That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Here is our latest story on recent developments:
Updated
Women will be offered a role in the new Afghan administration, says Taliban official
Reuters is reporting that, according to an unnamed Taliban official, women will be consulted and offered role in the new Afghan administration, as will some people from former regimes.
Consultative meetings between Taliban leaders and the former Afghan government leaders are continuing, according to the official.
12 people killed in and around Kabul airport since Sunday
A total of 12 people have been killed in and around Kabul airport since Sunday when Taliban entered afghan capital, according to NATO and Taliban officials, Reuters is reporting.
The Taliban official attributed the deaths to either by gun shots or stampede.
The Taliban are urging people to leave the airport and go home if they don’t have legal right to travel.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- Joe Biden has said he could not see a way to withdraw from Afghanistan without “chaos ensuing”. In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, and the president’s first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw troops when he did.
- Biden also said troops may stay in Afghanistan past 31 August to evacuate all Americans. Pressed repeatedly in that ABC interview on how the administration would help Americans left in the nation after 31 August, Biden said, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay till we get them all out.”
- Taliban official rules out democracy in Afghanistan. Waheedullah Hashimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban, told Reuters that the country was likely to be governed by a ruling Taliban council, and that any semblance of democracy has already been ruled out.“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” Hashimi said in an interview with Reuters. “We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it.”
- There were further reports of chaos at Kabul airport. ABC senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell reported that there was “more chaos than ever before” at Kabul airport in the early hours on Thursday morning. He reported that on the civilian side, the Taliban was “wild and dangerously firing and beating civilians.”
- The acting president of Afghanistan, the country’s first vice president Amrullah Saleh, has tweeted expressing his support for Afghans protesting the Taliban by raising the national flag.
- UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab has spoken with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken for a second time this week. “Spoke to @SecBlinken again this evening to discuss continued UK & US efforts to co-ordinate our response to the situation in Afghanistan, including bringing the international community together on an international strategy,” Raab tweeted.
- The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has thanked the UK for helping to get Australian citizens and Afghan visa holders out of Kabul overnight. Morrison said that on Royal Air Force flight out of Kabul last night, “76 people were evacuated including Australian citizens and Afghan visa holders” and transferred to a military base in the United Arab Emirates.
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The US Federal Aviation Administration has approved domestic airlines and civilian pilots flying into Kabul to conduct evacuation or relief flights, as long as they have permission from the US Department of Defense.
- People who worked with New York Times have made it to safety with their families. In an all-staff note, the paper’s managing editor for international said, “We must help all of these families make the transition to new lives abroad... for now, even if just for a beat or two, we can all breathe a bit easier, knowing that 65 families – 128 men, women and children – are headed to freedom.
- Ousted Afghan president Ashraf Ghani confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates but said he was in “consultation” to return to Afghanistan.
- Taliban militants attacked protesters in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday after they dared to take down their banner and replace it with the country’s flag, killing at least one person and fuelling fears about how the insurgents plan to govern.
- A senior Taliban commander met a former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, for talks on Wednesday, as the Taliban worked to establish a government in Afghanistan amid allegations of women and children being beaten and at least three protesters being shot dead.
Refugee charities have questioned how the British government’s announcement of “one of the most generous” resettlement schemes in British history will work alongside proposed changes to the UK’s asylum system, designed to criminalise refugees who travel to Britain independently by boat or lorry.
The United Nations high commissioner for refugees welcomed the announcement of a scheme that aims to resettle 5,000 people from Afghanistan within the next year and 20,000 in the longer term. But staff stressed that demand for resettlement schemes invariably falls short of allocated places, and said the government should not punish Afghan refugees who make their own way to the UK to claim asylum:
Australian PM thanks UK for help getting Australian citizens out of Kabul overnight
The Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, has thanked the UK for helping to get Australian citizens and Afghan visa holders out of Kabul overnight.
Morrison said that on Royal Air Force flight out of Kabul last night, “76 people were evacuated including Australian citizens and Afghan visa holders” and transferred to a military base in the United Arab Emirates.
Morrison indicated Australian Defence Force-run evacuation flights - the first of which occurred yesterday with only 26 passengers - would ramp up this week.
