplane. Zaki Anwari was one of several people who clung to the outside of the aircraft as it was departing from Kabul.    Aug. 19 — UNESCO called Thursday for the protection and preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, warning that harming it could only have adverse consequences on lasting peace.  Aug. 19 — Pentagon officials said that they have evacuated roughly 7,000 people in recent days and that 6,000 more had been processed and cleared to evacuate as soon as possible.  Aug. 19 — The Taliban place security for Kabul in the hands of senior members of the Haqqani Network, which has close ties with foreign jihadi groups, including a longstanding association with al-Qaida.  Aug. 18 — U.S. President Joe Biden says U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan until all Americans are evacuated, even if that means they are in the country beyond the August 31 deadline for withdrawing forces. “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay there until we get them all out,” Biden told ABC News.  Aug. 18 — The U.S. State Department says it expects the Taliban to allow everyone who wishes to leave Afghanistan “to do so safely and without harassment.”    Aug. 18 — The U.N. food agency director in Afghanistan warns of humanitarian crisis, with 14 million people facing severe hunger.  Aug. 17 — Taliban co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returns to Afghanistan.  Aug. 17 — U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the international community will be watching and “verifying” whether the Taliban meet obligations to uphold human rights.    Aug. 17 — The Taliban vow to respect women’s rights “within Islamic law” and form an “inclusive Islamic” government. They also announce general “amnesty” and urge people to return to work.  Aug. 17 — Flights resume Tuesday at Kabul’s international airport after crowds Monday forced a pause in evacuations of diplomats and civilians.  Aug. 17 — India evacuates its embassy in Kabul, sending 140 personnel on flight home Tuesday.   Aug. 16 — In a nationally televised speech from the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden says he stands ”squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, adding that ”American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”    Aug. 16 — Thousands of civilians gather at Kabul’s international airport. U.S. soldiers fire warning shots as people seeking to escape the Taliban run across the tarmac. Video from the airport shared on social media shows Afghans clinging to the sides of a U.S. military aircraft, while another video shows what appears to be a person falling from a U.S. military plane after takeoff.  Aug. 15 — More than 60 countries call for all parties in Afghanistan to allow any Afghans or foreign nationals to leave the country if they wish to do so.  Aug. 15 — Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a deputy chief and co-founder of the Taliban, says late Sunday, ”I am here to announce that we are responsible for your lives and all that pertain to everyday living, and to convince you that we will provide everything to make your lives better.”  
…

Here are the latest developments following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on August 15. Saturday, August 21  Taliban leaders are still conducting internal talks and meeting with former rivals on forming what they have promised will be an “inclusive Islamic government.”    Taliban officials said on Saturday they expect to announce the framework for the formation of the new government soon.   * Insurgent group’s spokesman, quoting senior leader Shahabuddin Dilawar, said the Taliban want a “strong central system that respects the rule of law, is free from corruption and every citizen has the opportunity to serve his country and people.”    As the Taliban take control of the Afghan government, women say they are fearful for their future, with many skeptical of the Islamist group’s pledges to respect women’s rights.  The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a security warning Saturday, advising Americans not to go to the airport without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative,” noting possible security threats posed by the Islamic State outside the airport gates. * The German Embassy issued a similar warning, saying Taliban forces were conducting increasingly strict controls in the area. * The security threats have prompted the U.S. military to come up with ways to get evacuees to the airport, a U.S. official said Saturday, according to The Associated Press.   * One possible solution would involve small groups gathering at specific points where the U.S. military would pick them up, the source said. * Afghans who fled their country this week have spoken about their despair at leaving loved ones behind and the uncertain future ahead of them after the Taliban’s rapid takeover.  * “The most disturbing part is that there is not a lot of hope for the future,” said one man, who arrived in Doha this week with his wife, three children, parents and two sisters. * The Qatari government is hosting thousands of evacuees until they can enter a third country.  * The Taliban advance has led to a mass evacuation of Afghans and foreigners amid fears of reprisals and a return to a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Friday, August 20 * Despite earlier reports that Turkey had dropped plans to secure Kabul’s international airport, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey is ready to talk with the Taliban about what role, if any, Turkey would play in Afghanistan. * U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, who both deployed in Afghanistan, said the scenes unfolding in Afghanistan, as citizens frantically tried to get out of the country and escape the new Taliban rule, were tough for them, and other veterans, to watch.   “All of this is very personal for me. This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country, I know the people, and I know those who fought alongside me,” Austin said.  “As the secretary [Austin] said, for both he and I, this is personal. And I know it’s personal for each and every one of you,” Milley said. 
…

Afghans who fled their country this week have spoken about their despair at leaving loved ones behind and the uncertain future ahead of them after the Taliban’s rapid takeover. The Taliban advance has led to a mass evacuation of Afghans and foreigners amid fears of reprisals and a return to a harsh interpretation of Islamic law. “It was very difficult to leave my country,” a veiled woman told Reuters in Doha, Qatar. “I love my country.” She explained that before the Taliban arrived, she had never expected to go anywhere. The woman said she fled with her husband, a dentist, and three children, fearing that her work with international humanitarian organizations would make them a Taliban target. The woman is one of several hundred evacuees temporarily housed in a residential compound in Doha visited by Reuters. An evacuated Afghan woman, concealing her identity over concerns for family safety in Afghanistan, speaks during an interview with Reuters at a residential compound in Doha, Qatar, Aug. 21, 2021.The Qatar government is hosting thousands of evacuees until they can enter a third country. A man at the compound told Reuters he was not hopeful that the Taliban would keep their promises, which have included respecting women’s rights and an amnesty for those who worked in the government or with foreigners. “The most disturbing part is that there is not a lot of hope for the future,” said the man, who arrived in Doha this week with his wife, three children, parents and two sisters. The man, a lawyer, said he feared that if he had stayed in Afghanistan, he would have also become a target of the Taliban, in part because of his work with international companies. “It’s going to be a very, very different and challenging life ahead of us,” he said. The Afghans who spoke with Reuters in Doha all requested anonymity because of concerns for family members still in Afghanistan. “It’s not easy because they are not safe,” the man said. “There is a lot of expectation on me to help them get out of there and at times you really see yourself being really helpless,” he said. Another man, a second-year law student, spoke of looting by the Taliban as they took control of Kabul and said he had seen armed militants intimidate people on their way to the airport. Evacuated to Qatar with his sister, he does not know how he will be able to complete his studies. He left behind his wife, whom he married in a video call before evacuating. “Our minds are back home because our families remain. My wife is there. My parents are there, my siblings. I just hope they are evacuated … in case that doesn’t happen and things go wrong, I think I would make up my mind and wish to go back.” 
…

