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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
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Helen Sullivan (now and earlier); Alex Mistlin , Tom Bryant, Lucy Campbell and Robyn Vinter

ISKP claim responsibility for blast – as it happened

Wounded people are taken to hospital after the blasts.
Wounded people are taken to hospital after the blasts. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters

This blog is now closed – you can find all the latest developments at the link below:

Going back to Biden’s comments earlier. He also said, when asked what he had to say to the Afghans who helped American troops and who may not get out by 31 August that, “We will do whatever we can to get you out.”

But he added that, “I know of no conflict, as a student of history, no conflict when a war was ending one side was able to guarantee that everyone who wanted to be extracted from that country was able to get out.”

Wall Street Journal National Security reporter Vivian Salama reports that White House Press secretary has clarified those statements, saying that it will be very difficult to evacuate all Afghans who want to leave.

US flags being flown at half-staff at Capitol

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered the flags at the US Capitol in Washington to be flown at half-staff “in honour of the US service members and others” killed in the attack.

US service member death toll rises to 13

Reuters reports that that an additional service member has died from the Kabul attack, bringing the number of US casualties to 13.

To give you an idea of how crowded the area of the attack has been in recent days, this is a video taken there on Wednesday afternoon – a day before the attacks – from LA Times correspondent Nabih Boulos:

More now from Australia, where it is the start of the workday on Friday morning.

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has responded to the attacks on Twitter, saying he is “Deeply saddened by the deaths of US military personnel and Afghans in the horrific terrorist attacks in Kabul. We mourn your tragic loss. Australia condemns these heinous and barbaric attacks.”

Morrison confirmed that all Australian defence force and other personnel “are safe”.

The Australian government has confirmed the last Australian defence force personnel left Kabul before the suicide bombings occurred.

Australia’s defence minister, Peter Dutton, described the attacks as “horrible, horrible day” in an interview with local media and said he grieved at the loss of life. He also paid tribute to the US personnel who had died, saying American personnel had helped thousands of Australian citizens, permanent residents and visa holders to get into the airport over the course of the past week.

We put out advice at 6:15 yesterday morning and had sent text messages, emails to Australians and those people we knew in the vicinity to say vacate because there was clear intelligence that IS-KP intended to strike and strike hard. They’ve done that.

These people are more extreme than the Taliban and are basically at war with the Taliban. It is a horribly complex situation. I’m very pleased and relieved our soldiers have departed from Kabul and we took the decision to lift the last of our people yesterday and they are safely in the United Arab Emirates and I’m very pleased for that.”

Asked what now for any Australians still in Afghanistan, Dutton appeared to individual the evacuation operations were now finished: “I think we should recognise we’ve lifted over 4,000 people over the course of the last week.”

He added:

If we were to continue in that situation, we would have had casualties now as well. In that situation, we can’t continue to put our ADF personnel and their lives at risk and that’s the situation, the reality of what’s on the ground at the moment, which hasn’t made it possible for us to lift more people out.”

What we know so far – IS claims responsibility for attack

The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan has claimed responsibility for the attack outside the Kabul airport.

Just to recap: Two suicide bombers and gunmen attacked crowds of Afghans flocking to Kabul’s airport on Thursday, killing at least 60 Afghans and 12 US troops, Afghan and US officials said.

The IS branch, known as The Islamic State-Khorasan Province after a name for the region from antiquity, said in its claim of responsibility that it targeted American troops and their Afghan allies.

The Associated Press reports that the statement carried a photo of what the militant group said was the bomber who carried out the attack. The image shows the alleged attacker standing with the explosive belt in front of the black IS flag with a black cloth covering his face, only his eyes showing.

An IS official Amaq news agency said on its Telegram channel that the member was named Abdul Rahman al-Logari. The name suggests the the killer was Afghan.

IS also said the bomber managed to get past Taliban security checkpoints to come within 5 meters (yards) of a gathering of US soldiers, translators and collaborators before detonating his explosives. It said Taliban were also among the casualties.

The statement also said the bomber got around US security measures and that the camp that was targeted was where US forces were gathering paperwork for those who’ve worked with the military, AP reports.

It is important to note that these claims have not been verified independently – they are Islamic State’s version of what occurred.

Deadliest day for US troops in more than a decade

Thursday’s attacks marked the deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan since 6 August 2011, and the first military deaths since February 2020, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Biden: we will find IS members behind attacks 'without large military operations'

I just want to highlight a few key points from Biden’s remarks and responses to journalists’ questions a short while ago, in which he held firm on the 31 August deadline – and his decision to withdraw.

Biden was asked whether additional forces would be sent to Afghanistan to protect the airport.

The president responded to say that he had told the military he would provide whatever they needed, including additional force, but that military joint chiefs and commanders in the field had written to him to say they “subscribe to the mission as designed”.

Biden said of the IS leaders who ordered the attacks, “We have some reason to believe we know who they are, not certain, and we will find ways of our choosing to get them, without large military operations, to get them.”

Updated

Summary

If you’re just joining us, here are the key recent developments:

  • Joe Biden spoke briefly at the White House on Thursday afternoon in Washington. “We will not forget,” he said, as he vowed to “hunt down” the people behind the attacks. He vowed that the US would get any Americans left in Afghanistan out of the country and said that the IS members who ordered the attacks would be found without using “large military force”.
  • At least 60 civilians and 12 US service members were killed on Thursday night when two suicide bombers and a gunman struck one of the main entrances to Kabul’s international airport just hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent threat to the ongoing, urgent evacuation operation.
  • The US military’s central commander, General Kenneth F McKenzie, said the US is prepared to take action against those responsible for the Kabul attack. Mckenzie said that cooperation with the Taliban had probably thwarted earlier attacks. Responding to the attacks, the McKenzie insisted the evacuation operation would go on.
  • Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks. An IS official Amaq news agency said on its Telegram channel that a member called Abdul Rahman al-Logari carried out “the martyrdom operation near Kabul Airport”. The name suggests the the killer was Afghan.
  • A further blast heard in Kabul after the IS attacks was a controlled explosion by US military who were destroying ammunition,according to a Taliban spokesman.
  • UK Prime minister Boris Johnson said of the UK’s ongoing evacuation effort, “we’re going to keep going until the last moment”despite the deadly attack.
  • A blast heard in Kabul after the terror attacks was a controlled explosion by US military who were destroying ammunition, according to a Taliban spokesperson, via Reuters.

Updated

Hi, this is Helen Sullivan taking over from my colleague Alex Mistlin.

I’ll be bringing you the latest developments in this distressing story as they happen. As always, if you see news you think our readers ought to know please send it to me on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.

I’m signing off now, leaving you in the hands of my excellent colleague, Helen Sullivan.

Stay right here for the latest breaking developments from Kabul. Until next time, bye!

The Times are exclusively reporting that UK Foreign Office staff left documents with the contact details of Afghans who worked with them at the British embassy compound in Kabul.

The British embassy compound in Kabul has since been seized by the Taliban.

Biden has just finished taking questions but the UK has published its official figures on the progress of its evacuation effort Operation Pitting.

The military evacuation of Afghan and British nationals, under Operation Pitting, has so far extracted 13,146 people out of Kabul since the mission began on Friday 13 August.

This includes embassy staff, British Nationals, those eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) programme and a number of nationals from partner nations.

British nationals should call the FCDO on +44 (0)1908 516666 and select the option “Consular services for British nationals” as soon as possible to confirm their departure plans.

At least 60 civilians and 12 US service members were killed as Islamic State claimed responsibility for a twin suicide bomb attack outside Kabul airport.

Updated

Biden: US will continue to try to get Afghans who helped the US out

I know Americans get this in their gut. There are millions of Afghani [sic] citizens who are not Taliban who did not actively cooperate with us...who if given a chance would be on board a plane tomorrow.

The security operation at Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul depended heavily on the Taliban for its effectiveness.

But Biden says he doesn’t believe relying on the Taliban for help in evacuation security was “a mistake.”

Even today 5,000 American got out safe. It’s not a matter of trust but of mutual self-interest. There is no evidence that I’ve been given thus far that there has been collusion between the Taliban and ISIS.

Updated

President Biden has begun taking questions from the White Press press corps.

He says the US government have some reason to believe we know who the attackers are but “we aren’t certain”.

Biden asks for a moments silence for those who died in the attacks today.

President Joe Biden pauses for a moment of silence for the U.S. service members killed at the Kabul airport.
President Joe Biden pauses for a moment of silence for the U.S. service members killed at the Kabul airport. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Biden says he has ordered commanders to take maximum steps necessary to protect forces in Kabul.

“We will rescue Americans and get Afghan allies out.”

Updated

Biden: "I have asked for plans to strike ISIS-K"

He says:

“We will respond with force and precision at our time, in the palce we choose, at the moment of our choosing.”

He says the situation on the ground “is evolving”.

I have been in constant contact with our senior military leaders and our commanders on the ground. They’ve made it clear that we can and we must complete this mission...we will not be deterred by terrorists. We will continue the evacuation.

Biden confirms that terrorists attacked Kabul.

And says:

to those who carried out this attack as well as anyone who wishes America harm, know this: We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down, and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command

Updated

Terrorists attacked Kabul airport, and intelligence assesses it was carried out by ISIS-K [Islamic State].

Biden says:

These American service members who gave their lives were heroes. Heroes who’d been engaged in a dangerous selfless mission to save the lives of others. They were part of an airlift unlike any seen in history.

Biden is speaking live from the White House now

Alex Mistlin here on the Guardian’s dedicated Afghanistan live blog. If you’ve spotted a mistake, or something I’ve missed you can DM me on Twitter: @amistlin

Biden is expected to speak live from the White House any minute. I’ll be posting the main lines here but you can find live updates, from my colleagues in Washington below:

  • Two suicide bomb blasts and at least one attack by a gunmen in Kabul on Thursday killed dozens of civilians and at least 12 US service personnel.
  • The US military’s central commander, General Kenneth F McKenzie, said the US is prepared to take action against those responsible for the Kabul attack. Mckenzie said that cooperation with the Taliban had probably thwarted earlier attacks.
  • Responding to the attacks, the US regional commander insisted the evacuation operation would go on.
  • UK Prime minister Boris Johnson said of the UK’s ongoing evacuation effort, “we’re going to keep going until the last moment”, despite the deadly attack.
  • The airport attack was followed later by a wave of blasts around Kabul, in what appeared to be an Islamic State (IS) assault on departing US and allied troops and a challenge to the Taliban’s grasp on power.
A wounded patient is brought by a taxi to hospital in Kabul.
A wounded patient is brought by a taxi to hospital in Kabul. Photograph: Marcus Yam/LOS ANGELES TIMES/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Earlier, the commander of the US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, said the US was “prepared to take action” against those responsible for the Kabul attack.

Updated

Joe Biden is due to address the US about the situation in Afghanistan at 5pm in Washington (10pm BST). You will be able to follow that in our dedicated US live blog.

David Smith reports that the US president was reportedly in the situation room with his national security team when details of the atrocity first emerged, plunging the White House into full crisis mode.

It rescheduled Biden’s first in-person meeting with Israel’s new prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and cancelled a video conference with governors about Afghan refugees arriving in the US.

His public remarks on Thursday are likely to be watched closely for an indication of whether the US will continue the evacuation, risking more deaths, or halt it earlier than planned and potentially leave behind Americans who are still seeking to leave the country.

It will also be seen as a test of his ability to project compassion and competence – qualities that some critics have found lacking in his response to the Afghanistan debacle so far.

Updated

The British Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has said the explosions that have killed at least 60 people in Kabul are “what defeat looks like”.

Tugendhat, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, said the west now has no say over the future of Afghanistan. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, he said: “This is what defeat looks like. Defeat is when you don’t control any of the process anymore and if you are lucky you just about get out with your lives and a bit of your equipment and that’s what we are doing at the moment. We don’t have any control, we don’t have any say. It’s a defeat.”

The MP, who is a former Territorial Army soldier who served in Afghanistan, described the situation as “the sun setting over some really pretty terrible decisions by the west over a number of years”.