“We expect to continue them now throughout the course of this week and into next week, but we are moving urgently, safely, because we are taking nothing for granted.
The weather is closing in it, which will present challenges over the next few days, but equally the situation can always turn, and so we are moving as quickly as we can. “
Communities are coming together to provide clothes and toys for Afghans arriving in the UK.
Little Cherubs, a children’s clothes bank in Chapel-en-le-Frith in the Peak District, said it had been asked to provide clothes for 64 Afghan children who would be staying in a hotel in Congleton in Cheshire.
Cheshire East council confirmed it had agreed to temporarily accommodate a number of individuals and families who worked as “locally employed staff” to support British forces in Afghanistan – and was committed to provide longer-term accommodation for five families:
Journalist Ali Latifi, who is in Kabul:
Came to Kartei Sakhi for the Ashora commemorations, people said they feel safe being here but other years at this time there would be hundreds of people here a the shrine يا حسين pic.twitter.com/UqTN6Y7m1y
— Ali M Latifi (@alibomaye) August 19, 2021
Acting president Saleh expresses support for Afghans protesting Taliban
The acting president of Afghanistan, the country’s first vice president Amrullah Saleh, has tweeted expressing his support for Afghans protesting the Taliban by raising the national flag.
Saleh said on Tuesday he was in Afghanistan and the “legitimate caretaker president” after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
“I express my respect, support and appreciation for the courageous and patriotic movement of the honourable people of my country in different places for raising the national flag against the Taliban proxy group. A number were honourably martyred in this way Salute those who carry the national flag & thus stand for dignity of the nation & the country,” he wrote.
The Australian government is now advising citizens, permanent residents & Australian visa-holders in Kabul to travel to the airport if they are able to do so:
Australian citizens, permanent residents & Australian visa-holders should now travel to #Kabul Hamid Karzai International Airport, if you are able to do so safely, to wait for a planned evacuation flight. Read more: https://t.co/ZyYShzbZ6u pic.twitter.com/ElVPKgKhzq
— Smartraveller (@Smartraveller) August 19, 2021
In case you missed this: on Wednesday Afghan president Ashram Ghani, who fled the country of Sunday as Taliban troops entered Kabul, made his first appearance since it emerged he had been granted entry into the United Arab Emirates on “humanitarian grounds”.
Ghani, speaking in a video posted on Facebook, said he supported talks between the Taliban and former government officials, led by former president Hamid Karzai. He said he was “in talks” to return to Afghanistan and that he was making efforts to “safeguard the rule of Afghans over our country”.
Looking pale and gaunt, Ghani denied he had betrayed Afghans by fleeing and said the Taliban had entered Kabul, despite an agreement they would not.
“Do not believe whoever tells you that your president sold you out and fled for his own advantage and to save his own life,” said Ghani. “These accusations are baseless.”
He also denied reports he had taken money with him when he fled. “I was expelled from Afghanistan in such a way that I didn’t even get the chance to take my slippers off my feet and pull on my boots,” said Ghani.
It is 9am in Kabul, and Shia Afghans preparing for Ashura, a day of mourning.
Ashura falls on the 10th day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar, when Shiites mark the death of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of Karbala in present-day Iraq in the 7th century.
As New York Times magazine contributor Matthieu Aikins explains:
Good morning, it's the holy day of Ashura in Kabul. Today, Shias mourn the death of Husayn ibn Ali at the Battle of Karbala. In the past, these events have been bombed by sectarian groups like ISIS, but two days ago Taliban leaders attended a Shia ceremony and pledged cooperation
— Matthieu Aikins (@mattaikins) August 19, 2021
This is a photo of Ashura commemorations in 2019 in the city:
FAA approves domestic airlines, civilian pilots flying to Kabul – report
The BBC reports that the US Federal Aviation Administration has approved domestic airlines and civilian pilots flying into Kabul to conduct evacuation or relief flights, as long as they have permission from the US Department of Defense.
“Currently, they are prohibited from flying through Afghanistan airspace or into Kabul airport without permission,” the BBC reports.