Thousands of Afghans, hoping for a better future, are trying to escape the country as the Taliban seize control. VOA’s Arif Aslan visited with 30 Afghan refugees whose long, perilous trek had taken them to eastern Turkey. This report is narrated by Bezhan Hamdard.Producer and camera: Arif Aslan.
…

A week after retaking power in Afghanistan through stunning military victories, leaders of the Taliban insurgency are still conducting internal talks and meetings with former rivals on forming what they have promised will be an “inclusive Islamic government.”The framework for the formation of the new government is expected to be announced soon, Taliban officials in Kabul said Saturday.Senior Taliban leaders held fresh meetings Saturday with prominent figures in the Afghan capital to exchange views on the future governance system, said Mohamad Naeem, the group’s political spokesman.He quoted a senior leader, Shahabuddin Dilawar, as telling Afghan interlocutors that the Taliban want a “strong central system that respects the rule of law, is free from corruption and every citizen has the opportunity to serve his country and people.”The Taliban opened the political engagements after issuing a blanket amnesty for all who served or were part of the former Afghan government.FILE – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy leader and negotiator, and other delegation members attend the Afghan peace conference in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2021.Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy Taliban leader, also has arrived in Kabul from the Islamist group’s southern stronghold of Kandahar to oversee the process of forming the government.Baradar, a co-founder of the Taliban, returned to Afghanistan this week from Qatar, where he headed the group’s political office and oversaw peace negotiations with the United States that culminated in the February 2020 landmark deal that paved the way for U.S.-led allied troops to withdraw from nearly 20 years of war in Afghanistan.Abdullah Abdullah, coalition partner of the self-exiled President Ashraf Ghani, and former President Hamid Karzai have held repeated meetings with Taliban leaders over the past few days.After a meeting Saturday, Abdullah said via Twitter that he and Karzai welcomed Taliban leaders at his residence.“We exchanged views on the current security & political developments, & an inclusive political settlement for the future of the country,” Abdullah wrote. Afghans gather on a roadside near the military part of the airport in Kabul, Aug. 20, 2021, hoping to flee from the country after the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan.Meanwhile, thousands of Afghans continued to swamp the Kabul airport in hopes of finding place on one of the flights the U.S. military and other countries are operating to evacuate foreign personnel and Afghans who served international forces in different capacities.The White House said Saturday that in the last 24 hours, six U.S. military C-17s and 32 charter flights had departed the Afghan capital, evacuating about 3,800 passengers.“Since the end of July, we have relocated approximately 22,000 people. Since August 14th, we have evacuated approximately 17,000 people,” it said.Nod to journalistsSeparately, the Taliban announced Saturday the formation of a special tripartite commission, including representatives of the police and the media, to address complaints and concerns of male and female journalists.The fundamentalist group has been accused of not allowing at least two female journalists to work at the state-run broadcaster in Afghanistan. The Taliban have not responded to the allegations.The Taliban are under international pressure to form a government where all ethnic and minority groups have proper representation, and the human rights of Afghans are protected.The United States and the rest of the global community have warned the Taliban that running the country any other way would prolong the Afghan civil war and that they would not recognize such a government.FILE – Taliban fighters patrol in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 18, 2021. The day before, the Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government.Since capturing Kabul last Sunday, the group has attempted to present a softer image of the Taliban by promising to respect women’s rights and urging them to participate in their government.During their previous regime in Kabul, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law, under which women could leave home only if escorted by a male relative, and girls were barred from education, among other controversial policies.   
An internationally recognized government is key for Afghanistan to receive foreign funding, enabling the Taliban to pay salaries and continue social sector development projects in the conflict-torn country, one of the world’s poorest nations.The U.S. has frozen Afghan government reserves in U.S. banks, and the International Monetary Fund has halted release of emergency funds to Kabul.Taliban rulers, analysts warn, will soon face economic challenges, such as paying salaries to government employees and ensuring the running of other projects, if international funding sources remain suspended.Payment of salariesThe Taliban attempted Saturday to assure government employees, saying the ministry of finance would pay the salaries of all Afghan civil servants until the establishment of “new Islamic government.”The announcement promised that private and public banks, as well as custom and financial activities, would also resume soon.On Friday, the Taliban suffered a military reversal in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan, where fighters loyal to the former government captured three districts and killed more than a dozen Taliban fighters.Reports said Taliban fighters from surrounding districts and province had reached the area to fight back. Taliban officials denounced the attack as a betrayal of the amnesty and vowed to retake the lost area soon. 
…

The U.S. military evacuated about 3,800 people from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in the past 24 hours, the White House announced Saturday, and 17,000 since August 14, the Saturday before the Taliban entered Kabul. The White House said a total of about 22,000 people had been evacuated since the end of July. Among the 17,000 evacuated over the past week were 2,500 Americans, Army Major General William Taylor said Saturday at a Pentagon media briefing.Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the briefing he did not have a “perfect figure” indicating how many Americans remain in Kabul and in other parts of Afghanistan.State Department spokesman Ned Price said Friday the total number depends on certain factors. He said the State Department is working to contact all U.S. citizens who have reached out to the department as well as at-risk Afghans seeking U.S. assistance.Biden Vows to Bring Americans Home From AfghanistanUS forces have evacuated 18,000 people since end of JulyNoting that the United States has “a tremendous airlift capacity,” he said, “We are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can for as many people as we can.”U.S. President Joe Biden reiterated a vow Friday to stay in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave and Afghans who risked their lives working for the U.S. government during the conflict have been evacuated.  “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home. Make no mistake, this is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces and is being conducted under difficult circumstances,” Biden said alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the White House.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
U.S. Air Force Airmen prepare cots at a hangar to provide temporary lodging for qualified evacuees from Afghanistan as part of Operation Allies Refuge, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, August 19, 2021.The president has faced criticism from U.S. lawmakers that his administration did not act quickly enough to relocate Americans and at-risk Afghans as the Taliban made sweeping advances across the country.General Taylor told reporters Friday that there are about 5,800 U.S. troops at the airport in Kabul to help the evacuation efforts.He said evacuations stopped Friday for more than six hours because of a backup at a refugee transit point at a U.S. airbase in Qatar. Taylor said that the flights resumed later in the day and that, in general, evacuation flights are steadily increasing.On Saturday, the White House said evacuees had been flown out on 6 flights using C-17 aircraft and 32 flights on charter planes. Despite the chaos and occasional violence outside the airport, the president has stressed that the U.S. military is in control at the airport and evacuating thousands, with the goal of getting everyone who needs to be evacuated, both American and Afghan, out by August 31. Concern is growing over reports that Afghans and American citizens are having trouble getting to the airport because of Taliban checkpoints. The U.S. is continuing to communicate with local Taliban commanders to move people through the checkpoints.The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a new security warning Saturday advising Americans not to go to the airport without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative,” noting possible security threats posed by the Islamic State outside the airport gates.U.S. officials who spoke anonymously declined to provide details about the IS threats but said they are significant.Patsy Widakuswara and Steve Herman contributed to this report.
…