Updated

The claim of responsibility from the Islamic State for the devastating suicide bombing at Kabul airport came as little surprise to analysts. The organisation’s affiliate in Afghanistan known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), had been pointed to as the prime suspect immediately after the blast.

The IS official Amaq news agency said on its Telegram channel that a member called Abdul Rahman al-Logari carried out “the martyrdom operation near Kabul airport”. The name suggests the killer of at least 12 US servicemen and more than 60 civilians was Afghan.

On Sunday, the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said there was an “acute” and “persistent” threat to the continuing evacuations from the Afghan capital from ISKP – which takes its name Khorasan from that used by a series of Muslim imperial rulers for a swath of land stretching from Iran to the western Himalayas.

The warning, which focused attention on a group that has hitherto attracted little attention, was echoed this week by British and western European officials.

Many have been worried by an intensification of attacks linked to ISKP in recent months.

Updated

Reuters have issued an update, citing a Taliban spokesman, saying the recent blast heard in Kabul (see post) was a controlled explosion by US military who were destroying ammunition.

The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said in a statement: “This evening I called US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to express our sorrow that US troops lost their lives in Kabul today and that more have been injured. They paid the ultimate sacrifice while helping others reach safety.

“I also want to extend my condolences to the families of all those Afghans killed or injured. It is tragic that as they sought safety they have suffered at the hands of terrorists.

“Today’s attack is a stark reminder of the dangerous situation in which UK military and civilian personnel have been working so hard to evacuate people and we should be proud of their bravery and what they have achieved.

“The UK and US remain resolute in our mission to get as many people out as possible. It is testament to the remarkable courage of our personnel that they continue to do so while under fire. We will not let the cowardly acts of terrorists stop us.”

Updated

The Reuters news agency is reporting that two witnesses have heard a blast in an area three to four kilometres from the airport. The Guardian has not been able to confirm the reports.

We’re getting unconfirmed reports of a further blast in Kabul.

The Guardian is currently unable to verify these:

Again, these are unconfirmed reports that the Guardian has been unable to verify but we will be bringing you the latest as it is confirmed.

Updated

US President Joe Biden will be speaking from the White House at 5pm ET/9pm GMT.

Updated

Shots have been fired in an effort to disperse angry crowds as the atmosphere outside Hamid Karzai international airport turns increasingly febrile.

My colleagues Jon Henley and Amelia Gentleman have this from the scene:

Updated

Gen McKenzie said the US military was now talking to the Taliban about improving security at the airport by widening the cordon around it.

“We’ve reached out to the Taliban, we’ve told them you need to continue to push out the security perimeter. We’ve identified some roads that we would like for them to close they’ve indicated that they’ll they will be willing to close those roads, because we assess the threat of a suicide borne vehicle threat is high right now, so we want to reduce the possibility of one of those vehicles getting close,” he said.

He pointed out that there are drones over the area, with experts constantly assessing the scene for threats, as well as helicopters and aircraft with good imaging systems.

AP reports that Afghan and US officials have confirmed that at least 60 Afghans and 12 U.S. troops were killed in the twin blasts outside Kabul’s international airport.

Back at the Pentagon, Gen McKenzie said he believed the attack “would happen sooner or later”.

He said he has seen “nothing to convince me” that the Taliban let the attack happen.

He however restated his faith in the US military’s ability to continue to conduct the evacuation mission, “even while we are receiving attacks like this”.

The head of US Central Command on August 26, 2021 vowed retaliation for the deadly attack at Kabul airport he blamed on “two suicide bombers assessed to have been ISIS fighters.”
The head of US Central Command on August 26, 2021 vowed retaliation for the deadly attack at Kabul airport he blamed on “two suicide bombers assessed to have been ISIS fighters.” Photograph: Sajjad Hussain/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Reuters: Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul airport attack

Islamic State have claimed responsibility for the Kabul airport attacks on the group’s Telegram account, Reuters are reporting.

Gen McKenzie neglected to confirm reports of additional attacks in Kabul today.

“I cannot confirm there have been other attacks away from Hamid Karzai airport today.”

McKenzie was adamant that the evacuation operation would continue: “The plan is designed to operate while under stress, and under attack, and we will continue to do that, we will coordinate very carefully to make sure that it’s safe for American citizens to come to the airfield. If it’s not, we’ll tell them to hold.”

He added: “Our mission remains. We’re still committed to flying people out, until we terminate operations at some point towards the end of the month.”

Gen McKenzie said that cooperation with the Taliban has probably thwarted other planned attacks on the airport:

“We share versions of our information with the Taliban, so that they can actually do some searching out there for us and we believe that some attacks have been thwarted by them,” the general said. “They don’t get the full range of information we have, but we give them enough to act in time and space to try to prevent these attacks.”

General McKenzie: US 'prepared to take action against those responsible for Kabul attack'

McKenzie says the US is prepared to take action against those responsible for the Kabul attack.

He has just confirmed that the attacks are understood to have been carried out by Islamic State in Afghanistan, a group known as Islamic State Khorasan Province, or ISKP.

Updated

General McKenzie: US expects Islamic State attacks to continue

The US military’s central commander, Gen Kenneth F McKenzie, has said he expects attacks to continue.

He added: “Right now our focus is on other extremely active threats against the airfield.”

He confirmed that 12 US service members were killed in the blasts with a further 15 wounded.

Updated

He says: “We’re still investigating the exact circumstances of the attack” but that airport security requires “physical screening at interface points”.

“There’s no substitute for a young United States man or woman conducting these checks.”

Updated

Gen McKenzie has confirmed the attack was carried out by two suicide bombers assessed to be members of Islamic State.

McKenzie says that while he is saddened by the deaths of US service members, the US military will be continuing with Kabul evacuations.

Updated

Gen Kenneth F McKenzie, a US military commander, is speaking live from the Pentagon now.

You can watch a live video feed of the attack if you refresh this page.

Updated

CNN: Afghan health ministry: at least 60 dead, 140 wounded in attacks

The Afghan health ministry has confirmed to CNN earlier reports to the effect that 60 Afghan civilians have been killed in the blasts.

12 US service members have been confirmed dead with at least 15 injured

Two suicide bombers detonated explosives outside the Abbey Gate of the Kabul international airport. The blasts were followed by gunfire from persons believed to be members of Islamic extremist organisation ISKP.

Updated

We’ll be bringing you live feed of the Pentagon press briefing imminently.

If you’re on the ground or have info on the situation then DM me on Twitter: @amistlin

Reuters: a White House meeting between US President Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, has been rescheduled while Biden holds talks regarding the explosions outside Kabul airport.

Exact figures remain unconfirmed but reports indicate at least 60 Afghan civilians along with 12 members of the US military have been killed in the attacks.

Both figures are expected to rise.

Updated

The Pentagon is holding a press briefing at 3pm ET.

The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, and Army Major General William “Hank” Taylor will be leading the briefing.

At least 12 US service members were killed in the twin blasts.

Updated

AP: 12 members of the US military killed

AP reports that at least 12 US service members were killed by the Afghanistan suicide bombings, including 11 Marines and one Navy medic, according to two US officials.

Officials say a number of US military troops were wounded. They warn, however, that the numbers may grow.

Updated

Today’s attacks have raised further concerns about the Taliban’s capability to govern Afghanistan with the threat of a resurgent extremist groups a particular concern in recent months.

Many have been worried by an intensification of attacks linked to ISKP.

“The trajectory of ISKP has been one of resurgence after a tough time in 2019 and the first half of 2020 … but they went silent suddenly since the Taliban takeover and a possible reason for that was the group were gearing up for a new campaign,” said Charlie Winter, a senior research fellow at King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR).

Updated

Reuters: at least 10 US troops killed in twin blasts

Reuters’ foreign policy correspondent, Idrees Ali, has been informed by a US Pentagon official that at least 10 US troops were killed in the blasts outside Kabul aiport.

He says this is a number “expected to rise”.

Updated

The Guardian has yet to confirm this figure but we will be updating on this as soon as we get confirmation.

At least 13 have been killed but multiple sources are reporting higher figures.

The prime suspect for the suicide bombing at Kabul airport is the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan known as Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP).

Many have been worried by an intensification of attacks linked to ISKP in recent months, writes Jason Burke.

You can read his full analysis of the report here:

Updated

The Wall Street Journal has reported at least 60 Afghans were killed in the blasts.

The attack also led to the deaths of four US Marines.

The WSJ reports:

The US envoy in Kabul told embassy staff there that four US Marines were killed in the attack at the city’s airport and three wounded, a US official with knowledge of the briefing said. A senior Afghan health official put the death toll among local civilians at 60, with many more fighting for their lives.

At the time of the attack, approaches to the airport’s gates were packed by thousands of Afghans who feared persecution by the Taliban because they had assisted US-led coalition efforts in the country over the past two decades.

Updated

The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has tweeted his condemnation of the attack outside Kabul airport.

Updated

Germany’s defence minister has confirmed the country has ended its evacuation mission in Afghanistan.

The federal defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said the last of the German military aircraft and troops had arrived in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said those who have not yet been able to access evacuation flights from Kabul will not be forgotten, adding that the German foreign ministry is still in negotiations with the Taliban.

Merkel said:

We know that the window of opportunity is closing. Tens of thousands of people have been rescued but I want to say again today: we will not forget those people who could not be rescued by the air bridge. Rather we will do everything we can to enable their evacuation.

‘We know that the window of opportunity is closing,’ said Merkel
‘We know that the window of opportunity is closing,’ said Merkel. Photograph: Getty Images

Updated

Pakistan is on a major diplomatic offensive to persuade the west not to turn its back on the Taliban government.

Pakistan’s national security adviser, Moeed Yusuf, warned that if the west repeats the major mistake of the 1990s by now abandoning the country, it will set up a security vacuum that will lead to a revival of militancy first in Pakistan itself, and then in the west.

You can read diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour’s full report here:

Updated

More on the news from a little while ago that the UK will continue its evacuation effort despite the “barbaric” terrorist attack at Kabul airport.

In a TV clip, Boris Johnson said the threat of such an attack was “one of the constraints that we’ve been operating under, and we’ve been ready for it, we’ve been prepared for it”.

He added:

I want to stress that we’re going to continue with that operation ... We’re now coming towards the very end of it in any event, and we’ve already extracted the overwhelming majority of those under both the schemes – the eligible persons, UK nationals, the Afghan interpreters and others. And it’s been totally phenomenal effort by the UK. There’s been nothing like it for decades and decades.

The Guardian’s political correspondent Peter Walker has the latest:

Updated

Reuters: the UN secretary general, António Guterres, is convening a meeting on Monday concerning the situation in Afghanistan, with the UN envoys for Britain, France, the United States, China and Russia – the permanent, veto-wielding members of the security council.

Updated

A German hospital plane is on standby to fly to Kabul and help evacuate people injured in the attack at the airport, Reuters reports.

The story was posted earlier, citing Bojan Pancevski, but this has now been confirmed by Germany’s federal defence minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Kramp-Karrenbauer said:

We have offered the medevac [medical evacuation aircraft] for the transport of wounded people.

All German troops left Afghanistan on Thursday after evacuating more than 5,300 people from 45 nations, including more than 500 Germans and more than 4,000 Afghans, the minister said.

Updated

Multiple people have been killed after two powerful suicide bombs and a gunman struck one of the main entrances to Kabul’s international airport.

A gunman also fired on one of the main entrances to Kabul’s international airport.

At least 13 civilians were killed and multiple US marines, with reports suggesting at least four have been killed.

You can read our full report below:

Updated

At least four US troops are understood to have been killed in the attack

At least four US military personnel were killed in blasts at Kabul airport on Thursday, sources told Reuters.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that “a number” of US service members died in the attack but gave no specifics.

Others were wounded and “a number of Afghans” were also victims.

Updated

The number of US military service members killed in the attack at Kabul airport is reported to be as many as four.

The WSJ, Reuters and others are reporting that three US troops were injured in addition to the four dead.

Western governments, including the US and UK, have repeatedly warned of an imminent and ongoing possibility of a terrorist attack at the airport.

Updated

US officials say multiple US troops believed among those killed by blast

The US ambassador in Kabul has told staff there that as many as four US marines were killed in an explosion outside the city’s airport.