“It’s not clear, however, when the US will seek to use its domestic carriers for evacuation efforts.”
The Biden administration “showed little public urgency to expedite visas for Afghans in the months before and immediately after Biden’s announcement in April that the United States would pull US forces out,” the Washington Post reports.
“White House officials said bureaucratic backlogs and delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic slowed the process but that it ramped up dramatically as summer approached.”
The paper quotes Republican Rep. Peter Meijer saying that, when it came to the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program, “At every point that had an excuse thrown up, we went and fixed that excuse.”
So at the end of the day I can’t help but come to the conclusion that they just didn’t want to deal with this issue and put up every roadblock possible.
They were worried about the optics because they lost control of the southern border.”
Meijer accused the administration of “leaving our Afghan friends out to hang in the wind.”
Thousands were outside the airport in Kabul as the U.S. continued its evacuation efforts and the Taliban patrolled the surrounding streets, only allowing foreigners through and firing warning shots.
— ABC News (@ABC) August 19, 2021
@IanPannell reports. https://t.co/89xEOgrW0Q pic.twitter.com/W3H81PiRDW
Australian governor general David Hurley has released a statement urging veterans not to “let current events diminish the personal effort and contribution you made to this war”.
“At this time it is important to say to you: be proud of your service. You must not, cannot, let current events diminish the personal effort and contribution you made to this war,” he said.
“You did as your nation asked. You served diligently in very difficult circumstances. Be confident and assured that your efforts are valued and respected here at home.
Australian GP Mariam Tokhi has written an opinion piece about the way trauma from Afghanistan has impacted generations of her family.
I had both anticipated and dreaded a visit to Kabul my entire childhood. I understood it was too dangerous: Afghanistan wasn’t a place you could just visit. As a small child, unable to sleep on a school night, I snuck out of bed and stealthily crept into the living room where my parents were watching television. The little Toshiba-branded box was lit up with images of children among the brown rubble of an Afghan village, a 60 Minutes documentary about landmines. ‘Go back to bed, baby,’ my mother murmured. I ignored her and climbed into the comfort of her lap. In Afghanistan, I learned that night, the Russians used brightly coloured bombs disguised as plastic toys to target little children like me.
..
My parents lived between two worlds, always sending money to their families, always worrying about their health, safety, security. There is guilt and responsibility in survival and escape.
Still, I live in the shadow of emigration, of war, of displacement. Somehow I have inherited its sorrow. Embedded in my consciousness is the knowledge that the world is on fire with injustice. Luck, not merit, is our defining force. That all this precious freedom we have been gifted is precarious, and we must not waste it. Or maybe it is inevitable that we waste it – waste it beautifully and frivolously and consciously – but we must not throw it away.
Here is the full story on US President Joe Biden saying American troops could stay in Afghanistan past the 31 August deadline to ensure that US citizens are evacuated:
People who worked with New York Times have made it to safety with their families
New York Times media reporter Katie Robertson reports that people who worked with the New York Times in Afghanistan have “made it to safety” with their families.
In an all-staff note, the paper’s managing editor for international said, “We must help all of these families make the transition to new lives abroad... for now, even if just for a beat or two, we can all breathe a bit easier, knowing that 65 families – 128 men, women and children – are headed to freedom.
Here’s the note from NYT’s @meslackman to staff tonight on our colleagues from Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/u7dHr8PNTG
— Katie Robertson (@katie_robertson) August 19, 2021
More now on the Taliban parading US-bought arms.
White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday, “Obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us.”
Republicans seized on the admission to pounce on Biden, AFP reports.
“Thanks to Biden’s botched withdrawal, the Taliban is better equipped today than they ever have been,” said Republican national chair Ronna McDaniel.
According to official figures, the US military supplied the Afghan army with more than 7,000 machine guns, 4,700 Humvees and 20,000 grenades in recent years. The Afghans have also received artillery and reconnaissance drones from Washington, as well as more than 200 aircraft, both fixed-wing and helicopters.
Their continued operation depended heavily on US technical support and parts, however.