Greece has erected a 25-mile fence and installed a new surveillance system on its border with Turkey as fears mount of a surge in Afghan refugees trying to reach Europe. Greece has faced recurring refugee crises since 2015, when more than a million mainly Syrian refugees swarmed through its land and sea borders to escape conflict in their homeland. Speaking from Checkpoint One, Greece’s key border post along the country’s rugged land frontiers with Turkey, Public Order Minister Michalis Chryssochoidis sounded what he called a clear and fair warning.
 
Our borders, he said, will remain safe and inviolable. And we will not allow any indiscriminate inflow of refugees.
 
The minister’s warning sounded as he toured the checkpoint and a soaring, 25-mile, steel fence completed in recent days amid fears of a deluge of Afghan refugees fleeing for their lives after the Taliban takeover.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 13 MB720p | 26 MB1080p | 50 MBOriginal | 159 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAfghan Refugees in Turkey Terrified at Taliban TakeoverDefense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said the Greek fence along the shallow Evros river that separates the country from Turkey is just part of a bigger plan pieced together by authorities to further shield the country against a new migration crisis.
 
We are on alert, but Greece, he said, will continue to protect itself from any threat.
 
The defense minister said special surveillance systems, including a fleet of drones and night cameras, had been installed across the new fence to watch for illegal crossings. Army bulldozers were also seen plowing across stretches of the country’s northern frontier with Bulgaria, where military trucks were unloading barbed wired to erect more fences.
 
Greece has been on the front line of Europe’s migration woes since about 1.2 million refugees from Syria streamed through in 2015, sparking the biggest migration push to the European continent since the Second World War.
 
Greece has repeatedly complained to the European Union about doing too little to support hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees trapped in the country for six years, as neighboring states and other European nations, including Germany, turned a blind eye, sealing their borders to keep them away.
 
The United Nations is now making appeals for countries in the region to not do the same to fleeing Afghanis.  But the government in Athens says it won’t sit passively.In fact, in a surprise move. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed an urgent telephone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday trying to drum up support and a common strategy on how to deal with a potential migration crisis in the region.
 
Details of the meeting or any decision between the two men were not released. But no sooner had the call ended than Erdogan warned Europe he too would not allow Turkey to become what he called a refugee warehouse.
 
Turkey is already hosting 3.6 million Syrian refugees and more than 300,000 Afghans.
 
In Greece, meanwhile, humanitarian groups, Afghan refugees and leftist parties are now up in arms about the border fence and the government’s controversial plan of deterrence.  Those groups say the plan completely disregards human rights and the right to asylum to those fleeing danger and bloodshed.
…

The Taliban swept through Afghanistan, taking most of the country’s 34 provincial capitals in about nine days. The insurgent group reached Kabul on Sunday. Here is the latest:Aug.21 – The World Health Organization reports that most of Afghanistan’s major health facilities are functioning.  However, there has been a jump in the reporting of various diseases and illnesses in places where people have fled, including Kabul. The international organization says it is working to ensure that women have access to female health workers.  WHO says concerns about COVID-19 spreading during Afghanistan’s political upheaval are growing.  Aug. 20 – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press that watching the scenes coming out of Afghanistan is “very personal for me.”  He said, “This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country, I know the people, and I know those who fought alongside me.”  The retired four-star Army general said, “We have a moral obligation to help those who helped us. And I feel the urgency deeply.”Aug. 20 — Opposition fighters loyal to Afghanistan’s ousted government retake three northern districts from the Taliban just days after the Islamist group reestablished its control over most of the country.  Aug. 20 — U.S. President Joe Biden pledges to evacuate any U.S. citizen in Afghanistan who wants to come home and says the United States is “committed” to rescuing Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort against the Taliban.Aug. 20 — U.S. defense officials say American military planes resumed evacuation flights from the Kabul airport after being stopped for more than six hours because of a backup at a transit point for the refugees in Qatar.Aug. 20 — Amnesty International says the Taliban are responsible for the torture and killing of several members of the Hazara community last month in Ghazni province.  Aug. 19 – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn announce they have taken measures to secure the identities of their Afghan customers as the Taliban tighten their grip on Afghanistan.  Aug. 19 – A high-profile Afghan national police officer, who worked with the U.S. military for years, was rescued this week in a daring operation entitled Operation Promise Kept, it was announced Thursday. Khalid Wardak, his wife and four sons had trouble getting to a rendezvous site, but all efforts came together Wednesday, and Wardak and his family were helicoptered out of Afghanistan’s capital.  Aug. 19 – It was reported Thursday that a 17-year-old soccer player, desperate to exit Afghanistan, died after falling from a U.S. military airplane. Zaki Anwari was one of several people who clung to the outside of the aircraft as it was departing from Kabul.  Aug. 19 — UNESCO called Thursday for the protection and preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, warning that harming it could only have adverse consequences on lasting peace.  Aug. 19 — Pentagon officials said that they have evacuated roughly 7,000 people in recent days and that 6,000 more had been processed and cleared to evacuate as soon as possible.  Aug. 19 — The Taliban place security for Kabul in the hands of senior members of the Haqqani Network, which has close ties with foreign jihadi groups, including a longstanding association with al-Qaida.  Aug. 18 — U.S. President Joe Biden says U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan until all Americans are evacuated, even if that means they are in the country beyond the August 31 deadline for withdrawing forces. “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay there until we get them all out,” Biden told ABC News.  Aug. 18 — The U.S. State Department says it expects the Taliban to allow everyone who wishes to leave Afghanistan “to do so safely and without harassment.”  Aug. 18 — The U.N. food agency director in Afghanistan warns of humanitarian crisis, with 14 million people facing severe hunger.  Aug. 17 — Taliban co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returns to Afghanistan.  Aug. 17 — U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan says the international community will be watching and “verifying” whether the Taliban meet obligations to uphold human rights.  Aug. 17 — The Taliban vow to respect women’s rights “within Islamic law” and form an “inclusive Islamic” government. They also announce general “amnesty” and urge people to return to work.  Aug. 17 — Flights resume Tuesday at Kabul’s international airport after crowds Monday forced a pause in evacuations of diplomats and civilians.  Aug. 17 — India evacuates its embassy in Kabul, sending 140 personnel on flight home Tuesday.Aug. 16 — In a nationally televised speech from the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden says he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, adding that “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.” Aug. 16 — Thousands of civilians gather at Kabul’s international airport. U.S. soldiers fire warning shots as people seeking to escape the Taliban run across the tarmac. Video from the airport shared on social media shows Afghans clinging to the sides of a U.S. military aircraft, while another video shows what appears to be a person falling from a U.S. military plane after takeoff. Aug. 15 — More than 60 countries call for all parties in Afghanistan to allow any Afghans or foreign nationals to leave the country if they wish to do so.  Aug. 15 — Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a deputy chief and co-founder of the Taliban, says late Sunday, “I am here to announce that we are responsible for your lives and all that pertain to everyday living, and to convince you that we will provide everything to make your lives better.” 
…