The Pentagon has confirmed “a number” of American military personnel were killed in today’s “complex attack”.

Updated

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just spoken to the media in London after chairing a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, Cobra.

He condemns the attack and says those responsible were “despicable”.

He pays tribute to the members of the US military who were killed. “We extend our condolences both to the United States of America and the people of Afghanistan.”

He says the British will continue with the evacuation. It was near its end anyway, he says. He says the majority of Afghans due to be evacuated have already been evacuated.

Q: Has today’s attack made any difference to the timing? Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, said today that there were still 1,500 Afghans waiting to be flown to the UK.

Johnson says he has just chaired Cobra, and they concluded that the evacuation effort would continue.

He says they are going to “keep going up until the last moment”. But he says the government will continue to expect the Taliban to carry on letting people leave. It will use what means it has to encourage this.

Q: You encouraged Afghans to be at the airport. They were almost sitting ducks? By continuing, aren’t you putting more of them at risk?

Johnson says the military have been preparing for the evacuation for months. He says they always knew that this was a moment where there would be “particular vulnerabilities to terrorism, to opportunistic terrorist attacks”.

This was something they prepared for, he says. The government will carry on. The UK has evacuated the equivalent of a largish town, like Dorking, he says.

Q: What did you make of the Taliban’s statement condemning the attack. (See 5.34pm)

Johnson says there were almost certainly members of the Taliban who were killed. So it shows the difficulty any government will have in running Afghanistan, he says.

He says the government wants to move to the second phase, where the UK and others will engage with the Taliban, to try to get a process going that will lead to an inclusive administration.

Updated

Two suicide bombs exploded near the main entrances to Kabul’s international airport on Thursday, reportedly killing at least 13 people, including children, and wounding dozens.

Footage filmed after the blast shows what appears to be smoke rising from Hamid Karzai international airport and an eyewitness said “people were hurled everywhere” in the explosions.

One blast happened near the Abbey gate entrance and the second near the Baron hotel, a spot where Afghan refugees have been processed to take flights out of the country

Updated

This is from the Wall Street Journal’s Germany correspondent, Bojan Pancevski

UK evacuation effort in Kabul to continue despite terror attack

The UK’s evacuation effort in Afghanistan will continue despite the “barbaric” terrorist attack at Kabul airport, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said.

Updated

Norway can no longer assist in evacuating remaining citizens from Afghanistan’s capital, the foreign minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, has said.

“The doors at the airport are now closed and it is no longer possible to get people in,” Søreide told broadcaster TV2.

Updated

What we know so far

  • At least 13 people have been killed after two powerful explosions in a suspected terror attack at one of the main entrance’s to Kabul’s international airport, amid a huge and chaotic evacuation effort from Afghanistan on Thursday. At least one of the explosions is suspected to have been from a suicide bombing.
  • The attack came just hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent and “very credible” terrorist threat in the final phase of the evacuation effort and urged people to leave the area.
  • The prime suspects for the blasts are Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan – known as the “Khorasan province” (Isis-K).
  • A Pentagon official confirmed a number of US and civilian casualties in the “complex attack”, believed to have been one suicide bombing close to the Abbey gate entrance to the airfield, with the second explosion occurring near the Baron hotel which has been used to process Afghans hoping to come to the UK. There were also reports of small arms fire.
  • A Taliban spokesperson said at least 13 people were killed, including children, with many Taliban guards wounded.
  • An emergency hospital in Kabul said it had received 60 wounded people so far, with six dying on the way to hospital.
  • A US official has said at least 5 US military personnel may have been hurt. Some reports suggest this include 3 marines.
  • No UK military or government staff in Kabul were among the casualties, the Ministry of Defence said.
  • The Taliban has condemned the bombings and said they took place in an area where US forces are responsible for security.
  • There was no indication from the White House later on Thursday that Joe Biden plans to change the 31 August US withdrawal target as a result of twin explosions at the Kabul airport.
  • US officials are increasingly concerned about further attacks at the airport.
  • Boris Johnson is chairing an emergency meeting of Cobra this afternoon after being updated on the situation.
  • The UK government has issued a notice to airlines to avoid Afghan airspace under 25,000ft after the attack.

Updated

Further to that last post, this is the statement from the Taliban’s spokesman Suhail Shaheen, condemning the bombings on behalf of the Islamic Emirate.

Updated

The Taliban has condemned the bombings outside Kabul international airport and said the attacks happened in an area controlled by US forces, PA Media is reporting.

An Afghan man who has a British passport and lives in Derby has told of frightening scenes just hours before the bombs went off.

He, his wife and five children aged 11 months to 13 years old had spent four days in the queue but made it to the top of the line at the Baron hotel, the British army gathering point last night.

“We were waiting for the British army to call us, but they never did,” said Ahmad. Then Taliban units suddenly moved in to clear the area.

They were shooting in the air screaming ‘get out, get out’. My kids were screaming and couldn’t stop crying. People were pushing each other, people were being crushed. But we ran away and we are at home now and afraid to go out. It was horrible. We are safe, but we are scared. We think this is the end for us and the British army won’t be flying any more.

Updated

As we reported earlier, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters that there was no indication from the White House on Thursday that Joe Biden plans to change the 31 August US withdrawal target after twin explosions at Kabul airport.

The US president was meeting with his top national security advisers in the White House Situation Room as reports of the blasts, which he and other officials have been warning about, were made public.

Biden, secretary of state Tony Blinken, defence secretary Lloyd Austin, joint chiefs of staff chairman general Mark Milley and vice-president Kamala Harris monitored events in Afghanistan via video links in the secure room, in a meeting that lasted well over two hours.

The bombings, which caused multiple casualties outside the Kabul airport, forced Biden to postpone – at least until later in the day – his first face-to-face meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett.

He cancelled a meeting with a bipartisan group of state governors about temporarily housing or helping resettle Afghan refugees being flown out of Afghanistan.

Biden “will continue to be briefed on updates on the evolving situation throughout the day”, the White House said.

Biden on Tuesday said the United States was on pace to finish its pullout by 31 August. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said as of now there were no changes to that timeline.

Updated

Three US marines were injured in the attack, NBC News is reporting, citing three US military officials.

Updated

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, has condemned a “terrorist attack which killed and injured a number of civilians” near the airport in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, a UN spokesperson said.

“This incident underscores the volatility of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, but also strengthens our resolve as we continue to deliver urgent assistance across the country in support of the Afghan people,” Stéphane Dujarric told reporters.

He said that “as far as we know at this moment” there are no casualties among UN staff.

Updated

The UK has issued a notice to airlines to avoid Afghan airspace under 25,000ft after the attack at Kabul airport.

This is from the transport secretary, Grant Shapps.

Updated

US officials have said they are concerned that further attacks could occur at Kabul airport following earlier twin blasts by suspected suicide bombers, Reuters is reporting.

Updated

Ireland’s mission to extract 26 Irish citizens known to the authorities is now complete after the deployment of the Irish special forces.

However, in a statement it said it was now aware of “approximately 60 Irish citizens and their family members requiring support, in addition to a further 15 Afghan citizens with Irish residency” .

The foreign minister Simon Coveney said:

Our team needed to evacuate due to the deteriorating security situation. I can give full assurance that the overall consular effort is continuing and we remain strongly committed to assisting those requiring ongoing consular support in Afghanistan.

Updated

There was no indication from the White House on Thursday that Joe Biden plans to change the 31 August US withdrawal target as a result of twin explosions at the Kabul airport, a source familiar with the situation has told Reuters.

US officials strongly believe the ISIS-Khorasan group (ISKP, or Isis-K), was behind the attack on Thursday at Kabul’s airport, a source familiar with congressional briefings on Afghanistan has told Reuters.

A second US government source familiar with intelligence activities said that while the US government is still investigating, the airport attack has “all the hallmarks” of an Isis-K attack.

Here is my colleague Jason Burke’s analysis of the group, which Joe Biden’s security adviser said on Sunday posed an “accurate” and “persistent” threat:

Updated

The UK’s defence ministry has said none of its military or government staff in Kabul were among the casualties from the explosions near the city’s airport earlier on Thursday.

Updated

The prime suspect for the suicide bombing at Kabul airport is the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, known as the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISKP, or Isis-K), my colleague Jason Burke writes.

Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said on Sunday there was an “acute” and “persistent” threat to the ongoing evacuations from the Afghan capital from Isis-K – which takes its name from that used by a series of Muslim imperial rulers for a swath of land stretching from Iran to the western Himalayas.

The warning, which focused attention on a group that has hitherto had a very low international profile, was echoed this week by British and western European officials.

Isis-K was founded in 2015 but has never succeeded in building a significant force in the country. Its expansion has been opposed by the Taliban, which Isis believe has rejected the true teachings of Islam. Many of its fighters are foreigners, coming from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and it has retained relatively close links with the leadership of Isis in Syria and Iraq.

Many have been worried by an intensification of attacks linked to Isis-K in recent months.

“The trajectory of ISKP has been one of resurgence after a tough time in 2019 and the first half of 2020 … but they went silent suddenly since the Taliban takeover and a possible reason for that was the group were gearing up for a new campaign,” said Charlie Winter, a senior research fellow at Kings College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.

Analysts said Isis-K would see an attack against the airport as a great victory.

“They achieve several things: they hit legitimate targets (from their perspective), they send a signal of still being a force to be reckoned with and they challenge the Taliban’s state project by highlighting that the group can’t secure Kabul,” said Tore Hamming, a Danish expert in Sunni Jihadism who has studied Isis.

The crowds, planes and infrastructure at the airport provide an obvious venue for the kind of mass casualty attack that Isis has become known for, but also is a “perfect meeting of diverse targets” of the group in Afghanistan: the US military, Afghans who have helped the western effort seen as collaborators, and the Taliban, which Isis-K sees as “apostates”, Winter told the Guardian.

During the first four months of 2021, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) recorded 77 attacks claimed by or blamed on Isis-K, a significant increase. These have targeted a wider range of targets than previously : Shia Muslims, journalists and foreigners, as well as civilian infrastructure and military personnel.

Read Jason’s full analysis here.

Updated

An emergency hospital in Kabul has said around 60 wounded people have arrived so far from the airport explosions.

According to a journalist in Kabul, the preliminary reports say that 13 people were killed and 50 injured in the attack, with most of the casualties women and children, my colleague Julian Borger reports.

A US official has told Reuters as many as five American troops may have been injured, citing initial information.

As we’ve been reporting, two powerful suicide bombs have hit one of the main entrances to Kabul’s international airport, reportedly killing 13 people just hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent and “very credible” terrorist threat.

Confirming US casualties, a Pentagon official described a “complex attack” that appeared to have involved one suicide bombing close to the Abbey gate entrance to the airfield with the second occurring near the Baron hotel, which has been used to process Afghans hoping to come to the UK.

According to a Taliban spokesperson who spoke to Reuters, the attack killed at least 13 people, including children, with Taliban guards among the wounded. One emergency hospital in Kabul said it had received 30 wounded with six dying on the way to hospital.

British and Turkish military sources confirmed the attack had involved two blasts, with immediate suspicion bound to fall on Islamic State’s affiliate in Afghanistan – known as the “Khorasan province”.

Here is our story:

Updated

An Afghan Chevening scholar who had been given a relocation pass by the British embassy but had failed to get close to the gate outside the Baron hotel yesterday, and decided to stay at home today because he did not want to expose his children to the scenes of chaos again, told the Guardian:

Due to high risk I didn’t go to Baron and waited for Home Office and embassy response for an evacuation plan, but they failed. I am disappointed. As a Chevening scholar, they promised to evacuate us but they have left as alone at this hard time.

He said he was relieved to have avoided the airport today.

The local news media say there were two blasts, one at main gate and the second one at Baron gate, and dozens have died and been injured.

Updated

These are from Sky’s Deborah Haynes:

Updated

The situation in Afghanistan has profoundly deteriorated, the French president Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday while visiting Ireland, as a suspected suicide bomb exploded outside the airport and is thought to have killed at least 11 people.

“We are facing an extremely tense situation,” Macron told a joint news conference with the Irish prime minister Micheál Martin, calling for caution.

He said France’s ambassador in Afghanistan would not remain in the country for security reasons, adding French special forces were at the airport.

