UN urges countries to accept Afghan refugees
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Afghan passengers sit as they wait to leave the Kabul airport on August 16 [Wakil Kohsar/AFP]
Kabul: The Taliban has declared the war in Afghanistan over after its fighters swept into the capital, Kabul, and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Victorious Taliban fighters patrolled the streets of Kabul on Monday as thousands of Afghans mobbed the city's airport trying to flee the group's feared hardline brand of rule.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) on Monday announced that all commercial flights from Kabul have been cancelled following the chaotic scenes at the airport with thousands looking for a way out in the wake of Taliban takeover triggering widespread chaos.
The authority in a statement announced that the flights from Kabul airport have been temporarily cancelled and directed that passengers should not come to the airport until informed.
Earlier Taliban in a statement had told Kabul residents that their lives and properties are safe and they can carry on their activities.
Live Updates
- 16 Aug 2021 2:04 PM GMT
EU to hold meeting on Tuesday to discuss Afghanistan
European Union foreign ministers will hold a crisis meeting on Tuesday to discuss the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, the bloc said on Monday, as countries race to evacuate citizens and local staff from a chaotic Kabul airport.
Five people were killed at the airport, witnesses said, as people tried to flee a day after Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital and declared the war against foreign and local forces over.
- 16 Aug 2021 1:59 PM GMT
Afghan military plane crashes in Uzbekistan, claims report
An Afghan military jet has crashed after crossing the border into Uzbekistan and its pilot ejected and survived, the Uzbek defence ministry was quoted as saying on Monday, Reuters reported citing Russia's RIA news agency.
16 Aug 2021 1:13 PM GMTAs many as 200 Indians stranded inside Kabul embassy in Afghanistan: Report
New Delhi: Over 200 Indians including Foreign Ministry staff and paramilitary soldiers tasked for their protection are yet to be evacuated from Afghanistan's capital Kabul, as per sources.
The Indians stranded in Kabul include some 100 personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police or ITBP, tasked with protecting the Indian mission in Afghanistan.
- 16 Aug 2021 11:55 AM GMT
US to sent additional forces to secure Kabul Airport
The United States will sent additional US forces into Kabul airport on Monday and Tuesday,reports Al Jazeera. Quoting US Deputy National Security Adviser, the report said that the country will spend time focused intensively on securing the Kabul airport
In an MSNBC interview, the US Deputy security adviser Jon Finer said that the US is engaged in diplomatic conversations with the Taliban in Doha, and acknowledges that the situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated faster than anticipated.
- 16 Aug 2021 11:37 AM GMT
Merkel says Germany may need to evacuate 10,000 Afghans
Germany may need to evacuate as many as 10,000 people from Afghanistan, says Chancellor Angela Merkel.
That includes 2,500 Afghan support staff as well as human rights activists, lawyers and others whom the government sees being at risk.
- 16 Aug 2021 11:35 AM GMT
Russian Embassy says Afghan President Ghani fled with cars and helicopter full of cash
Russia’s embassy in Kabul claims that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash and had to leave some money behind as it would not all fit in, the RIA news agency reports.
Nikita Ishchenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, was quoted as saying by RIA: “Four cars were full of money, they tried to stuff another part of the money into a helicopter, but not all of it fit. And some of the money was left lying on the tarmac.”
Ischenko confirms his comments to Reuters news agency. He cited “witnesses” as the source of his information.
- 16 Aug 2021 11:14 AM GMT
Video: Chaos at Kabul airport as Taliban retakes Afghanistan
Chaos at Kabul airport as Taliban retakes Afghanistan
Chaos at Kabul airport as Taliban retakes Afghanistan#Talibans #Afghanistan #KabulHasFallen #kabulairport #KabulHasFallen pic.twitter.com/zQweIS0pcP
— Madhyamam English (@madhyamam_eng) August 16, 2021 - 16 Aug 2021 10:36 AM GMT
Iran says US ‘defeat’ in Afghanistan a chance for lasting peace
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday has called for national reconciliation in neighbouring Afghanistan. The official IRNA news agency quoted Raisi as saying Iran will support efforts to restore stability in Afghanistan as a first priority.
- 16 Aug 2021 10:28 AM GMT
Nepal prepares to evacuate citizens from Afghanistan
Kathmandu: The Nepal government has started evacuating and repatriating its citizens from the crisis-ridden Afghanistan after the Taliban capture of the South Asian nation.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has said that his government will provide protection to all Nepalis in Afghanistan waiting to be rescued.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are about 1,500 Nepalis in Afghanistan, including Nepalis that are deployed in UN missions and embassies of different countries.
But there are also data that over 14,000 Nepali citizens have reached Afghanistan for seeking jobs through the informal channels but the Nepal government is lacking the data.
- 16 Aug 2021 10:16 AM GMT
8 people dead in Kabul airport amid chaos
Kabul: At least five people have been killed at the Kabul airport and three stowaways were reported to have fallen to their deaths from an airborne plane as thousands of Afghans are desperately trying to get on flights out of the country amid increasingly chaotic scenes, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