For senior military and Pentagon leaders, this week’s news was profoundly personal.The photos and videos pouring out of Afghanistan hit a nerve, and triggered searingly vivid flashbacks to battles fought, troops lost, and tears shed during their own deployments there. And in a response shaped by their memories and experiences in the war, they urged troops to check in on their buddies, talk to each other and seek help and solace if they need it.The top two Pentagon leaders made it clear that the scenes unfolding in Afghanistan, as citizens frantically tried to get out of the country and escape the new Taliban rule, were tough for them to watch. And they knew that the visions of Afghans struggling to get on flights – so desperate that some clung to an aircraft as it lifted off – were painful for troops to see“All of this is very personal for me. This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country, I know the people, and I know those who fought alongside me,” said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired four-star Army general who served as a commander in Afghanistan in the early years and then led U.S. Central Command overseeing the Middle East wars as his final post from 2013-16. “We have a moral obligation to help those who helped us. And I feel the urgency deeply.”Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, commanded troops in Afghanistan and has talked often about how deeply he felt the loss of each soldier under his watch.“For more than 20 years, we have prevented an attack on the U.S. homeland. 2,448 lost our lives, 20,722 were wounded in action, and many others suffered the unseen wounds of war. To each of them, I want you to know, personally, that your service matters,” said Milley. “As the Secretary said, for both he and I, this is personal. And I know it’s personal for each and every one of you.”Austin said troops have a wide range of views on the issue and he urged them to work through it in their own way. “We need to respect that and we need to give one another the time and space to help do it,” he said.Across the military, many senior officers have done tours in Afghanistan. They led troops in battle. They trained Afghan forces. And they relied heavily on the Afghan interpreters now at risk of violence from the Taliban and begging for help to leave the country.In recent days, those leaders have talked privately with their staffs and sent heartfelt public messages to their forces who they know are struggling with a range of emotions: frustration with the Taliban takeover after two decades of blood and loss; fears that Afghans they worked with won’t get out safely; and questions about whether their time in the country mattered.Friday morning, Gen. Richard Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, addressed his entire headquarters staff about the situation in Afghanistan. Clarke, who has deployed to Afghanistan several times, has commandos who have done multiple tours in the last two decades and he noted this is an emotional time for them. Speaking over the intercom, he pressed them to reach out to their battle buddies and seek other resources if they need someone to talk to.In a blunt letter to his force this week, Gen. David Berger, the Marine Corps commandant, said now is the time to come together. “You should take pride in your service – it gives meaning to the sacrifice of all Marines who served, including those whose sacrifice was ultimate,” said the letter, co-signed by Marine Sgt. Maj. Troy Black.Berger, who deployed to Afghanistan in 2012 as commander of the 1st Marine Division, has also made sure his Marines have information to give interpreters they worked with in Afghanistan who are asking for help evacuating.And he noted in his message that Marines may be struggling with a simple question: “Was it all worth it?” The answer, he and Black said, is yes.Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, went to his Facebook page to post a note to his commando forces who have gone in and out of Afghanistan for the past 20 years. And he recalled the first troops he lost in battle.“From the very beginning to the very present, I have been responsible for sending countless Airmen into harm’s way there, not all of whom returned to their families,” said Slife. “In November 2003, I sent home the remains of my teammates and friends in the aftermath of the first fatalities I experienced as a commander. In May of 2011, we killed Osama bin Laden. Highs and lows … lows and highs … I’ve felt it all.”He warned of many hard days and years ahead as troops reflect on their Afghanistan experiences while dealing with physical, psychological and moral wounds.“If, like me, you find yourself trying to put your own experiences into some context which will allow you to move forward positively and productively, I urge you to talk about it,” and seek out a wide range of resources for help, he said.Gen. James McConville, chief of staff of the Army, penned a letter to his personnel offering solace. Their sacrifices, he said, will be a lasting legacy of honor. And he also plead with troops to seek help and reach out to their comrades.“I’d ask that you check in on your teammates as well as our Soldiers for Life, who may be struggling with the unfolding events,” said McConville, who commanded troops in Afghanistan. At the bottom of the letter he scrawled in marker, “Proud to serve with you!”Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, sent a message to sailors with a similar request.“Reach out to those who may be struggling, and remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to a grateful nation,” he said. “I want to be very clear, your service was not in vain, and it made a difference.”More than 50 organizations signed a letter offering help to those in need, and said people can call the Veterans Crisis Line and Military Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255.
…