According to photographs published Wednesday by Janes, the defense specialists, some 40 Afghan military aircraft were flown into Uzbekistan over the past week to escape the Taliban advance, including five UH-60 Black Hawk and 16 Russia Mi-17 helicopters and 10 A-29 Super Tucano attack airplanes.
In its 16-month drawdown, the Pentagon removed huge amounts of its own equipment from Afghanistan, and handed some of it to the Afghan army. But hardware supplied to the Afghan forces that is now in Taliban hands has raised concerns. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday that the department is looking at the issue.
Updated
Videos of Taliban fighters parading in US-made armored vehicles, wielding US-supplied firearms and climbing on American Black Hawk helicopters after the defeat of Afghan government forces have embarrassed the White House, AFP reports.
The Islamist insurgents, who easily captured control of the country after a months-long campaign, seized huge amounts of weaponry, equipment and munitions from the Afghan armed forces, most of it supplied over the past two decades by Washington.
Social media showed Taliban fighters carrying M4 and M18 assault rifles and M24 sniper weapons, driving around in the iconic US Humvees and, in one video, apparently wearing US-style special forces tactical uniforms.
The images are underpinning a political attack on President Joe Biden for alleged mishandling of the US withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war.
Most of the equipment has been seized from the Afghan forces who, despite two decades of training and tens of billions of dollars from the United States, conceded the capital Kabul at the weekend without a fight.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone. But certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,” said White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch is has appealed to the Australian government to “urgently help protect Afghan civilians who are at heightened risk under the new Taliban authorities”.
“The government should also increase assistance for refugees and civil society groups, and support resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council for human rights fact-finding and reporting in Afghanistan,” the organisation says.
On Wednesday, Australia’s first evacuation mission to Afghanistan rescued just 26 people.
Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said he hopes those numbers will ramp up with further flights in coming days. Morrison also signalled his government intended to resettle about 3,000 Afghan nationals through the existing humanitarian program this year:
Yesterday a a former Afghan interpreter for the Australian military was shot in the leg as he tried to pass a Taliban checkpoint outside Kabul airport, in an attempt to board an Australian evacuation mission out of Afghanistan:
Ahmad Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front, has written an opinion piece in the Washington Post calling for help for the mujahideen resistance:
I write from the Panjshir Valley today, ready to follow in my father’s footsteps, with mujahideen fighters who are prepared to once again take on the Taliban. We have stores of ammunition and arms that we have patiently collected since my father’s time, because we knew this day might come.
We also have the weapons carried by the Afghans who, over the past 72 hours, have responded to my appeal to join the resistance in Panjshir. We have soldiers from the Afghan regular army who were disgusted by the surrender of their commanders and are now making their way to the hills of Panjshir with their equipment. Former members of the Afghan Special Forces have also joined our struggle.
But that is not enough. If Taliban warlords launch an assault, they will of course face staunch resistance from us. The flag of the National Resistance Front will fly over every position that they attempt to take, as the National United Front flag flew 20 years ago. Yet we know that our military forces and logistics will not be sufficient. They will be rapidly depleted unless our friends in the West can find a way to supply us without delay.
The United States and its allies have left the battlefield, but America can still be a “great arsenal of democracy,” as Franklin D. Roosevelt said when coming to the aid of the beleaguered British before the U.S. entry into World War II.
To that end, I entreat Afghanistan’s friends in the West to intercede for us in Washington and in New York, with Congress and with the Biden administration. Intercede for us in London, where I completed my studies, and in Paris, where my father’s memory was honored this spring by the naming of a pathway for him in the Champs-Élysées gardens.
In hiding with his family in Kabul, Nowroz Ali says he is consumed by fear. He can hear gunfire in the darkness. He cannot sleep, getting up every time he hears a door slam.
“At night time, I am shivering. I can’t control myself. The more days I spend here, the more worried I get – the Taliban have started looking for people who worked with coalition forces.”
Ali is one of at least 37 Afghans who assisted New Zealand forces and now believe they could face torture or death if found by the Taliban. This week, the New Zealand government committed to evacuating Afghans who worked for New Zealand forces, and a C-130 defence plane left on Thursday morning to assist.
