LIVE: 'Whether it's Afghanistan or India, LeT, JeM operating with impunity'

Afghanistan crisis LIVE updates: Biden administration suspends all arms sales to Afghanistan govt

10:19 PM

MEA urges Indian nationals in Afghanistan requiring assistance to contact special Afghan cell

9:43 PM

UNESCO calls for preservation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage in its diversity

The UNESCO Thursday called for the preservation of Afghanistan's cultural heritage in its diversity, and taking all precautions to protect the country's historic assets from "damage and looting", amid deepening crisis in the war-torn nation since the Taliban takeover.

 

In a statement, the UNESCO also reminded of the "deliberate destruction" of the iconic Bamiyan Buddhas, a world heritage site in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, in 2001.

 

Amid the rapidly unfolding events, and 20 years after the deliberate destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has called for preservation of cultural heritage of Afghanistan, the statement said.

 

Azoulay shared the UNESCO statement and tweeted, "We are calling for the preservation of #Afganisthan cultural heritage in its diversity, in full respect of international law, and for taking all necessary precautions to spare and protect cultural heritage from damage and looting."

 

The Taliban swept across the country this month, seizing control of almost all key towns and cities in the backdrop of withdrawal of the US forces that began on May 1.

9:14 PM

None of us are safe until all of us are safe: Jaishankar at UNSC on terrorism

8:52 PM

DU Acting VC assures Afghan students of all possible help

Delhi University Acting Vice-Chancellor PC Joshi on Thursday assured Afghan students of all the possible help after they shared their woes during a meeting with varsity officials, PTI reported.

Days after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the officials from Dean Students' Welfare and Foreign Students Registry held a meeting with Afghan students.

There are around 200 Afghan students studying in the university in various undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Many of them are back home since the classes are being held online and due to semester break. Around 48 students attended the meeting on Thursday.

8:34 PM

LeT, JeM continue to operate with impunity, whether it's Afghanistan or India: EAM

8:24 PM

US footprint in Kabul is now over 5,200 total troops on the ground

7:54 PM

'Keeping our word on evacuations,' says Taliban official

The Afghan Taliban are "keeping their word" by providing foreign powers with their full support in evacuating their nationals from Kabul airport, a Taliban official told Reuters.
 

"We are facilitating safe-exit passage not just for foreigners but also to Afghans," the official said.
 

"We are preventing any form of violent, verbal clash at the airport among Afghans, foreigners and Taliban members." Flag-waving protesters took to the streets of more Afghan cities on Thursday as popular opposition to the Taliban takeover spread, and a witness said several people were killed when the militants fired on a crowd in Asadabad in the east.

 

7:45 PM

Greece's border forces on alert to avoid repeat of mass arrivals of migrants seen in 2015

7:14 PM

With Taliban in power, China eyes highly lucrative rare-earth mines in Afghanistan

China appears to be eyeing to clinch lucrative projects to exploit mineral-rich Afghanistan, especially the trillions of dollars worth of rare-earth metals, as it calibrated its policy to recognise the Taliban government, PTI reported.

Rare-earth metals in Afghanistan were estimated to be worth anywhere between USD one trillion to USD three trillion in 2020, a CNBC report this week quoted Ahmad Shah Katawazai, a former diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Washington.

Rare-earth metals are a key component for a host of advanced technologies like IPhones and hi-tech missile guidance systems.

7:13 PM

Biden: Greater threats than Taliban-controlled Afghanistan

President Joe Biden says even with the Taliban in power in Afghanistan, he sees a greater threat from outposts of al-Qaida and its affiliated groups in other countries, and that it was no longer rational to continue to focus US military power there, AP reported.

We should be focusing on where the threat is the greatest, Biden said in an interview that aired on ABC's Good Morning America Thursday.

And the idea we can continue to spend a trillion dollars, and have tens of thousands of American forces in Afghanistan, when we have North Africa and Western Africa the idea we can do that and ignore those looming problems, growing problems, is not rational.

6:29 PM

Taliban move quickly to suppress dissent despite promises of moderation

6:28 PM

US troops may stay in Afghanistan past an Aug. 31 deadline to evacuate Americans: Biden

5:47 PM

Biden administration suspends all arms sales to Afghanistan govt

The Biden administration has suspended all arms sales to the government of Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country, AP reported.

In a notice to defence contractors posted Wednesday, the State Department's Political/Military Affairs Bureau said pending or undelivered arms transfers to Afghanistan had been put under review.

In light of rapidly evolving circumstances in Afghanistan, the Directorate of Defense Sales Controls is reviewing all pending and issued export licenses and other approvals to determine their suitability in furthering world peace, national security and the foreign policy of the United States, it said.