Macron said:

Nobody expected such a rapid and brutal situation in Kabul. President Biden confirmed to us during the G7 that he will leave the military airport and stop its operations with Afghanistan.

I think de facto all of us are put in a position where we cannot protect all the Afghan people we wanted to protect.

Now it is our responsibility to build additional solutions to protect them during the coming weeks and months.

Updated

From my colleague Dan Sabbagh:

Updated

Italy’s defence ministry has said no Italians were injured or killed in the Kabul airport blast, Reuters is reporting.

Updated

This is from the European Council president, Charles Michel:

Updated

Pentagon confirms attack has resulted in number of US and civilian casualties

The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, has said the explosion at the Abbey gate was the result of a “complex attack” that resulted in a number of US and civilian casualties.

He has also confirmed there was at least one other explosion at or near the nearby Baron hotel.

Updated

Boris Johnson to chair emergency Cobra meeting on Kabul

Boris Johnson will chair an emergency Cobra meeting later on Thursday on the situation in Kabul after an explosion outside the city’s airport, my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister has been updated on the situation at the airport in Kabul and will chair a COBR later this afternoon.

Updated

One former UK soldier who was helping a mother and her five-year-old and three-year-old children evacuate told how he instructed them to get to safety this morning on reading the intel on the bomb. But he said tensions had risen sharply overnight.

They managed to inch their way forwards to within 50 metres of the Baron hotel [where the British army were processing relocation documentation] at about 3am but at around 4am/5am the Taliban closed both sides of the road and there was a massive crush. I instructed them to leave. The crowds were very volatile and the Taliban very twitchy.

Updated

A journalist in Kabul has translated and sent this statement from the Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, saying the Americans had been told about a possible Isis attack on Kabul airport.

“The Taliban are committed to the international community and will not allow terrorists to use Afghanistan as a base for their operations. The Taliban have warned US troops about possible terrorist groups such as Isis,” Mujahid said.

Updated

A London taxi driver was at the Baron gate yesterday with his wife and four children, hoping to show his British passport, and get help to be evacuated to London, the city where he has lived for the past 20 years.

He told the Guardian:

It felt very dangerous there yesterday. I didn’t go back today because I received an email from the British embassy, saying don’t go to the airport today, stay at home and wait for further advice from us. So we stayed at home.

He said he was still hoping that British officials would send a bus to collect him and his family.

I hope they will provide transport for us. It’s too dangerous to try again.

There were no British casualties after a suspected suicide bomb exploded outside Kabul airport, Larisa Brown, the defence editor of the Times, is reporting.

Updated

A security source has told Reuters the last German military planes have left Kabul, completing the German evacuation operation.

The US has confirmed the blast has resulted in an unknown number of casualties

This is from the Washington Post’s Dion Nissenbaum, an email from the US embassy in Kabul telling Americans to leave the area immediately following a large explosion at the Abbey Gate and reports of gunfire.

Taliban official says at least 11 killed in blast, according to reports

A Taliban security source has said at least 11 people, including foreigners and children, have been killed, and many Taliban guards wounded, in the explosion outside Kabul airport, Al Jazeera are reporting.

Updated

One Afghan and British passport holder who had managed to get into the airport said it was very frightening.

We are inside the airport but we don’t know what is going on. We’ve seen the news about the bomb but we don’t know what is going on. It is very bad, very difficult.

He and 10 family members were safe but there were hundreds of people now crammed into the airport and they had been “treated like animals” in the queues outside.

Updated

No German troops were injured or killed in an explosion outside Kabul airport, a security source has told Reuters, without giving details.

The French ambassador to Afghanistan, David Martinon, warned of a second blast roughly 30 minutes ago and urged people to get away from the airport gates and take cover.

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh is also now reporting that there were two explosions in the Baron hotel area

Turkey’s defence ministry has said that two separate explosions occurred outside Kabul airport, adding there was no damage to Turkish units in the area, Reuters reports.

Updated

A minicab driver from south London had been waiting at the gate all day and all last night trying without success to show his British passport to the guards at the gates of Baron hotel, but decided to leave around 3pm when he received warnings via Whatsapp that there was a threat of a terror attack.

He told the Guardian:

I was there with my wife and children, and I decided to come home. There were thousands of people by the Baron gate. Some of them were leaving but most of them stayed. There were other British passport holders in the queue, and people who had worked for Nato or for the British forces, sitting on the roadside, helpless like me.

Sky News’s Stuart Ramsey, who was reporting from Kabul airport until this morning, said he had been told that the explosion took place in the canal running alongside the main road approaching the airport when crowds of people had been queuing to get processed for evacuation.

Although now reporting from Doha, he said his contacts had told him it was a suicide bomber who had detonated the device in the canal with reports of potential injuries among American forces.

An unnamed official has told Reuters that US service members are among those injured in the blast, according to initial information.

As we’ve just reported, the UK’s defence ministry said it was working urgently to establish what had happened at Kabul airport following reports of an explosion but has said nothing further as of yet.

These are from Gareth Browne, a journalist for The National

These are from the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh

The explosion outside Kabul airport appeared to be caused by a suicide bomb, an unnamed US official has told Reuters, citing an initial report and cautioning that it could change.

There have also been reports on Twitter, which the Guardian has not confirmed, from US journalist Jennifer Griffin of Fox News and the Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary suggesting it was a suicide attack.

Updated

One of the entry gates to Kabul airport has been hit by a large explosion hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent terrorist threat, Peter Beaumont and Aubrey Allegretti report.

The blast, which was confirmed by the Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, on Twitter appears to have occurred at the Abbey gate into the international airport and was followed by gunfire. It came as several western countries announced the end of their evacuation flights, citing an acute threat of an attack possibly within hours.

The warning had been delivered by several countries including the UK. Afghans gathering to try to gain access to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai international airport were told to leave immediately and move to a safe place, even as the evacuation appeared to be rapidly coming to an end.

“We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can.”

According to initial reports there appeared to be Afghan casualties from the explosion close to where people hoping to flee were queueing for visa processing, but none among western forces.

British defence sources in the UK said they were aware of the incident. It did not look like there were any military casualties, on the initial reports coming through, but the impact on civilians was not immediately known.

Here is the full report on this developing story:

Updated

That’s it from me, Robyn Vinter. Lucy Campbell is now taking over.

The Tory MP for Wealden, Nus Ghani, has tweeted:

Updated

The US president, Joe Biden, has been briefed on the explosion at Kabul airport, Reuters is reporting a White House official as saying.

Updated

From Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence and security editor:

Explosion outside Kabul airport, according to Pentagon

One of the entry gates to Kabul airport has been hit by a large explosion only hours after western intelligence agencies warned of an imminent terrorist threat.

The blast, which was confirmed by Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Twitter, appears to have occurred at the Abbey gate into the international airport and was followed by gunfire. It came as several western countries announced the end of their evacuation flights, citing an acute threat of an attack possibly within hours.

Updated

A revealing thread here from the PBS reporter Jane Ferguson. Many people waiting at Hamid Karzai international airport are those with special immigrant visas in process with the US. It is unlikely they will make it out and many are in real danger.

Updated

Shots fired at Kabul airport were to disperse crowds, Italian government confirms

More on the shots fired at Kabul airport:

Quoting intelligence reports, the Italian government has confirmed the shots were not fired at the plane, instead they were fired to disperse the crowd at the airport, Reuters reports.

Earlier, a defence source said the C-130 transporter, carrying almost 100 Afghan civilians, had come under attack minutes after take off.

Updated

The Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby has denied the US will be pulling out of Afghanistan in 36 hours, as reported by some news organisations.

Boris Johnson: 'The security situation is not improving'

The UK prime minister has said his government will “do everything we can” to get Afghans to safety but that the terrorist threat at Kabul airport “is not improving”.

Speaking to broadcasters after a visit to the Permanent Joint Headquarters in north London, Johnson said the speed with which armed forces had moved to evacuate people from Kabul was an “incredible achievement”.

But we owe them a debt, and they’re people who looked after our armed forces, helped for the 20 years of the UK’s engagement in Afghanistan, it’s absolutely the right thing to do. And we’ve got the overwhelming majority of those to whom we owe that debt out of Afghanistan, as I stand and talk to you now. In the time we have left, which may be, as I’m sure everybody can appreciate, quite short, we’ll do everything we can to get everybody else.

He said the UK would work with the Taliban to get Afghans to safety after the 31 August deadline imposed by the US.

When asked how great the security threat at Kabul airport was, he said:

I think we have to be transparent about the risks, that we have to be realistic about what’s going on, and you’ll appreciate that there are Islamic State Khorasan Province terrorists out there.

I can’t go into the details, clearly. But we have to be mindful of the security of our personnel, but also the Afghan people who are trying to get out. But what I would stress is that we’re coming now towards the end of this phase, in any event, in the sense that we’ve already airlifted out of Afghanistan a huge number of people ... more than ... it’s the biggest operation of its kind in decades. And I think everyone - I want to stress this - everybody involved, the UK military, everybody involved at the airport, everybody who’s been helping us, they should be incredibly proud of what they’ve achieved.

He said Afghans should look at the “current advice” about whether to head for the border instead of the airport.

People should look at the current advice, the advice at the moment is that the security situation is obviously not improving. But we’ve got the overwhelming majority out. And what I would say is that I see a second phase, when we hope very much that the Taliban will understand that there’s got to be a reasonable approach to people who still wanted to leave Afghanistan.

But I would just repeat ... sometimes I don’t think people realise the immensity of what the UK military [has] already helped to achieve. This is, as I say, a sizable UK town of Afghans who risked their lives, in many cases, to help the UK, are now coming to the UK. Actually, in most cases, they’re now here. The real job now is to make sure they have the housing, they have the skills, they have the opportunities to integrate into our society. As you know, our labour market, it currently offers many opportunities, but we must make sure that they’re ready. And that’s another whole job of work.

The Prime Minister visited Northwood Headquarters to meet personnel working on the UK operation in Afghanistan.
The prime minister visited Northwood headquarters to meet personnel working on the UK operation in Afghanistan. Photograph: Adrian Dennis/WPA/Getty Images

Updated

Boris Johnson has denied having any “influence” on a bid by a former Royal Marine to secure the passage of 200 dogs and cats alongside his animal shelter staff out of Afghanistan.

Paul Farthing, known as Pen, founded the Nowzad shelter in Kabul after serving with the British Army in Afghanistan in the mid-2000s, with the organisation rescuing dogs, cats and donkeys.

Since the collapse of the Afghan government, he has campaigned to have his staff and their families as well as 140 dogs and 60 cats evacuated from the country in a plan he has dubbed Operation Ark.

Reports have suggested the prime minister’s wife, Carrie, stepped in to push for his rescue.

Asked about the reports, Johnson said:

I’ve had absolutely no influence on any particular case, nor would that be right.

That’s not, that’s not how we do things in this country.

Updated

Shots fired at Italian plane leaving Kabul, Reuters reports

Shots were fired at an Italian military plane as it left Kabul today, Reuters is reporting from an Italian defence source.

The plane was not damaged in the incident, the source added.

An Italian journalist traveling on the flight told Sky 24 TG that the plane had been carrying almost 100 Afghan civilians when it came under fire minutes after take off.

Updated

Rescue efforts now entering 'the most hectic, dangerous and sensitive phase', German defence minister says

Germany’s defence minister says terror threats in Kabul have become “significantly more concrete” as the international evacuation effort from the airport in the Afghan capital is nearing its end.

Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said today that the effort is “now in what is certainly the most hectic, dangerous and sensitive phase. We know that the terror threats have intensified massively and that they have become significantly more concrete.”

She said Germany’s foreign ministry told people in Kabul overnight that they should not try to get to the airport on their own, in line with warnings by the US and others.

The German military was still flying between Kabul and Tashkent, Uzbekistan on Thursday. It wasn’t immediately clear when exactly the German evacuation effort would end.

Germany’s top military commander, Gen. Eberhard Zorn, said that as of Thursday afternoon German flights had evacuated some 5,200 people from 45 nations, including about 4,200 Afghans.

Zorn said two small German helicopters that were flown into Kabul a few days ago, intended to help get individuals to the airport, were flown out to Tashkent overnight.