But the mission faces huge logistical difficulties; scenes of chaos at Kabul’s airport, and prospective evacuees dispersed in hiding. Joe Biden said on Thursday that US troops may stay beyond 31 August to assist with evacuations, but Britain has concerns that US forces may pull out of Kabul international airport within days, putting it at risk of closure and raising concerns about airlifts:
Reuters has compiles several graphics showing the challenges faced by people in Kabul trying to reach the airport and get flights.
Those alarming videos we posted earlier were taken on the civilian side of the airport, shown below:
You can find the graphics and article here.
Who is to blame for the Afghan military collapse? I ask NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg whether @NATO bears any of the blame #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/67dtaH7jqG
— Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) August 18, 2021
US secretary of state Anthony Blinken also says the Biden administration and international partners are calling “on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee the protection of women and girls and their rights.”
Together with our international partners, we call on those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan to guarantee the protection of women and girls and their rights. We will monitor closely how any future government ensures their rights and freedoms.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 19, 2021
UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab has spoken with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken
UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab has spoken with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken for a second time this week.
“Spoke to @SecBlinken again this evening to discuss continued UK & US efforts to co-ordinate our response to the situation in Afghanistan, including bringing the international community together on an international strategy,” he tweeted.
“I am also working closely with US Aid Administrator @SamanthaJPower on the humanitarian response to ensure aid reaches the most vulnerable.”
Raab dismissed criticism from Labour leader Keir Starmer of his handling of the situation in Afghanistan on Wednesday, saying the Labour leader has no “credible” alternatives to the government’s approach.
The foreign secretary told the House of Commons:
The leader of the Labour Party made clear his support for the decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, I think that is clear. He listed a range of things he wants the government to do, quite rightly, including supporting the UN efforts, taking action in the UN Security Council, support through Nato, support for ordinary Afghans and not allowing money aid to go to the Taliban. We are doing all of those things, and rightly so.
The right honourable gentleman did not give a single example of an action he would have taken that we have not – not one. But then issued a series of searing criticisms. The shadow foreign secretary took a similar approach in her speech.
The leader of the Labour Party agreed the decision to withdraw, but now, with his predictable proclivity for hindsight, the right honourable gentleman criticises the consequences of a decision that he backed. He does so with no serious or credible alternative of his own, not even a hint, a reminder of Shakespeare’s adage, the empty vessel makes the greatest sound.
Blinken said of their conversation on Wednesday, “I discussed diplomatic efforts to help ensure the safety and security of all Afghan and international citizens with @DominicRaab and reiterated U.S. support for the upcoming virtual G7 leaders meeting.”
Updated
On Wednesday in Jalalabad, 150km (90 miles) east of Kabul, at least three people were killed in anti-Taliban protests, witnesses said. The protests provided an early test of the Taliban’s promise of peaceful rule.
Two witnesses and a former police official told Reuters that Taliban fighters opened fire when residents tried to install Afghanistan’s national flag at a square in the city, killing three and injuring more than a dozen.
Taliban spokespeople could not be reached for comment.
Here is a video from the protests, via Reuters:
At least three people were killed and more than a dozen were injured in anti-Taliban protests in the Afghan city of Jalalabad, as the Islamist militants moved to consolidate power and Western countries stepped up evacuations of diplomats and civilians https://t.co/tCfcemXeDb pic.twitter.com/XPufkYbG2s
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 18, 2021
The facade of a beauty saloon with images of women is defaced with spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul, Afghanistan.
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 19, 2021
UK warns Taliban will be judged on its "actions rather than by its words" : https://t.co/BIdWtMRtb5 pic.twitter.com/viXfxuGcjp
About 100,000 Afghans are seeking evacuation through a US visa program meant to provide refuge to Afghans who had worked with Americans, as well as family members, says Rebecca Heller, head of the US-based International Refugee Assistance Program. Her organisation is among those pressing the United States to urgently step up visa processing.
Heller says an Afghan client told her of five Afghan translators killed by the Taliban in the past two days for their past work with Americans.
Heller played an appeal that she said a female Afghan client had recorded. The woman, whose name The Associated Press is withholding for her safety, has been waiting for three years for US action on her visa application.