A suicide bombing targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals in southwestern Pakistan killed two children and wounded three on Friday, police said.The suicide blast took place at the East Bay Road in the port of Gwadar around 7 p.m. Chinese nationals sustained minor injuries, a police statement said. Gwadar is in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where separatist militants have waged a long-running insurgency.”Two children have been killed and three injured in the attack,” said Liaquat Shahwani, a spokesman for the Balochistan government.Balochistan Liberation Army, a separatist militant organization, claimed responsibility for the attack.”BLA carried out a ‘self-sacrificing’ attack against a convoy of Chinese engineers,” the group said in a statement.In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Pakistan urged Pakistan to ensure such incidents will not happen again: “The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan strongly condemns this act of terrorism, extends its sincere sympathies to the injured of both countries, and expresses its deep condolences to the innocent victims in Pakistan. . . .The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan . . . (is) demanding Pakistan to properly treat the wounded, conduct a thorough investigation of the attack, and severely punish the perpetrators.”China is involved in the development of the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea as part of a $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project.The Pakistan interior ministry said that a young boy ran out of a nearby fishermen colony and exploded himself about 15-20 meters from the convoy.”As a result a Chinese national was injured, he was rushed to nearby Gwadar hospital where he is stable”, the ministry said in a statement.The four vehicles carrying Chinese nationals were escorted by army and police.Pakistan is already undertaking a comprehensive review of security of Chinese nationals in the country, the interior ministry statement added.In July, an attack on a bus in the northwestern province of Khyber-Paktunkhwa killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers. Two Pakistani soldiers were killed.
…

Authorities in India have approved the emergency use of a second locally developed vaccine, while British drugmaker AstraZeneca unveiled a new antibody therapy to fight COVID-19.India’s latest vaccine, developed by Indian pharmaceutical firm Zydus Cadila, is the world’s first DNA-based inoculation against the coronavirus. The vaccine uses a section of genetic material from the virus to instruct cells to make a specific protein to which the immune system can respond.The three-dose vaccine has been approved for use in adults as well as children 12 and older. It is the sixth vaccine to be approved in India, including another locally developed vaccine by Indian firm Bharat Biotech.Also Friday, drugmaker AstraZeneca released data from a late-stage trial for a new antibody therapy, showing it reduced the risk of people developing any COVID-19 symptoms by 77%. The company said the therapy can be used preventatively and could be particularly helpful to people who respond poorly to immunization shots. It said that 75% of the participants in the trial had chronic conditions, including some with a lower immune response to vaccinations.In South Africa, officials opened vaccine eligibility to all adults as they sought to protect the population from a surge fueled by the highly contagious delta variant. Sri Lanka began a 10-day lockdown on Friday in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. The nation recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 death toll of 187 on Wednesday.In Israel, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett received a third shot of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, as the country began administering additional shots to people ages 40 and older to combat an increase in coronavirus infections.The United States on Friday extended the closure of its land borders with Canada and Mexico for nonessential travel through September 21. The move comes despite Canada’s decision to open its border to vaccinated Americans.Officials in San Francisco Friday began a program of requiring proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus before entering indoor restaurants, gyms and concert halls. The city is the first major U.S. metropolitan area to require full vaccination at such venues and goes further than a New York rule, which requires people to be at least partially vaccinated to attend many indoor activities.
…

As the Taliban take control of the Afghan government, women say they are fearful for their future, with many skeptical of the Islamist group’s pledges to respect women’s rights. President Joe Biden said Friday that aid and recognition for the Taliban would depend on how they treat Afghan women and girls. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.Camera: Fahim Hoshang.
…

Opposition fighters loyal to Afghanistan’s ousted government on Friday retook three northern districts from the Taliban just days after the Islamist group reestablished its control over most of the country.Pro-Taliban social media accounts confirmed the military reversal in northern Baghlan province. They said at least 15 Taliban fighters were killed and 15 others injured in what they described as a betrayal of the amnesty announced for members of the former Afghan government.Abdul Hamid, local commander of what was described as an uprising against the Taliban, said in a video message from Andrab, one of the newly held districts, that his forces were advancing toward another nearby district, vowing to capture all of Baghlan.The Taliban reportedly have dispatched their forces to Andrab to stage a counteroffensive. VOA requested but has not received reaction from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, to what was the first formal armed retaliation since his group took control of the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.Afghan embassy staff hang a portrait of Afghan First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself the “legitimate caretaker president”, on the wall at the embassy in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in this picture released August 18, 2021.Friday’s attack came just days after Amrullah Saleh, who served as the first vice president to self-exiled President Ashraf Ghani, vowed to organize a strong resistance to the Taliban from his home province of Panjshir.Saleh has declared himself the caretaker president, citing the Afghan constitution, after Ghani left the country on Sunday and was given asylum by the UAE.  Clarity: As per d constitution of Afg, in absence, escape, resignation or death of the President the FVP becomes the caretaker President. I am currently inside my country & am the legitimate care taker President. Am reaching out to all leaders to secure their support & consensus.— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) FILE – Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks during a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 17, 2021.Taliban spokesman Mujahid vowed earlier this week while speaking at his first press conference in Kabul that the group will respect women’s rights and will allow them to work as well as seek education within Shariah. He said the Taliban want to remain part of the global community and will form an inclusive government where all ethnic groups will have their representation.However, Afghan rights activists and others report that Taliban fighters are entering their private homes in Kabul and harassing them. Several female media anchors have said the national television has taken them off the air without any explanation.Former Afghan MP, Elay Ershad, while speaking to VOA from Kabul by phone Friday, said there were “minor issues” facing city residents since the Taliban arrived but the overall situation in terms of security and peace is rapidly improving.”These are the most calm days of my life in terms of the security situation. There are no explosions, no gunfire and no gunship helicopters in the skies,” Ershad said.”But still there are groups who are calling themselves Taliban and wear clothes like Taliban. They enter houses, they take people’s weapons, even mobile phones, even houses, like they tried to occupy my house,” she said.Ershad lamented that schools and universities in Kabul are closed, preventing both girls and boys from resuming their education activities, and banks as well as government offices are closed, which is causing problems for the residents.FILE – Internally displaced Afghan women, who fled from the northern province due to battle between Taliban and Afghan security forces, gather to receive free food being distributed by Shiite men at Shahr-e-Naw Park in Kabul, August 13, 2021.”But I am quite happy to have gotten rid of all these thieves and losers who left the country and left behind their constituencies, their people. It is very embarrassing the way they fled the country,” the MP said when asked for her reaction to Ghani and his officials fleeing the country in the face of the Taliban advances.”I am a woman and stayed back with my people, but all male politicians, they just left,” she said. “The security situation in Kabul city is under control. A few girls can walk safely on the street, so I cannot see any problems. It is still not a government, but I will still call [it] a government. It’s quite new and even their leadership is not here yet. But they need to move quickly to address whatever problems I have highlighted,” she added. To all escaped leaders; here I am taking care of our people and country, a True leader never leaves their people behind, https://t.co/ONrBSvph2R— Elay Ershad (@ElayErshad) August 18, 2021Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Program joined Friday the call for millions of Afghans and others around the world for peace, respect for human rights, and access to development assistance for all in Afghanistan, without any discrimination.  “We are alarmed that the current trajectory of conflict, uncertainty, drought and COVID-19 pandemic could endanger fragile development gains, including the rights of Afghan women and girls. The international community must stand by, and continue to support, the people of Afghanistan at this time,” said UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner.The Taliban have vowed to improve the Afghan economy, but they still have to address governance issues and reconcile successfully with former rivals to be able to win international legitimacy for their run to receive foreign aid.Major donors, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have already halted their support for Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries.Taliban rulers, analysts say, will soon face economic challenges like paying salaries to government employees and ensuring running of other projects if international funding sources remain suspended. 
 