Afghan evacuees have been taken to pods on arrival at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Afghan evacuees have been taken to pods on arrival at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Photograph: US Air Force/Reuters

Updated

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has tweeted a thread in order to clear up what he indicates are some misconceptions about the evacuation of former Royal Marine Pen Farthing, as well as his staff and the animals he has rescued in Afghanistan.

Updated

'We wish we could have rescued everyone': Canada completes its last evacuation from Kabul

Canadian forces in Kabul ended their efforts to evacuate citizens and Afghans earlier today, ahead of a 31 August deadline, acting chief of the defence staff General Wayne Eyre said.

He told a news conference:

We stayed in Afghanistan as long as we could ... we wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone.

He said Canada had evacuated around 3,700 Canadian and Afghan citizens.

Afghan refugees who supported Canada’s mission in Afghanistan arrive at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, on Tuesday.
Afghan refugees who supported Canada’s mission in Afghanistan arrive at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada, on Tuesday. Photograph: MCpl Genevieve Lapointe/Reuters

We would like to hear from Afghan refugees who have recently arrived about their experiences in the UK.

Afghanistan’s privately owned Kam Air has sent several of its planes to neighbouring Iran with no passengers aboard, an Iranian official said on Thursday, to keep them safe amid the chaos of evacuations at Kabul airport.

Iranian state media quoted Civil Aviation Organisation spokesman Mohammad Hassan Zibakhsh as saying:

The owners of Afghanistan’s Kam Air requested to move a number of their passenger planes to Iranian airports following the intensified fights and tensions in Kabul airport.

Zibakhsh said Tehran had issued a landing permit for these planes “in line with its goals of interaction with neighbouring countries”.

Kam Air, which was founded in 2003 by Afghan businessman Zamaray Kamgar, operates a fleet of Boeing 737 and 767 and Airbus A340 jets, according to its website.

The European Union still has a skeleton staff in Kabul working to evacuate people as the end of airlifts from the chaotic airport looms.

A number of European nations have said that they are ending their evacuation efforts ahead of the 31 August deadline for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

European Commission foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano said Thursday that a small EU team “will be on the ground as long as necessary in order to complete the evacuation operations”.

He declined to give more details, saying he didn’t want to share more details “because they are operating in an environment which is not exactly friendly.”

Stano says that more than 400 Afghans who worked for the EU in Afghanistan, along with their families, have already been evacuated.

He adds that “there are still some people who we need and want to get out” but would not give more detail, citing “operational reasons”.

Commission spokesman Eric Mamer says that the 400 Afghan EU workers and their families “are in the process of being transferred to member states who offered places”.

He called discussions about their relocation “a very intense process” but adds that members of the 27-nation bloc “are very clear that they are they are willing to help” accommodate the EU’s Afghan staff.

Updated

A former security guard supervisor at Australia’s shuttered embassy in Kabul has issued a personal plea to Scott Morrison for help escaping Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, saying 1,000 men, women and children are stranded outside Kabul airport as foreign evacuation flights wind down.

More from Kate Banville, Daniel Hurst and Ben Doherty:

A former Royal Marine who runs an animal charity in Afghanistan has that he, his Afghan staff and dozens of dogs and cats are stuck outside Kabul’s airport as they try to get a flight out of the country before evacuation efforts end.

Paul “Pen” Farthing appealed to the Taliban to allow the group safe passage into the airport. He tweeted to Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen that “we have been here for 10 hours after being assured that we would have safe passage. Truly would like to go home now.”

Farthing has been pressing for days to get staff of his Nowzad charity out of Afghanistan, along with the group’s rescued animals.

Farthing’s supporters have clashed with Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who refused to airlift the animals on a Royal Air Force plane, saying “I have to prioritize people at the moment over pets.”

Celebrities including comedian Ricky Gervais expressed support for Farthing, and criticism of the British government, on social media.

The UK defence ministry later said it would help Farthing, his group and the animals leave on a chartered jet funded by Farthing’s supporters.

Dominic Dyer, a British animal campaigner who is assisting Farthing, said the chartered plane was due to leave the U.K. later Thursday for Kabul.

Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Thursday that UK forces at the airport would “facilitate” the flight. He told ITV that “the difficulty is getting Pen into the airfield.”

'Help me': Girls school director blocked from getting to Kabul airport by Taliban

The Afghan director of a school for girls dedicated to an Italian newspaper correspondent killed in Afghanistan is trying desperately to gain access to the Kabul airport for evacuation, with anxiety growing as the end of flights nears.

Shir Ahmad Mohammadi has sent messages to contacts in Italy as well as Italian officials in Kabul, saying that the Taliban are not allowing him and his family near the airport, Corriere della Sera reported today.

Mohammadi wrote:

Help me, I can’t go on. The Taliban are not allowing us to pass. They are asking for US documents that we don’t have.

He is the director of a school in Herat province named for Maria Grazia Cutuli, a Corriere correspondent killed in 2001. He travelled by bus with his wife and two daughters, finding himself in the capital controlled by the Taliban and with foreign troops by now closed off in the airport.

He wrote:

I served female students in Afghanistan, giving them the chance to study in the name of your country. Now it is time that I think of my daughters, and try to get them to safety. I have my two daughters with me, what should I do, I cannot leave them to be treated in this way. I have to take care of their security and their dignity. That is why I made this trip.

He said his wife and daughters are under increasing strain.

I don’t know how long we can keep going in these conditions.

Finland said today it had evacuated 51 people from Kabul to the Nordic country, adding that its total number of evacuees has risen to close to 340 people.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry wrote on Twitter that Finland too had assisted four people on their way to other countries Wednesday when the people were evacuated.

“Cooperation is power,” the ministry wrote, adding that Finland in total had assisted 30 persons from “our partner countries.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan, a number that may be achievable ahead of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, despite growing warnings Thursday of terror threats targeting the airport.

Untold thousands of at-risk Afghans, however, were still struggling to get into the Kabul airport, even many thousands of other Afghans already had been flown to safety in nearly two weeks of round-the-clock flights, AP reports.

Several of the Americans working phones and pulling strings to get out former Afghan colleagues, women’s advocates, journalists and other vulnerable Afghans said they were still waiting for US action to get those remaining Afghans past Taliban checkpoints and through US-controlled airport gates to promised evacuation flights.

Sunil Varghese, policy director with the International Refugee Assistance Project, said:

It’s 100% up to the Afghans to take these risks and try to fight their way out.

Blinken, echoing Biden’s earlier declarations during the now 12-day-old evacuation, emphasised at a State Department briefing that “evacuating Americans is our top priority”.

He added: “We’re also committed to getting out as many Afghans at-risk as we can before the 31st,” when Biden plans to pull out the last of thousands of American troops.

Yesterday, the US Embassy in Kabul issued a security alert warning American citizens away from three specific airport gates, but gave no further explanation. Senior US officials said the warning was related to ongoing and specific threats involving the Islamic State and potential vehicle bombs, which have set US officials on edge in the final days of the American drawdown.

Updated

South Korea has welcomed the arrival of Afghans who supported its operations prior to the Taliban control of Afghanistan, designating them as “persons of special merit” instead of refugees in an apparent effort to defuse anti-migrant sentiment, Raphael Rashid reports.

A military aircraft landed at Incheon airport, west of Seoul, in the afternoon, transporting 378 Afghans who worked for South Korea’s embassy and other facilities in Afghanistan, as well as their family members. A further 13 will be arriving on a separate flight.

The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, said it was “only natural for us to fulfil our moral responsibility by helping the Afghans who helped our operations”.

The government made clear they were “entering the country as persons of special merit, not as refugees” and were given short-term visas. Should they wish to stay, they will then be given the option to switch to long-term F2 residence visas which allow employment, through an immediate legal revision to grant F2 visas to persons of special merit.

Analysts said the designation was roughly equivalent to being recognised as refugees, just not in name.

South Korea has a lukewarm attitude towards refugees. Despite being the first Asian nation to legislate a refugee act, it has one of the lowest refugee acceptance rates among developed countries. From 1994 to 2020, it granted refugee status to around 1.5% of all applicants, according to the justice ministry.

Over the past week, the government has displayed a cautious stance on the refugee issue. President Moon’s top security adviser, Suh Hoon, noted that bringing in Afghans other than those who helped South Korea was a “very complicated and difficult issue that requires to consider diverse aspects, including our people’s acceptance”.

The full story is here:

Qatar is offering Covid-19 vaccines to evacuees from Afghanistan who are temporarily staying in the country, which has been facilitating global evacuation efforts since the Taliban seized Kabul, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the region, has so far helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to Doha and will continue to facilitate international efforts in “the coming days”, the ministry said in a statement.

Those who do not immediately transit to other countries are being provided with a PCR test and Covid-19 vaccine, if requested, it said, adding that Doha is temporarily hosting “a large number of evacuees most of them students, families and journalists”.

Pressure to complete the evacuation of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped western countries during the 20-year war against the Taliban has intensified, with all American and allied troops due to leave the airport next week.

Qatar has also agreed with the United States to temporarily host 8,000 Afghan nationals while the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have both said they would host 5,000.

India says it has evacuated most of its nationals from Afghanistan and is doing everything to bring them back home.

India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a meeting of political leaders today that India has operated six flights so far from Kabul. “A few of them (Indians) are still there.”

He didn’t give the exact number of Indians and Afghans evacuated so far from Kabul but the Indian media put their numbers around 800.

He declined to say how India is going to deal with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. “The situation in Afghanistan is yet to settle down. I will talk about it later,” Jaishankar told reporters.

New Delhi had stayed away from the Taliban except for back-channel contacts in recent months. It did not recognise the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001.

Qatar says it has helped the evacuation of more than 40,000 people from Kabul airport.

The small nation on the Arabian Peninsula says most will transit through Qatar after staying in temporary accommodations.

Qatar says that “the evacuation efforts will continue in the coming days in consultation with international partners.”

Qatar also hosts an office of the Taliban and was the site of negotiations between America, the toppled Afghan government and the insurgents.

Evacuations to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, continue as Afghans hurried to escape Taliban rule.
Evacuations to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, continue as Afghans hurried to escape Taliban rule. Photograph: Noah Coger/US AIR FORCE/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The Royal Air Force has so far airlifted more than 12,000 people out of Afghanistan in the race against time to help those fleeing the Taliban before the deadline for the departure of foreign forces.

But there are fears hundreds could be left behind, with a terror threat at Kabul airport heaping pressure on the evacuation effort during its final stages.

Yesterday, it was believed nearly 2,000 people assessed as eligible under the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) remained on the ground.

But UK armed forces minister James Heappey said the number outstanding has now dropped to “potentially half” of the previous estimate.

Arap is designed to allow those Afghans, such as interpreters, who helped the UK forces and are there at a heightened risk of persecution by the Taliban.

Embassy staff and British nationals are also being evacuated, as are some from allied countries.

An unidentified number of “special cases” may be eligible for evacuation, such as LGBTQ advocates, judges and human rights activists.

British ministers have conceded that they will not be able to help everyone flee before UK troops leave Kabul.

They hope that Afghan citizens may be able to depart at a later date, despite the Taliban having said “we are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave”.

Heappey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he expects that Kabul’s airport will be able to reopen for civilian flights because the “Taliban don’t want to be an international pariah”.

Passengers evacuated from Afghanistan are escorted across the tarmac after disembarking a British military transport aircraft at RAF Brize Norton station in southern England in the early hours of the morning.
Passengers evacuated from Afghanistan are escorted across the tarmac after disembarking a British military transport aircraft at RAF Brize Norton station in southern England in the early hours of the morning. Photograph: Jacob King/AFP/Getty Images

Poland rounds up its Kabul airlifts after evacuating more than 1,300 people

Poland has completed its Afghanistan evacuation mission after transporting more than 1,300 people from Kabul, officials said today.

The evacuees were mainly Afghan staff of the Polish military contingent, but also included employees of the European Union and International Monetary Fund, AFP reports.

“More than 1,300 people have been transported to Poland,” Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz told reporters in Warsaw, adding that evacuations were being stopped “for security reasons”.