“The only hope in this moment I have is the US government,” the Afghan woman said.
“Please, US government ... please stop promising. Please, start taking action. As immediately as you can.”
The Pentagon said senior US military officers, including Navy Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, are talking to Taliban commanders about Taliban checkpoints and curfews that have limited the number of Americans and Afghans able to enter the airport.
The US government sent emails in recent days telling some American citizens, green card holders and their families, and others to come to the airport, and to be prepared to wait.
Updated
The father of Mike Spann, the first American killed in the war in Afghanistan, has said he is disgusted by images of America’s chaotic withdrawal Monday showing people desperate to escape the Taliban takeover clinging to the side of a departing US military jet.
“It makes me sick to my stomach when I see it. It’s disheartening. It’s shameful, I think. I think it’s shameful that we would do this,” Johnny Spann told AP.
The scenes of people plunging to their deaths from the plane reminded him of the Americans who jumped from the towers of the World Trade Center, he said.
Spann said he is not opposed to Americans leaving Afghanistan but disagrees with the timing and how it was done. With the Taliban takeover, his mind goes immediately to the Afghans who helped his son and other Americans.
“They are going to die. They are going to kill them. And how can someone stomach that when we know we made them promises? There is no telling how many people we would have lost if those people hadn’t helped us,” he said.
Congressional oversight of the war in Afghanistan, by the numbers: https://t.co/REjt37zQ2q pic.twitter.com/F4t8tY8ivW
— Robbie Gramer (@RobbieGramer) August 18, 2021
A leading animal welfare activist campaigning to get a British veteran out of Afghanistan has urged the UK and US governments to “get a grip” on the “anarchy” still unfolding at Kabul airport, PA media reports.
Dominic Dyer set up Rescue the Animal Rescuers campaign, which is pressuring the Prime Minister to evacuate ex-marine Paul Farthing, known as Pen, along with the Afghan staff at his animal sanctuary, Nowzad, who he has said he will not leave without.
Farthing shared a worrying video from the airport a few hours ago, showing gunshots being fired:
NOW on the way to the entrance to #kabul airport.. humanitarian disaster @BorisJohnson @DominicRaab @ZacGoldsmith @POTUS @JoeBiden @cnnbrk @FoxNews @USEmbassyKabul @10DowningStreet @SkyNews @TheSun @BWallaceMP @SecDef @tariqahmadbt @nadams You MUST get a grip of this. NOW pic.twitter.com/KMQcPnrYQz
— Pen Farthing (@PenFarthing) August 18, 2021
Farthing also tried to organise his wife’s escape via Kabul airport on Tuesday, but said she became “crushed” in the uncontrolled crowd.
Mr Dyer told PA he had been in touch with Farthing and the airport was still “utter chaos”.
Speaking late on Wednesday night, he said: “It’s still utter chaos... it looks even worse to be honest in terms of what’s going on there tonight.
“Gunshots are being fired and people are going in all directions, it’s just absolute chaos.
“I don’t know why it is that Washington and London can’t get a grip on it.
“Tomorrow I think there’s going to be a whole mounting crisis because it’s clear that that airport is just complete anarchy.”
Taliban official rules out democracy in Afghanistan
Waheedullah Hashimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban, told Reuters that the country was likely to be governed by a ruling Taliban council, while the Islamist militant movement’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, was expected to remain in overall charge, in a role akin to the president.
The power structure that Hashimi outlined would bear similarities to how Afghanistan was run the last time the Taliban were in power from 1996 to 2001. Then, supreme leader Mullah Omar remained in the shadows and left the day-to-day running of the country to a council.
Taliban leadership will meet later this week to discuss and set out the system of governance, but any semblance of democracy has already been ruled out.
“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” Hashimi said in an interview with Reuters. “We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it.”
Hashimi said Taliban would also ask former pilots and soldiers from the Afghan armed forces to join its ranks. He did not allay fears that this Taliban regime would be as repressive towards women as it was last time they were in power.
“Our ulema [scholars] will decide whether girls are allowed to go to school or not,” he said. “They will decide whether they should wear hijab, burqa, or only [a] veil plus abaya or something, or not. That is up to them.”