5:46 PM

New Taliban govt in Afghanistan will not at the current time be allowed to access loans: IMF

The International Monetary Fund says that the new Taliban government in Afghanistan will not at the current time be allowed to access loans or other resources from the 190-nation lending organisation.

In a statement Wednesday, the IMF said it would be guided by the views of the international community.

The statement said, There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access SDRs or other IMF resources.

5:41 PM

Govt to prioritise rescue of Indian workers from Afghanistan

The government has decided to rescue Indian workers on priority and steps are being taken to contact them at the earliest, sources said here on Thursday, IANS reported.

These Indian workers have been working at the different projects in Afghanistan and are anxiously waiting to return to India after the Taliban took full control of the country on August 15, 2021.

Amid reports of clashes between Taliban militia and the Afghan Army in some places like Jalalabad and Khost, it has become challenging for Indian authorities to contact Indian workers and bring them back to Kabul safely, the sources further said.

5:08 PM

Afghans protest Taliban in emerging challenge to their rule

Afghan protesters defied the Taliban for a second day Thursday, waving their national flag in scattered demonstrations that were met with renewed violence by the militants who are facing growing challenges to their rule, AP reported.

 

A UN official warned of dire food shortages in this nation of 38 million people reliant on imports and experts said the country was severely short on cash, highlighting that the Taliban face the same problems as the civilian government they dethroned without the level of international aid it enjoyed.

 

In light of these challenges, the militants have moved quickly to suppress any dissent, despite their promises that they have become more moderate since they last imposed draconian rule on Afghanistan. Many fear the Taliban will succeed in erasing two decades of efforts to expand women's and human rights and remake the country.

5:07 PM

Spirits run low in Delhi's 'Little Kabul' on Afghanistan's Independence Day

For the Afghan community living in India, August 19 is a milestone as Afghanistan had achieved Independence on this very day in 1919, but following the takeover of the war-torn country by the Taliban, the mood at Delhi's 'Little Kabul' is anything but celebratory, PTI reported.

From restaurants to departmental stores, the spirit of freedom, otherwise peaking on the anniversary day, was running low on Thursday in Lajpat Nagar, Bhogal and neighbouring Hazrat Nizamuddin area.

5:02 PM

A view of Kabul airport as people try to leave Afghanistan

4:30 PM

Desperate Afghan women throw babies over razor wire at Kabul airport compound

Kabul airport has become a picture of chaos and desperation after the fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban, ANI reported.

 

As per the reports of Sky News, in a heartbreaking incident, desperate Afghan women were seen throwing their babies over the razor wire of the Kabul airport compound.

 

A senior British officer told Stuart Ramsay from Sky News that they can hear the sound of shouting, the noise of desperation as thousands of people are flooding towards Kabul airport that will, for some, be the gateway to freedom - and for many others, the end of a dream of escaping the Taliban.

4:29 PM

Resident of Karnataka's Ullal back home from Afghanistan

4:01 PM

Several Afghan nationals living in Delhi flock to foreign embassies in hope of getting visas

3:34 PM

Biden's promise to evacuate over 20,000 at-risk Afghans runs into obstacles

3:28 PM

Left Kabul to prevent bloodshed, says Ashraf Ghani

2:53 PM

A large portion of the Afghanistan Air Force has ended up in neighbouring Uzbekistan

2:49 PM

Several provinces across Afghanistan witness protests

2:13 PM

Several killed amid firing by Taliban and stampede during rally in Afghan city: Witness

Several people were killed on Thursday in the Afghan city of Asadabad when Taliban fighters fired on people waving the national flag at an Independence Day rally, according to an eyewitness Reuters spoke to.
 

It was not clear if the casualties came from the firing or from a stampede it triggered, witness Mohammed Salim said from the eastern city, the capital of Kunar province.
 

A Taliban spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

2:05 PM

Taliban limit access to Kabul airport to people with travelling documents

1:56 PM

Days before Taliban capture, IAF evacuated around 50 Indians from Mazar-e-Sharif

1:27 PM

Afghanistan's fate means West is now perceived as weak: UK minister

The fate of Afghanistan after a 20-year war led by the United States means that the West's resolve is now perceived as weak by major adversaries such as Russia, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday. "That is something we should all worry about: if the West is seen not to have resolve and it fractures, then our adversaries like Russia find that encouraging," Wallace told LBC radio, according to Reuters.

12:59 PM

EU diplomat warns against 'Afghanistan catastrophe'

The European Union's foreign policy chief branded developments in Afghanistan "a catastrophe and a nightmare" on Thursday, and said there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's return to power there. Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that a first group of 106 members of the EU staff in Afghanistan had been airlifted from the country and had arrived in Madrid, Reuters reported.