Przydacz said Taliban authorities were only allowing foreign citizens to depart as of yesterday.

Among the evacuees there were also 175 former employees of the Lithuania military contingent and a few who had assisted Estonian troops.

There was also a Dutch family and a person evacuated at the request of the International Olympic Committee, Przydacz said.

Pakistan calls for continued engagement with Afghanistan

Pakistan’s prime minister has called on the international community to continue engagement with Afghanistan, saying it was a “way forward to avert any humanitarian crisis and secure peace and stability.”

Imran Khan made his comment during a meeting with David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program who met with him in Islamabad.

Khan also called for the formation of an inclusive government to ensure peace and avoid an humanitarian crisis, after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

The latest development comes as dozens of Afghans continue to enter Pakistan via its land borders. But the number of Afghan people entering Pakistan through land routes has been steadily decreasing since earlier this week.

A British man who got married in Kabul a week before it fell to the Taliban has described the experience as a “rollercoaster of emotions”.

Abdul and Fatima, whose names have been changed, had their wedding at the start of the month and within days the Taliban had arrived outside the capital, which fell into their control on Sunday 15 August.

Since then the couple have been threatened with death by Taliban soldiers, fled the country and are now spending their “honeymoon” in quarantine in a hotel in London.

The 25-year-old medical student, who was born in Afghanistan, told the PA news agency:

I got married in the first week of August, on the second week, I heard the Taliban were on the outskirts of Kabul.

You’re happy you’ve just had your wedding, invited hundreds of people, then suddenly you hear the news.

I’ve never been in such a situation before where you’re very happy and then it hits the ground, and then it’s hard to come back up.

Abdul grew up in the outskirts of Kabul before relocating to London as a teenager, and returned to his birthplace in early July after finishing his second-year exams at a UK medical school.

He and his wife arrived into Birmingham airport on Monday night after an evacuation flight from Kabul, and are now quarantining in a hotel in Westminster.

They are now concerned for the safety of those left behind.

He said:

Right now, if I don’t listen to the news I can gain peace of mind just for a while.

But my wife, because she has family members in Afghanistan, she keeps watching TV.

I think with people who are in Afghanistan at the moment, they have no hope... they are expected to be beaten up by the Taliban.

Abdul said a Taliban member threatened to kill him in front of his wife last week after he showed his British passport at a checkpoint in Kabul.

“They told me ‘if there wasn’t international pressure on us, we would have shot you dead’,” Abdul said.

Updated

An Australian citizen has been beaten and kidnapped by the Taliban as he tried to leave the country, before being released after pleas from his family.

He remains in hiding in Afghanistan. His wife and brother are in Australia.

The man, whom the Guardian is choosing not to name for fear of further attacks, was shown in a video with blood streaming from wounds on his head.

Russia to supply weapons to Afghanistan's neighbours

Russia has said it has received new orders for arms and helicopters from Central Asian republics bordering Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

The orders come as countries in the ex-Soviet region, where Moscow holds military bases, have raised concerns over the militant group sweeping to power.

“We are already working on a number of orders from countries in the region for the supply of Russian helicopters, fire arms and modern border protection systems,” Alexander Mikheev, the head of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, told the RIA Novosti news agency.

While Russia remains cautiously optimistic about the new leadership in Kabul, it has warned of militants entering neighbouring countries as refugees.

Uzbekistan and Tajikistan earlier this month held joint military exercises with Russia close to their borders with Afghanistan.

While the Taliban has said it does not pose a threat to Central Asian countries, the ex-Soviet republics in the region have previously been targeted by attacks attributed to allies of Afghan Islamists.

Hungary says its army has evacuated from Afghanistan all Hungarian citizens of whom the defence ministry is aware.

The defence minister Tibor Benkö told a press conference on Thursday that 540 people, among them 57 Afghan families including 180 children, had been evacuated to Hungary from Kabul.

Of the Afghan citizens who had assisted Hungarian forces in Afghanistan since 2003, the army had evacuated 87%, he said, adding that Hungarian, Afghan, Austrian and US citizens were evacuated during the operation.

Updated

Nearly 400 evacuated Afghans arrived today in Seoul, where the government said it was amending the law to allow long-term stays for those who worked on South Korean projects in Afghanistan before the Taliban seized power this month.

Immigration is a contentious issue in South Korea, where many pride themselves on ethnic homogeneity, even as the population of 52 million ages rapidly and the labour force dwindles.

At least two flights were to bring in 391 people, including the families of workers at the Korean embassy, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a hospital and Korean government-run vocational training institute and military bases, Reuters reports.

The justice minister Park Beom-kye said many Koreans had received international support after having had to flee during the Korean war, from 1950 to 1953.

“Now it is time for us to return the favour,” he told a briefing at Incheon airport outside the capital, before the arrival.

The government was in the process of amending immigration laws to grant the Afghans long-term residency as foreigners who had provided special service to the country, Park added.

He acknowledged controversy over the plan, saying the decision to accept the Afghan evacuees had been “difficult”, but added that South Korea could not give up on its friends.

Despite the fact that we are physically apart in a distant country, they were practically our neighbours. How could we possibly turn a blind eye to them when their lives are at risk because of the fact that they worked with us?

South Korea has accepted more than 30,000 North Korean defectors over the years, but it approves a much smaller number of asylum seekers from other countries.

Updated

In case you missed this earlier, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Shah Meer Baloch and Lorenzo Tondo have written this informative piece about the treacherous routes refugees from Afghanistan are forced to take.

Hundreds of people each day are crossing the border at Chaman from Pakistan into Afghanistan to visit relatives, receive medical treatment and for business-related activities.

Pakistan has not placed any curbs on their movement despite the thousands of people fleeing Afghanistan.

Afghan nationals line up and wait for security checks in Pakistan before entering Afghanistan through a common border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, today.
Afghan nationals line up and wait for security checks in Pakistan before entering Afghanistan through a common border crossing point in Chaman, Pakistan, today. Photograph: AP

Greek officials have said that Greece will not become a “gateway” to Europe for Afghan asylum seekers and have called for a united response to predictions of an increase in refugee arrivals to the country.

Greece’s prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotaki, has spoken to Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about the developing situation in Afghanistan this week. Greek migration minister Notis Mitarachi last week said: “We cannot have millions of people leaving Afghanistan and coming to the European Union … and certainly not through Greece.” The country has just completed a 25-mile (40km) wall along its land border with Turkey and installed an automated surveillance system with cameras, radars and drones.

'Painful moment': Netherlands to carry out its final evacuation today, leaving behind eligible Afghans

The Dutch government expects to run its last evacuation flight out of Afghanistan today, it said in a letter to parliament, Reuters reports.

It said:

The Netherlands has been informed by the United States that it has to depart today and will most likely perform the last flights later today.

This is a painful moment because it means that despite all the great efforts of the past period, people who are eligible for evacuation to the Netherlands will be left behind.

Colonel Richard Kemp, former head of British forces in Afghanistan, said the threat of a terrorist attack at Kabul airport “has existed right the way from when this evacuation began”.

He told BBC Breakfast:

That threat of terrorist attack, whether it’s from Taliban, the Islamic State, or al Qaida, it could equally be all three of those groups.

The fact that people are talking about Islamic State doesn’t make that the most likely threat.

I think that threat has existed right the way from when this evacuation began, and I have no doubt that our forces are fully aware of the threat and already, for days now, have been taking measures to try and mitigate it, to prevent something like that happening.

But, clearly, there could be a terrorist attack of some sort against the forces in the airport, maybe forces outside the airport, and of course the people trying to get in.

A French court has handed a 10-month suspended jail sentence to an Afghan man for violating the terms of a surveillance order, days after France evacuated him from Taliban-controlled Kabul.

The man, Ahmat M, is one of five people who were placed under surveillance after their arrival in France as part of an investigation into links with the Taliban, AFP reports.

The surveillance order included strict limits on movements and Ahmat M, who arrived at the weekend, was convicted by a court late Wednesday for straying outside of this zone.

Ahmat M, who says he was a prosecutor in Afghanistan before resuming his law studies, had been ordered not to leave the Paris suburb of Noisy-le-Grand, where he was living with his wife, baby daughter and several other family members.

He told the court he wanted to buy medicine because he suffered from headaches and vomiting since arriving in France. In sometimes confused remarks, he said he followed a man living in the same hotel who offered to buy him these medicines, without realising that he was going to central Paris.

The possibility that there could be Taliban members among the hundreds of Afghans evacuated by France over the last fortnight has ignited a storm of controversy in France, with migration set to be a prime battleground in 2022 presidential elections.

The right has accused the government of President Emmanuel Macron of failing to carry out proper security checks while he has also faced criticism from the left who accuse him of letting down ordinary Afghans by only allowing limited numbers into France.

Updated

Kabul airport faces threat of 'imminent' terror attack as European nations begin to halt flights

European nations have offered stark warnings about the waning days of a massive airlift to bring people out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, with a British official saying there were credible reports of an “imminent attack” at Kabul’s international airport.

France said it would halt its evacuations Friday while Denmark said its last flight had already left Kabul’s airport, which has seen thousands throng around it in the days since the Taliban took the capital.

Overnight, new warnings emerged from Western capitals about a possible threat from Afghanistan’s Islamic State affiliate, which likely has seen its ranks boosted by the Taliban freeing prisoners across the country. Already, military cargo planes leaving Kabul airport have launched flares to disrupt any potential surface-to-air missile fire as fleeing Afghan troops abandoned heavy weapons and equipment across the country in their collapse following America’s withdrawal of troops, AP reports.

British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told the BBC on Thursday there was “very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack” at the airport, possibly within “hours.”

Heappey conceded that people are desperate to leave and “there is an appetite by many in the queue to take their chances, but the reporting of this threat is very credible indeed and there is a real imminence to it.”

“We will do our best to protect those who are there,” he said. “There is every chance that as further reporting comes in, we may be able to change the advice again and process people anew but there’s no guarantee of that.”

Outside of a missile attack, troops have been worried about the uncontrolled, teeming crowds outside the airport. While the Taliban and others have tried to control them, there’s no formal screening process on the way the airport as there was under Afghanistan’s former government. That means someone carrying a suicide bomb could slip through — or an explosives-laden vehicle could barrel through.

On Wednesday, the US Embassy in Kabul issued a security alert warning American citizens away from three specific airport gates, but gave no further explanation.
Senior US officials said the warning was related to ongoing and specific threats involving the Islamic State and potential vehicle bombs. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing military operations.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex told French radio RTL on Thursday that “from tomorrow evening onwards, we are not able to evacuate people from the Kabul airport” due to the Aug. 31 American withdrawal.

Meanwhile, Danish defence minister Trine Bramsen bluntly warned: “It is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul.” Denmark’s last flight, carrying 90 people plus soldiers and diplomats, already had left Kabul.

Updated

Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday the Group of 20 major economies must be committed to making sure women preserve fundamental freedoms and basic rights in the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

In opening remarks at the G20 Conference on Women’s Empowerment, Draghi said:

The G20 must do all it can to ensure that Afghan women preserve their fundamental freedoms and basic rights, especially the right to education. Progress made over the past twenty years must be preserved.

The chief executive of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said many Afghans are scared that the withdrawal of troops from the country will also mean humanitarian aid workers will not be able to help millions of those in need.

Mr Miliband, a former UK foreign secretary, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

I think that it’s a desperate situation for humanitarian aid workers in Afghanistan at the moment. There’s also an invisible crisis which is also desperate.

That’s a crisis of tens of millions of Afghans who need humanitarian aid, who need to be served by the humanitarian aid community who are desperately worried that the military withdrawal on the 31st of August will not just mean the end of the possibility of people to leave who need to do so but also will signal a humanitarian aid withdrawal, a diplomatic withdrawal, a political withdrawal that will leave them at the mercy of not just political events but of a collapsing economy, of Covid running rampant, of drought in 80% of the country.

An Afghan journalist has reported being beaten by the Taliban:

If you’re just joining us, my colleague Helen Sullivan has written this about the current international situation for Afghanistan, which should bring you up to speed.

UK armed forces minister James Heappey said a possible terror attack in Kabul could come within “hours”.

He told LBC:

I was given lines today for what might happen if the attack happened while I was doing this media round.