Up to 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban took full control of the nation last weekend, AP reports.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said earlier Wednesday that the US military does not have the forces and firepower in Afghanistan to expand its current mission from securing the Kabul airport to collecting Americans and at-risk Afghans elsewhere in the capital and escorting them for evacuation.
The question of whether those seeking to leave the country before Biden’s deadline should be rescued and brought to the airport has arisen amid reports that Taliban checkpoints have stopped some designated evacuees.
“I don’t have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul,” Austin said. “And where do you take that? How far do you extend into Kabul, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?”
'More chaos than ever before' at Kabul airport - report
ABC senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell is reporting that there is “more chaos than ever before” at Kabul airport at the moment.
It is currently just before 4am in Afghanistan.
He reports that on the civilian side, the Taliban is “wild and dangerously firing and beating civilians.”
Pannell has posted this video, which we have not verified independently:
Kabul Airport pic.twitter.com/OTJwQITLvu
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) August 18, 2021
Biden – US troops may stay longer than 31 August to evacuate Americans
US President Joe Biden has just said that troops may stay in the country beyond 31 August to evacuate all Americans, AP reports.Biden said Wednesday that he is committed to keeping US troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his 31 August deadline for withdrawal.
He also pushed back against criticism that the U.S. should have done more to plan for the evacuation and withdrawal, which has been marked by scenes of violence and chaos as thousands attempted to flee while the Taliban advanced.
In an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, Biden said the US will do “everything in our power” to evacuate Americans and US allies from Afghanistan before the deadline.Pressed repeatedly on how the administration would help Americans left in the nation after 31 August, Biden said, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay till we get them all out.”
Summary
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from Afghanistan as evacuations continue from Kabul as the Taliban establish rule in the city. You can get in touch with me here.
US President Joe Biden has just said that troops may stay in the country beyond 31 August to evacuate all Americans.
Biden said Wednesday that he is committed to keeping US troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his 31 August deadline for withdrawal.
Pressed repeatedly on how the administration would help Americans left in the nation after 31 August said, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay till we get them all out.”
Meanwhile Waheedullah Hashimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban, has ruled out democracy in Afghanistan.
“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” Hashimi said in an interview with Reuters. “We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is sharia law and that is it.”
We’ll have more on what this means shortly. In the meantime here are the other key developments from the last few hours:
- Joe Biden has said he could not see a way to withdraw from Afghanistan without “chaos ensuing”. In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, and the president’s first since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw troops when he did.
- Ousted Afghan president Ashraf Ghani confirmed he was in the United Arab Emirates but said he was in “consultation” to return to Afghanistan.
- Taliban militants attacked protesters in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday after they dared to take down their banner and replace it with the country’s flag, killing at least one person and fuelling fears about how the insurgents plan to govern.
- A senior Taliban commander met a former Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, for talks on Wednesday, as the Taliban worked to establish a government in Afghanistan amid allegations of women and children being beaten and at least three protesters being shot dead.
- The United Nations has started moving staff out of Afghanistan while stressing it is still “committed to staying and delivering in support of the Afghan people in their hour of need”.
- British media organisations have again urged the government to evacuate Afghan journalists and translators who worked with UK media outlets, with many local staff fearing Taliban reprisals.
- Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday told his Russian and Chinese counterparts that Tehran is ready to cooperate with the two countries to establish “stability and peace” in Afghanistan.
- President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday said Turkey was still prepared to protect Kabul airport following the Taliban takeover, and Ankara was talking with all concerned parties.
- Britain fears US forces may pull out of Kabul international airport within days, putting it at risk of closure and raising concerns over the emergency airlift of thousands of people from Afghanistan.
- Both the Trump and Biden administrations were warned by US intelligence that the Afghan army’s resistance to the Taliban could collapse “within days” after an over-hasty withdrawal, according to a former CIA counter-terrorism chief.
- Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are likely to face a rapidly developing financial crisis, with foreign currency reserves largely unreachable and western aid donors – who fund the country’s institutions by about 75% – already cutting off or threatening to cut payments.
Updated