…

NATO foreign ministers, meeting Friday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, agreed their immediate priority is the safe evacuation of citizens of alliance member states and at-risk Afghans from the country.Foreign ministers from the 30-nation alliance met virtually and in person in Brussels to address the swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban earlier this week.  The ministers issued a joint statement in which they expressed their priority about evacuations and coordinated efforts to extract their nationals and key local staff from the country, in particular those who have assisted NATO’s efforts in Afghanistan.What We Know: Taliban Take Over Afghanistan   Latest developments following Taliban’s sweep into Kabul  In the statement, the foreign ministers called “on those in positions of authority in Afghanistan to respect and facilitate their safe and orderly departure, including through Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.”At a news conference following the meeting, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that since the Taliban takeover, around 800 NATO civilian personnel have worked around the clock to maintain operations at the Kabul airport allowing thousands of people to leave.  The NATO foreign ministers also issued a warning to the Taliban telling them to end the violence around the country.“The eyes of the world are on Afghanistan. … The Taliban must put an end to violence around the country, and uphold the fundamental rights of all Afghan citizens – men, women and children,” Stoltenberg told reporters.Echoing the NATO statement, Stoltenberg said it expects the Taliban to uphold commitments to ensure that Afghanistan does not again become a haven for international terrorism.Stoltenberg said NATO’s presence over the years, along with the support of the entire international community, has “allowed Afghans to make unprecedented social, economic and political progress.  Any Afghan government which attempts to undo this progress risks international isolation.”Some information for this report was provided by the Associated Press news service 
…

The U.N. refugee agency says millions of Afghans caught in a rapidly changing and precarious situation are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance and protection and must not be forgotten by the international community.Conflict has prompted more than 550,000 Afghans, 80 percent of them women and children, to flee their homes this year.These newly internally displaced people are in addition to 2.9 million Afghans who have been forcibly uprooted from their homes prior to this current crisis.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 13 MB720p | 26 MB1080p | 50 MBOriginal | 159 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioAfghan Refugees in Turkey Terrified at Taliban TakeoverThe U.N. refugee agency says these vulnerable people are among 18 million who need humanitarian assistance.  The UNHCR says the situation remains highly fluid and people are extremely anxious about what the future holds, amid sporadic reports of violence since the Taliban took control of the country Sunday.  UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo says most Afghans are unable to leave the country through regular channels.  She says her agency welcomes efforts of several states to evacuate at-risk Afghan nationals through bilateral programs.  However, she says these programs should not overshadow the urgent need for a significant international response to deal with this prevailing crisis.  Nor, she adds, should they hamper or preclude the possibility for Afghans to seek asylum in other countries.”All states –and this applies to countries both within and outside the region—must preserve the right to seek asylum for Afghans arriving through regular or spontaneous means,” Mantoo said. “UNHCR is also concerned that many are confusing these bilateral evacuation programs with classical refugee resettlement.  This is completely unrelated.”   How Will the World Help Afghan Refugees? As crisis unfolds in Afghanistan, few countries have enacted new policies to provide safe passage for Afghans seeking refuge abroad The United States and several NATO members have been evacuating their citizens from Afghanistan over the past few days.  They also have pledged to evacuate Afghan interpreters and their families who worked alongside them for years and whose lives are in danger.  The Afghans fear retribution from the Taliban because of their alliance with foreign forces.Mantoo says few Afghans, so far, have sought asylum abroad.  But given the rapidly changing circumstances, she says this could change.“UNHCR remains concerned about the risk of human rights violations against civilians in this evolving context, including for women and girls,” Mantoo said. “As of today, those who may be in danger have no way out.  UNHCR is calling on countries neighboring Afghanistan to keep their borders open in light of the evolving crisis in Afghanistan.”  Complex US Refugee Policies Likely to Limit Number of Afghan AdmissionsUS has admitted just 6,250 refugees in fiscal 2021 Neighboring Iran and Pakistan are hosting 2.4 million Afghan refugees.  Most are holdovers from the decade-long Soviet-Afghan war, which began in 1979.Some 200 UNHCR national and international staff remain on the ground in Afghanistan.  Since the beginning of the year, they have provided emergency assistance to 230,000 people.  The agency is issuing a supplementary appeal for $62.8 million to support this critical humanitarian operation.
…