He added:

I don’t think everybody should be surprised by this, Daesh, or Islamic State, are guilty of all sorts of evil.

But the opportunism of wanting to target a major international humanitarian mission is just utterly deplorable but sadly true to form for an organisation as barbarous as Daesh.

Danish defence minister warns 'it is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul'

The Danish defence minister has warned that “it is no longer safe to fly in or out of Kabul” after the country’s last flight left.

Speaking to Danish broadcaster TV2, Trine Bramsen said there were about 90 people — plus the last Danish soldiers and diplomats sent to help with the evacuation — on the last plane to leave Afghanistan’s capital.

Updated

France to stop evacuations tomorrow night

France’s prime minister says his country will no longer be able to evacuate people from Kabul airport after Friday night.

The announcement by Jean Castex today comes as the US and Western allies face a 31 August deadline to pull out of Afghanistan.

Thousands have been trying to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, many through Kabul’s international airport. That triggered a massive airlift of those trying to escape.

Castex told French radio RTL “from tomorrow evening onwards, we are not able to evacuate people from the Kabul airport” due to the 31 August American withdrawal.

More than 2,000 Afghans and a hundred French people have been evacuated by France since the beginning of the operation last week.

UK armed forces minister James Heappey described the terror threat to people outside Kabul airport as “lethal” amid concerns over an affiliate of the so-called Islamic State in Afghanistan, Isis-K.

He told BBC Breakfast:

I can’t stress the desperation of the situation enough, the threat is credible, it is imminent, it is lethal.

And we wouldn’t be saying this if we weren’t genuinely concerned about offering Islamic State a target.

Hungary’s two military passenger planes and all its troops taking part in evacuations have left Afghanistan and returned safely to Hungary, the Hungarian Defence Ministry said in a statement today.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday that Hungary’s evacuation flights from Afghanistan were nearing an end after the central European country airlifted more than 500 people from Kabul.

Pressure to complete the evacuations of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who helped Western countries during the 20-year war against the Taliban has intensified, with all U.S. and allied troops due to leave the airport next week.

The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport on Thursday due to the threat of an Islamic State attack as Western troops hurry to evacuate as many Afghans as possible before a 31 August deadline.

Hungary, an opponent of irregular migration to Europe, has rejected any plans to accommodate large numbers of Afghan refugees, and said it would only evacuate people whose lives were at risk for supporting the NATO presence in Afghanistan.

Sir Mark Lyall-Grant, a former UK national security adviser, said the withdrawal from Afghanistan was “damaging” for the US and allied countries in the West.

Asked if the current situation looked like defeat, he told LBC:

It’s clearly a defeat, yes. We haven’t left as we would have liked to have done.

We are in the hands of the Americans, they have taken the decisions.

The British Government would have been prepared to stay in Afghanistan longer, with the sort of limited commitment that we had made over the last three or four years.

But once the Americans decided that they were going to leave, then obviously all the other Nato forces had to leave.

And I think the manner in which we have left has been damaging for the United States, and damaging for the western countries more generally.

A total of 12,279 people have been evacuated by the UK, according to forces minister

UK armed forces minister James Heappey said 1,988 people left Kabul over eight RAF flights in the past 24 hours.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that this takes the total to 12,279.

He said the number under the Afghan relocation and assistance policy (Arap) scheme outstanding is now “potentially half” of the previous estimate of nearly 2,000.

Heappey also said that there is “very credible reporting” of an “imminent” and “severe” terror attack at Kabul airport.

He told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

There is now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack.

It’s an extraordinarily challenging situation both on the ground and as a set of decisions to be taken here in Whitehall because people are desperate, people are fearing for their lives anyway.

And so I think there is an appetite by many in the queue to take their chances, but the reporting of this threat is very credible indeed and there is a real imminence to it.

I can only say the threat is severe.

UK armed forces minister James Heappey said of Afghanistan the “window of opportunity to evacuate people is closing”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

We will do our best to protect those who are there. There is every chance that as further reporting comes in we may be able to change the advice again and process people anew but there’s now guarantee of that.

But... the window of opportunity to evacuate people is closing. It’s not as simply a case of we can pause, deal with the threat and pick up where we left off.

He said there will be 11 more flights out of Kabul on Thursday but declined to say whether there will be more on Friday, citing the security of troops.

Western nations have told Afghans they would be better to head to the borders instead of waiting at Kabul airport. But large crowds have built up at the Pakistan border and there are no Western forces helping there, freelance journalist Natiq Malikzada said.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to help the city’s councils and housing associations support the arrival of Afghan refugees.

Khan says he will expand his new Right to Buy-back fund to help councils purchase homes which could be used to resettle families arriving from Afghanistan.

Housing associations are also being encouraged to apply for funding for suitable homes that can be delivered quickly.

Khan said in a statement he would invite London councils to submit bids to his Right to Buy-back fund, which allows them to buy former council homes back from the private sector, with the programme to have a particular focus on family-sized homes.

Khan announced the Right to Buy-back fund last month in a bid to help councils and council-owned housing companies acquire homes that would be let at social rent levels or used as accommodation for homeless families.

Khan said:

It has been devastating to watch the crisis unfold in Afghanistan and I’m determined to do everything in my power to support those escaping the country.

London has a proud history of providing sanctuary to those in need and by working together we can help these refugees find a welcoming home in our city.

Dr Nooralhaq Nasimi, director of the UK’s Afghanistan and Central Asian Association, said:

With the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan many Afghan refugees will be desperately looking for a safe place to call home.

I am proud that the Mayor of London and London councils are leading the way in welcoming Afghan refugees and taking active steps to help accommodate them when they arrive and seek to build new lives in the city.

The Ministry of Defence says the UK has evacuated almost 7,000 Afghan individuals and their families out of Kabul.

Robyn Vinter here for the next few hours.

There are some answers to key questions here from AFP around the possibility of terror attacks by Islamic State at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

What is the Islamic State threat in Afghanistan?

President Joe Biden said there is “an acute and growing risk” of an attack at the airport by the group’s regional chapter, called Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K.

The United States, Britain and Australia have told people to leave the area for safer locations.

When asked directly about the threat, a Taliban spokesman acknowledged a risk of “nuisances” causing trouble in a chaotic situation they blamed entirely on the US-led evacuation.

What is Islamic State-Khorasan?

Months after the Islamic State declared a caliphate in Iraq and Syria in 2014, breakaway fighters from the Pakistani Taliban joined militants in Afghanistan to form a regional chapter, pledging allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The group was formally acknowledged by the central Islamic State leadership the next year as it sunk roots in northeastern Afghanistan, particularly Kunar, Nangarhar and Nuristan provinces.

It also managed to set up sleeper cells in other parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Kabul, according to United Nations monitors.

Latest estimates of its strength vary from several thousand active fighters to as low as 500, according to a UN Security Council report released last month.

“Khorasan” is a historical name for the region, taking in parts of what is today Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

What kind of attacks has it carried out?

The Islamic State’s Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks of recent years.

It has massacred civilians in both countries, at mosques, shrines, public squares and even hospitals.

The group has especially targeted Muslims from sects it considers heretical, including Shiites.

Last year, it was blamed for an attack that shocked the world - gunmen went on a bloody rampage at a maternity ward in a predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul, killing 16 mothers and mothers-to-be.

Beyond bombings and massacres, IS-Khorasan has failed to hold any territory in the region, suffering huge losses because of Taliban and US-led military operations.

According to UN and US military assessments, after the phase of heavy defeats IS-Khorasan now operates largely through covert cells based in or near cities to carry out high-profile attacks.

What is IS-Khorasan’s relationship with the Taliban?

While both groups are hardline Sunni Islamist militants, there is no love lost between them.

They have differed on the minutiae of religion and strategy, while claiming to be the true flag-bearers of jihad.

That tussle has led to bloody fighting between the two, with the Taliban emerging largely victorious after 2019 when IS-Khorasan failed to secure territory as its parent group did in the Middle East.

In a sign of the enmity between the two jihadist groups, IS statements have referred to the Taliban as apostates.

How has IS reacted to the Taliban victory in Afghanistan?

Not well.

Islamic State had been highly critical of the deal last year between Washington and the Taliban that led to the agreement for withdrawing foreign troops, accusing the latter of abandoning the jihadist cause.

Following the Taliban’s lightning takeover of Afghanistan, a number of jihadist groups around the world congratulated them - but not Islamic State.

One IS commentary published after the fall of Kabul accused the Taliban of betraying jihadists with the US withdrawal deal and vowed to continue its fight, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant communications.

What is the threat at Kabul airport?

US officials say Kabul airport, with thousands of US-led foreign troops surrounded by huge crowds of desperate Afghans, is under high threat from IS-Khorasan.

A flurry of near-identical travel warnings from London, Canberra and Washington late Wednesday urged people gathered in the area to move to safer locations.

They have not provided any specific details about the threat.

“ISIS-K is a sworn enemy of the Taliban, and they have a history of fighting one another,” Biden said Sunday.

“But every day we have troops on the ground, these troops and innocent civilians at the airport face the risk of attack from ISIS-K.”

Some military transports taking off from Kabul airport in recent days have been seen launching flares, which are normally used to attract heat-seeking missiles.

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along – and stay tuned for the latest with my colleague Robyn Vinter.

Summary

Here are the key developments from the last few hours:

  • The United States has warned crowds trying to access Kabul airport to leave the area, as Britain, Australia and New Zealand cited the “high threat” of a terrorist attack. All four countries asked that people no longer attempt to travel to the airport, a distressing call as people with practically no other means of escape from Afghanistan attempt to save their lives and those of loved ones.
  • The White House says the airlift by western forces has flown out 82,300 Afghans, Americans and others on a mix of US, international and private flights.
  • New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry also announced on Thursday morning that the country was no longer accepting applications from Afghan nationals for resettlement in New Zealand.
  • The British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said on Wednesday that Afghans who want to flee to the UK may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation. Wallace, in a briefing to MPs, also signalled there were few places left on British rescue flights, which have evacuated more than 11,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.
  • US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation, a figure that suggests the US may accomplish its highest priority for the Kabul airlift – rescuing US citizens– ahead of President Joe Biden’s deadline of Tuesday next week, despite growing concerns about terror threats targeting the airport.
  • US allies who were part of the coalition in Afghanistan have been winding up their own evacuations. Belgium, Poland and Czech Republic have already ended evacuations from Kabul. France’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, indicated it was “very probable” that its operations to evacuate its citizens and partners would end on Thursday.
  • Russia evacuated more than 500 people on four military planes on Wednesday – its first airlift operation since evacuations began, which marks a shift in Russia’s stance on Afghanistan.
  • Turkey said it would start withdrawing the last few hundred soldiers it has posted at the airport. According to Reuters, the Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help in running the airport after the departure of foreign forces, but has said the country cannot have any military presence.

New Zealand issues advisory against travel to airport

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) has now also issued an advisory against travelling to Kabul’s airport, saying,

MFAT has advised those registered on Safe Travel as being in Afghanistan not to travel to Hamid Karzai International Airport because of the ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack, but instead, move away to a safe location and await further advice.

The window to evacuate people out of Afghanistan is rapidly closing, and we cannot assist all those we are seeking to evacuate.

The department announced on Thursday morning that “New Zealand is no longer accepting applications from Afghan nationals for resettlement in New Zealand.”

Huge crowds continued to throng the gates of Kabul airport despite warnings by the United States and its allies of possible attacks by Islamic State militants, a Western diplomat at the airport told Reuters on Thursday.

The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said evacuation flights will pick up on Thursday after slowing down on Wednesday.

Here is our full story with the latest from Afghanistan:

It is a treacherous journey of thousands of miles that crosses arid deserts, steep mountains, rivers, armed checkpoints, barbed wire and metres-high concrete walls. But for the Afghans fleeing the Taliban, this inhospitable route – traversing Pakistan, Iran, Turkey and into the Balkans – is the pathway, they believe, to freedom.

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban this month, following weeks of rapid successive victories across the country, the instinct of many Afghans has been to escape by any means possible.