The Taliban swept through Afghanistan, taking most of its 34 Afghan provincial capitals in about nine days. The insurgent group reached Kabul early Sunday.Here is the latest:Aug. 20 – Amnesty International Says the Taliban were responsible for the torture and killing of several members of the Hazara community last month in Ghazni province.Aug.19 – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn announce they have taken measures to secure the identities of their Afghan customers as the Taliban tightens its grip on Afghanistan. Aug.19 – A high-profile Afghan national police officer, who worked with the U.S. military for years, was rescued this week in a daring operation entitled Operation Promise Kept, it was announced Thursday.  Khalid Wardak, his wife and four sons had trouble getting to a rendezvous site, but all efforts came together Wednesday and Wardak and his family were helicoptered out of Afghanistan’s capital.  Aug. 19 – It was reported Thursday that a 17-year-old soccer player, desperate to exit Afghanistan, died after falling from a U.S. military airplane.  Zaki Anwari was one of several people who clung to the outside of the aircraft as it was departing from Kabul. Aug. 19 — UNESCO called Thursday for the protection and preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage, warning that harming it could only have adverse consequences on lasting peace.   Aug. 19 — Pentagon officials said they have evacuated roughly 7,000 people in recent days, and that 6,000 more had been processed and cleared to evacuate as soon as possible.Aug. 19 — The Taliban have placed security for Kabul in the hands of senior members of the Haqqani Network, which has close ties with foreign jihadi groups, including a longstanding association with al-Qaida.Aug. 18 — U.S. President Joe Biden says U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan until all Americans are evacuated, even if that means they are in the country beyond the August 31 deadline for withdrawing forces.  “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay there until we get them all out,” Biden told ABC News.Aug. 18 — U.S. State Department says it expects Taliban to allow everyone who wishes to leave Afghanistan “to do so safely and without harassment.”  Aug. 18 — U.N. food agency director in Afghanistan warns of humanitarian crisis with 14 million people facing severe hunger.Aug. 17 — Taliban co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returns to Afghanistan.Aug. 17 — United States says it evacuated more than 3,200 people as of Tuesday evening with aims to increase to between 5,000 and 9,000 per day Wednesday.Aug. 17 — U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan says international community will be watching and “verifying” whether Taliban meets obligations to uphold human rights.Aug. 17 — The Taliban vow to respect women’s rights “within Islamic law” and form an “inclusive Islamic” government. They also announce general “amnesty” and urge people to return to work.Aug. 17 — Flights resume Tuesday at Kabul’s international airport after crowds Monday forced pause in evacuations of diplomats and civilians.Aug. 17 — India evacuates Kabul embassy, sending 140 personnel on flight home Tuesday.Aug. 16 — In a nationally televised speech from the White House, U.S. President Joe Biden says he stands “squarely behind” his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, adding that “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”Aug. 16 — Thousands of civilians gather at Kabul’s international airport, where U.S. soldiers fired warning shots as people seeking to escape the Taliban run across the tarmac. Video from the airport shared on social media shows Afghans clinging to the sides of a U.S. military aircraft, while another video shows what appears to be a person falling from a U.S. military plane after takeoff.Aug. 15 — More than 60 countries call for all parties in Afghanistan to allow any Afghans or foreign nationals to leave the country if they wish to do so.Aug. 15 — Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a deputy chief and co-founder of the Taliban, says late Sunday, “I am here to announce that we are responsible for your lives and all that pertain to everyday living, and to convince you that we will provide everything to make your lives better.”Aug. 15 — Top members of the Taliban military commission arrive at the presidential palace in Kabul as Taliban fighters position themselves at key posts in the city. A Taliban spokesman confirms that they have been directed to guard security posts and other installations in Kabul to “prevent chaos and looting after Afghan forces abandoned them.”Aug. 15 — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issues a statement confirming that he, along with his vice president and other senior officials, has fled the country “to prevent bloodshed.”Aug. 15 — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. is evacuating its remaining staff at its embassy in Kabul.Aug. 15 — The Taliban reach Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, saying they are awaiting a peaceful transfer of power. Earlier, they took over Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province.Aug. 15 — Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says fighters have taken control of Bagram Airfield and the Parwan prison there and freed its inmates. There were about 5,000 high-value Taliban prisoners at Bagram, which served as the main base for the U.S.-led foreign military mission in Afghanistan.Aug. 14 — As Taliban insurgents draw closer to the Afghan capital, U.S. President Joe Biden authorizes another 1,000 troops — in addition to the 3,000 ordered earlier in the week — to assist in the evacuation of U.S. personnel and other allies from Kabul.Aug. 14 — Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, falls to the Taliban after fierce fighting. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announces in a formal statement that they have fully captured the country’s fourth-largest city, located on the border with Uzbekistan.Aug. 14 — President Ashraf Ghani delivers a televised address, saying rapid consultations are under way to end the fighting, and calls for revitalization of armed forces.Aug. 14 — The Taliban seize control of Asadabad, capital of eastern province of Kunar, Saturday afternoon.
…

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn said this week they had moved to secure the accounts of Afghan citizens to protect them against being targeted amid the Taliban’s swift takeover of the country.Facebook has temporarily removed the ability for people to view or search the friends lists of accounts in Afghanistan, its security policy head Nathaniel Gleicher tweeted on Thursday.Gleicher also said the company had launched a “one-click tool” for users in Afghanistan to lock down their accounts, so people who are not their Facebook friends would be unable to see their timeline posts or share their profile photos.Human rights groups have voiced concerns that the Taliban could use online platforms to track Afghans’ digital histories or social connections. Amnesty International said this week that thousands of Afghans, including academics, journalists and human rights defenders, were at serious risk of Taliban reprisals.The former captain of the Afghan women’s soccer team has also urged players to delete social media and erase their public identities.Twitter Inc said it was in touch with civil society partners to provide support to groups in the country and was working with the Internet Archive to expedite direct requests to remove archived tweets.It said if individuals were unable to access accounts containing information that could put them at risk, such as direct messages or followers, the company could temporarily suspend the accounts until users regain access and can delete their content.Twitter also said it was proactively monitoring accounts affiliated with government organizations and might temporarily suspend accounts pending additional information to confirm their identity.A LinkedIn spokesman said the Microsoft-owned professional networking site had temporarily hidden the connections of its users in Afghanistan so other users would not be able to see them.
…