Some worked for the previous government or US and Nato forces and believe it is only a matter of time before they are hunted down by Taliban fighters. Others fear the Taliban will impose the same harsh interpretation of sharia law on the country as before, keeping women imprisoned in their homes, targeting minorities and carrying out public executions. There are also growing concerns that Afghanistan is heading towards a humanitarian crisis, with food shortages, drought and no money in the banks.

The Guardian’s Hannah Ellis-Petersen, Shah Meer Baloch and Lorenzo Tondo report:

New Zealand has closed resettlement applications for Afghans who worked with troops during the occupation, amid ongoing chaos at Kabul airport.

“The imminent withdrawal of the US from Hamid Karzai international airport, which has been critical to sustain our operations in Kabul, means that our ability to help individuals on the ground is very limited,” the ministry of foreign affairs and trade said in a statement. “We cannot guarantee that we will be able to assist all those we are seeking to evacuate.

“Given the limited time remaining for evacuation flights to depart and the evacuation window closing imminently, New Zealand is no longer accepting applications from Afghan nationals for resettlement in New Zealand”:

NBC News’ Richard Engel:

Here is Australia’s Prime Minister on the evacuations:

The head of the US military’s European Command says that so far more than 7,000 evacuees from Afghanistan have been flown to eight locations around Europe, mainly in Germany and Italy, AP reports.

Gen. Tod Wolters said Wednesday that 55 evacuation flights from Afghanistan have flown into Ramstein Air Base in Germany and three into Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. He says the flights brought nearly 5,800 evacuees from Kabul to Ramstein and 662 to Sigonella.

Smaller numbers of flights and people have gone to six other European locations, largely bases in Germany. Flights will soon be going into the base at Rota, Spain.

Wolters says evacuees are spending three to four days at the Europe transit stops before they move on. He says the plan is to move 1,500-1,800 people per day on to Dulles International Airport outside Washington.

In case you missed this earlier – as the UK warned that people should avoid travelling to the airport, the defence secretary said that Afghans who want to flee to Britain may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation.

Ben Wallace, in a briefing to MPs, also signalled there were few places left on British rescue flights, which have evacuated more than 11,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.

More than 80,000 people have been airlifted by western forces, with the US saying on Wednesday that planes were taking off almost every half hour from the capital’s airport. In 24 hours, 19,000 people were flown out on 90 planes as part of an operation that could surpass the 1975 evacuation of Saigon to become the biggest airlift in history.

Extra security measures, including concrete barriers, have been installed around the evacuation processing centre by the airport.

The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh and Aubrey Allegretti report:

In a signal that Australia’s evacuation operation may also wind down in the near future, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that the government had to deal with “the terrible, brutal and awful reality of the situation on the ground”.

Without speculating on the end date for the mission, Morrison said he had not sought to “overstate expectations” about what the ADF evacuation flights could achieve.

“So I would say to Australians that when the time comes when the operations are no longer able to be safely conducted, that we can say honestly to them that Australians have done all that we possibly could have done in these circumstances to get as many people out as safely as possible.”

Patrick Ryan, a former Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade contractor in Afghanistan and advocate for Australia’s Afghan national staff, told the Guardian on Wednesday: “The situation around the Abbey gate and the south gate at the moment is getting absolutely critical. The Taliban is putting more and more pressure on, and we are running out of time”:

A plan to reform the Australian defence force’s culture was kept hidden from public view for more than two months after it was approved by Peter Dutton, it has emerged.

The defence department has revealed the plan was approved on 26 May – but it was not released until 30 July, when it was posted on the department’s website without any public announcement.

The delay has prompted fresh claims the government has failed to be transparent in its response to the long-running inquiry into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

The Brereton inquiry last year found “credible” evidence to implicate 25 current or former Australian defence force (ADF) personnel in the alleged unlawful killing of 39 individuals and the cruel treatment of two others, with criminal allegations to be considered by the new Office of the Special Investigator.

The new 26-page reform plan shows the chief of the ADF, General Angus Campbell, will consider taking action against commanders for any failures on their part – but this may be delayed to reduce any risk to related criminal prosecutions:

The British defence secretary has complained that dealing with the former Royal Marine trying to fly rescued animals out of Kabul has been a distraction from the main evacuation effort, hours after seemingly trying to broker a solution.

On a conference call with MPs on Wednesday, Ben Wallace said that the case meant the military had been “diverted” from their primary focus on saving people. He also claimed that some of the stories about the Ministry of Defence’s handling of the affair had been inaccurate.

His comments, which were first reported by Sky News, go further than what Wallace has already said in public about the attempt by Paul Farthing, known as Pen, to ensure safe passage for 140 dogs and 60 cats being cared for at the Nowzad shelter he founded in Kabul after serving with the British army in Afghanistan:

639 people evacuated from Afghanistan have arrived in Australia

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is currently holding a press conference.

Afghanistan “remains a highly dangerous environment,” he says.

He says 1,200 people were evacuated on six Australian flights and one New Zealand flight. Australia has been involved in evacuating 4,000 people over 29 flights, which Morrison says is about “three times” what he and Marise Payne had anticipated they could do.

There are a large number who are now accommodated at the United Arab Emirates and we thank the United Arab Emirates for the great support ensuring we can brings people safely there.

There are two transfer flights that are due to depart there today, one arrived this morning, 639 people who have been evacuated are already now here in Australia, including 221 arrived earlier today. Australian citizens, residents and pre-visa Afghan nationals are the priority for transfer flights back to Australia.

The Department of Home Affairs will continue the additional processing that is required for those we have uplifted out of Afghanistan on temporary visas and we will do further processing before they are transferred to Australia.

I want to thank the states and territories for their support in making sure that we have quarantine space available for them to be returned to Australia, that operation will now run for many days yet.

On Wednesday, a stream of military planes took off from the airfield as evacuees lined up on the tarmac, AP reports:

The desperate remained outside, some standing knee-deep in sewage and waving identity documents at Western soldiers in hopes of being allowed to go beyond the barbed wire fencing and onto a flight out.

While the final withdrawal date just under a week away, analyst Patricia Lewis said the practical deadline for the evacuations to stop was ‘the next couple of days.’

‘There’s a huge amount of stuff that has to be done, including getting all the people out who are doing the job and all the equipment,’ said Lewis, who is the director of the international security program at Chatham House, an international think tank.

‘All of the allies are highly dependent on the US for military cover, particularly air cover,’ Lewis said.

‘They can’t put their own people at risk, so it really depends on when the US starts packing up.’

Australian journalist Sally Sara:

US joins UK and Australia in warning against travel to Kabul airport

The US has warned people against travelling to the airport, citing “security threats outside the gates”.

The US warning adds that US citizens who are currently at the Abbey, East or North gates “should leave immediately”.

This advice follows similar warnings from the UK and Australian governments within the last few hours.

The UK and Australian warnings cite “ongoing and high” threats of terrorist attacks, however.

The US warning also asks that Americans currently outside the airport leave.

Updated

Here is more on evacuations winding up.

Poland, Czech Republic and Belgium have each ended their evacuations from Afghanistan, but other European nations vowed Wednesday to press on for as long as possible.

What is possible, however, depends largely on the US.

European nations, including American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pressed for a longer window to continue evacuations. However, Biden has stuck to the August date, even after an emergency online summit of the Group of Seven nations.

That left European nations with no choice but to abide by the deadline.

“That the overall deployment literally stands and falls with the stance of the militarily strongest member of the alliance, the US, was always clear to us,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday.

“We will continue the evacuation operation for as long as possible,” she added, without specifying when operations would end.

For now, the US military coordinates all air traffic in and out of the Kabul airport. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted that “people with legal documents” will be able to fly out of Kabul airport via commercial flights after the August deadline.

US advises against travel to airport citing 'security threats'

The US Embassy in Afghanistan has warned people against travelling to the airport, citing “security threats outside the gates”.

The warning adds that US citizens who are currently at the Abbey, East or North gates “should leave immediately”.

Updated

As many as 1,500 Americans remain in Afghanistan, Blinken says

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the state department believes there were roughly 6,000 Americans in Afghanistan on 14 August, before the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Since then, about 4,500 Americans had been evacuated, and another 500 US citizens were in contact with the state department about leaving the country.

That leaves about 1,000 Americans who may still be in Afghanistan and are not in contact with the US government. Blinken said the state department is “aggressively” reaching out to those people multiple times a day and in multiple different ways.

The secretary of state noted these numbers were “dynamic calculations” that were being refined hour by hour, as more evacuation flights leave Kabul.

Australia warns citizens against travelling to Kabul airport

Australia has joined the UK in warning citizens against travelling to Kabul airport, citing dangerous conditions there. The latest update to Australia’s travel advice, posted today, says:

The situation in Afghanistan remains highly volatile and dangerous.

Be aware of the potential for violence and security threats with large crowds. There’s an ongoing and very high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you’re in the area of the airport, move to a safe location and await further advice.”

Updated

Allied forces begin winding up evacuations

US allies who were part of the coalition in Afghanistan have been winding up their evacuations, the Guardian’s Julian Borger and Peter Beaumont report:

On Wednesday, Turkey said it would start withdrawing the last few hundred soldiers it has posted at the airport. According to Reuters news agency, the Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help in running the airport after the departure of foreign forces, but has said the country cannot have any military presence.

Poland ended its involvement in airlift evacuations from Afghanistan amid growing signs the brief and chaotic air bridge that has rescued tens of thousands of people may rapidly be coming to an end.

With the US and the Taliban insisting that the deadline for withdrawal of foreign forces remains 31 August – less than a week away – Marcin Przydacz, a Polish deputy minister, said a group it had evacuated to Uzbekistan on Wednesday would be the last.

The Polish announcement follows increasing indications that the evacuation efforts may be rapidly winding down. The UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, said on Wednesday it was clear the troops would be withdrawn by the end of the month, but that it was unclear how many people would be left behind in Afghanistan once that happened.

France’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, indicated it was “very probable” that its operations to evacuate its citizens and partners from Afghanistan would end on Thursday.

There was also speculation in the German media that Berlin’s involvement in the airlift could end as early as Thursday, as the German military said the airlifts were now entering “the most demanding and dangerous hours”.

Hungary’s evacuation efforts were also nearing an end after it airlifted just over 500 people from Kabul, said the foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó. “The exact timing will be announced by the commander of the army, which may happen as soon as today,” Szijjártó told a news conference, adding that most evacuees were Afghan nationals who had supported a Hungarian charity or Hungarian troops there.

UK Foreign Office warns of “ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack”

The UK foreign office has updated its travel advice for Afghanistan, warning against all travel to the country. “The security situation in Afghanistan remains volatile,” it warns.

The foreign office also warned against travelling to Kabul airport:

There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack. Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice.”

Summary

Hello, my name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from Afghanistan, where it has just gone past 3am on Thursday, 26 August.

Here is the key news from the last few hours:

  • As many as 1,500 Americans remain in Afghanistan, according to Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state. The US state department believes there were roughly 6,000 Americans in Afghanistan on 14 August, before the Taliban took control of Kabul.
  • The UK foreign office has updated its travel advice for Afghanistan, warning of an “ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack: and advising against all travel to the country.
  • More than 10,000 people at Kabul airport are waiting to be evacuated according to Pentagon estimates.
  • The Taliban have agreed to let Afghans leave Afghanistan after the US withdrawal deadline of 31 August, the German military have confirmed.
  • The Turkish military has begun evacuating from Afghanistan, reports Anadolu Agency, a Turkish state-run news agency.
  • A group of 200 workers who guarded World Bank projects in Afghanistan for the last 10 years until they lost their jobs last week have sent a desperate plea to the British government to rescue them urgently.
  • The Taliban threatened and physically abused United Nations staff, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.
  • British nationals of Afghan origin are being overlooked in the evacuation from Kabul, lawyers and campaigners have claimed
  • Two thousand Afghan interpreters and others who worked for the British government are still to be airlifted out of Kabul by the RAF, defence sources said as the emergency evacuation reaches its final stages.
  • The US military airlift will continue until the final hours of the 31 August deadline, set by President Joe Biden, Pentagon officials said earlier today.
  • The Chinese and Russian leaders, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, have vowed to counter “threats of terrorism” emerging from Afghanistan in a phone call.
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