Time was running out for Mohammad Khalid Wardak, a high-profile Afghan national police officer who spent years working alongside the American military.Hunted by the Taliban, he was hiding with his family in Kabul, constantly moving from place to place as they tried — and failed — several times to reach a rendezvous point where they could be rescued.After at least four attempts in as many days, the family finally was whisked away by helicopter Wednesday in a dramatic rescue — called Operation Promise Kept — carried out under cover of darkness by the U.S. military and its allies, said Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush, who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan.The rescue of Khalid, as he’s called by friends, came after frantic efforts by his supporters in the U.S. military, who said he was a brother in arms who helped save countless lives and faced certain death if found by the Taliban. They sought help from members of Congress and the Defense and State departments.”I don’t think people understand the chaos that is reigning right now in the capital, the brutality and the efficient lethality the Taliban are using … to ensure their rise to power as they eliminate their greatest threat, which are these military and special police,” said U.S. Army Special Forces Sgt. Major Chris Green, who worked with Khalid in Afghanistan.Khalid and his family were unable to get inside the airport where the Taliban controlled the entrances. He was widely known because of his position as police chief in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province and from television appearances, including one in which he challenged the Taliban to a fight, supporters said.Green said he was “incredibly happy … elated,” when he learned that Khalid and his family were safe, noting that some of his American rescuers had worked alongside Khalid, which he called “serendipitous.”McCreary said multiple allies, including the British, helped, and that Khalid, his wife and their four sons, ages 3 to 12, were “safe in an undisclosed location under the protection of the United States.”Officials said other Afghan partners, including police and military, also deserved to be saved and that more rescue efforts were in progress, but they could not discuss details.Khalid’s friends said he had no intention of leaving Afghanistan and planned to stand with his countrymen to defend his homeland after U.S. forces were gone. But the government collapsed with stunning speed, and the president fled the country.”He fought until he had nothing left to fight with,” Green said. “He was wounded. He was surrounded. His forces were not being resupplied. And echelons above him in the government had already begun to make their exit plan … and striking deals. So people like him who were fighting were left stranded, and they were left without support.”McCreary said Khalid originally sought protection only for his family while he kept fighting. Khalid and other fighters were completely surrounded by the Taliban last week and their location overrun, McCreary said.When the Afghan government fell, that’s when “we quickly changed gears to also work on getting him to safety.”At one point, rescuers lost contact with Khalid for several days, “and we all assumed that that he was killed,” McCreary said. “Just last week, we thought it was over, and then we were just going to … keep working harder to protect his family.”Khalid’s supporters said it would have been unthinkable to leave him behind after his years of partnership with Americans.Khalid came to the rescue in March 2013, when a special forces detachment in eastern Afghanistan’s Wardak province suffered an insider attack. Someone dressed in an Afghan National Security Forces uniform opened fire, killing two Americans.When the outpost was almost simultaneously attacked from the outside, a U.S. commander called on Khalid, who within minutes raced into the valley with a quick-reaction force to defend his American partners.In 2015, when Khalid lost part of his right leg in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, friends in the U.S. military helped get him medical care and a prosthetic leg outside the country. A month later, he was again leading special police operations in Afghanistan alongside the U.S., Green said.Along the way, he helped apprehend al-Qaida and Taliban leaders. He went on to serve as police chief in Ghazni province and then Helmand province, where he was wounded again last month in a mortar attack and continued to direct the resistance from his hospital bed.Khalid’s family has applied for refugee status in the U.S. based on fear of persecution, but it’s unclear how long that process might take or if they will be approved. Translators, interpreters and others who worked for the U.S. in Afghanistan are eligible to apply for special immigrant visas, but current Afghan military members or police officers are not, supporters said.His supporters said it was most important to get them out of harm’s way and then figure out the rest later. People who are top Taliban targets because of their work with U.S. forces deserve special consideration, McCreary said.”No one wants to live with the guilt of turning our backs or not … honoring our promises,” McCreary said. That commitment and the collaboration it took to rescue Khalid “makes you proud to be an American.”
…

Afghan refugees in Turkey say they made the dangerous journey to escape living again under Taliban rule. VOA’s Arif Aslan reports from eastern Turkey, where some of the Afghans he spoke with arrived over the past few days as the Taliban were taking over the Afghan capital. Sirwan Kajjo narrates his report.Camera: Arif Aslan.
…

Afghan journalists say they are living in fear and are frustrated by the slow and complicated process of finding safety in a new country.“I am very disappointed,” a journalist who worked with an international media outlet told VOA. “I do not know what will happen to me. I really fear for my life.”The journalist, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, says she and her family left Herat a day before it fell to the Taliban. Before that, fighters had been threatening her via phone and in person.The journalist moved to Kabul. But that too has fallen.Even in Kabul the journalist says she has received threats and that Taliban fighters visited the area where she and her family are staying. “I was scared to death when I was told that the Taliban are in the neighborhood.”“We stay in a room as prisoners. We cannot go out,” said the journalist, who has reported for an international broadcast outlet and news agency. “I just want (us to be) evacuated to a place where we feel safe.”Shifting powerThe Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country and the government collapsed.At a news conference in Kabul on Tuesday, the Taliban said journalists are free to work as long as they are fair, promote national unity and do not report against Islamic law.Journalists light candles and pay tribute to Reuters photographer Danish Siddiqui in New Delhi, India, July 17, 2021. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer was killed as he chronicled fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban.The co-chairs of the bipartisan U.S. Congressional Freedom of the Press Caucus have also called on President Joe Biden to evacuate media at “extreme risk because of their reporting.”Those who worked with American news outlets are eligible to apply for a Priority 2, or P-2 program, announced by the State Department this month. The program gives them and their families the chance of relocation in the U.S.A Kabul-based Afghan journalist, who did not want to be named for fear of retaliation, told VOA that the requirements of the program are tough.“One has to go to a third country and stay there for 12 to 14 months on his own expenses. Journalists in Afghanistan are living paycheck to paycheck, and they cannot afford living in a third country for months,” the journalist said.Believing he is in danger, the journalist said he is looking at all options to get out of Afghanistan. “I have not written something against them (Taliban), but I have been defending the republic, democracy, and that is enough for being targeted.”“We are at risk here,” the journalist adding, saying that the U.S. and other nations should speed up the evacuation process.CPJ’s Asia program coordinator Steven Butler acknowledged that the P-2 program is not “a practical option’’ for many, but said that the U.S. can use a “humanitarian parole” option.That option allows an individual to enter the U.S. temporarily for emergency or humanitarian reasons.“We hope that a number of journalists can take advantage of that,” Butler told VOA, adding that so far “very few” journalists have been evacuated.CPJ is receiving hundreds of pleas for help from journalists in Afghanistan. “We are working on identifying those who are most at risk and provide that information to the U.S. government so that they expediate their evacuation,” Butler said.News outlets and nongovernmental organizations are also trying to support Afghan journalists. The Open Society Foundation announced a $10 million emergency fund this week to help move to safety members of the media and those who worked for civil society. This report originated in VOA’s Afghan service.  
…