In a statement to the nation Joe Biden claimed that the US was ready for 'every eventuality' in its planned withdrawal from Afghanistan while taking responsibility for the execution of the abrupt, deadly and chaotic departure from Kabul.
'I was not extending this forever war,' he said.
Continue reading...As guards dismantle barricades at airport, leadership holds talks on how the spoils of power will be shared
The Taliban marked the start of their first day in full control of Afghanistan with celebratory gunfire, minutes after the last US plane of soldiers and their ambassador lifted off from Kabul airport, sealing Washington’s humiliating defeat in its longest war.
Twenty years, tens of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars separated the arrival of the first US troops on Afghan soil after 9/11 and the Taliban’s triumphant restoration in the Afghan capital.
Continue reading...Analysis: Experts are divided over whether events in Afghanistan will significantly increase risk of attacks
In three days in earlier this month Islamist militants killed more than 120 civilians in a series of attacks in the Sahel, a belt of increasingly anarchic and violent territory across Africa, where such groups have gone from strength to strength in recent years. Thousand of miles to the east, fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Shabaab stormed a military base in the centre of Somalia.
None of these attacks received much attention – nor did the recent arrest of IS sympathisers in Australia, the attempted murder of a moderate politician in the Maldives or a court case against militants who attacked LGBT activists in Bangladesh.
Continue reading...The 20-year US military presence in Afghanistan is over. The head of US Central Command, Gen Kenneth McKenzie, announced just after midnight Tuesday morning, 31 August, that the last flight out of Kabul was 'now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan'. 'Tonight’s withdrawal signifies both the end of the military component of the evacuation, but also the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after September 11 2001,' he said.
United States secretary of state Antony Blinken said in a speech a few hours later that a 'new chapter' with America's engagement with Afghanistan had begun. 'It’s one in which we will lead with our diplomacy. The military mission is over,' he said.
After 20 years, last US flight departs Kabul, leaving Afghanistan to its fate
Continue reading...Celebratory shots rang out in Kabul as the United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power. Footage from inside the city in the early hours of Tuesday morning showed loud gunfire ringing out, lighting up the skyline as Taliban fighters fired into the sky to mark the end of two decades of US military presence. Video released by the Taliban shows Taliban fighters walking through Kabul airport after the US forces had left.
Continue reading...The Pentagon has said it is investigating reports of civilian casualties from a drone strike on Sunday in Kabul, but is 'not in a position to dispute' accounts from the scene of nine people from one family being killed, including seven children.
US military officials continued to insist however that the strike hit an Islamic State car bomb, pointing to 'secondary explosions' at the scene.
That conflicted with reports from Kabul, that the targeted vehicle belonged to a civilian and that children were in it when it was struck by a missile from a US drone.
Initial reports said at least 10 people were killed, nine from the same family, who lived on the street where the attack happened, adding to the bloodshed and chaos of the last days of the 20-year US military presence.
Among the dead were three two-year-olds, two three-year-olds and two 10-year-olds, according to reports from Kabul
Continue reading...Figure dwarfs 800 to 1,100 Afghans eligible for resettlement defence secretary said would be left behind
MPs are scrambling to rescue more than 7,000 constituents and family members trapped in Afghanistan, according to figures provided to the Guardian, dwarfing the only estimates provided by the government of the number left behind.
Scores of Labour MPs have been inundated with pleas for help from thousands of constituents whose relatives have been left stranded since the UK’s final emergency airlift left Kabul following the country’s rapid fall to the Taliban. Among them are children, disabled relatives and people who face persecution due to their work, all with potential eligibility to be resettled in Britain.
Continue reading...Islamic State claims responsibility for attacks in final hours of western evacuation of Afghanistan
US anti-missile defences have intercepted as many as five rockets targeting Kabul airport as key American diplomats flew out of the Aghan capital in the final hours of the western evacuation under the threat of further Islamic State attacks.
Officials told Reuters that core US diplomats had on Monday joined the 122,000 foreign nationals and Afghans to be evacuated since mid-August, although it was not clear whether the acting ambassador, Ross Wilson, was among them.
Continue reading...Analysis: forging an acceptable agreement with new Afghan regime will require careful diplomacy
The history of war is littered with losing parties struggling to accept the terms or even the fact of their defeat. At the end of the first world war, Germany’s then chancellor Philipp Scheidemann announced: “May the hand wither that binds us in such shackles.”
Some of the demands by the US and its allies on how the Taliban must behave now contain similar self-denial. It is as if the US remains in control of Kabul, as orders are issued on future Taliban actions ranging from the release of refugees to the future makeup of the government, its counter-terrorism policies and the place of women in society.
Continue reading...US should work with international community to help Afghanistan run government functions, Wang Yi says
China’s top diplomat has urged the international community to engage with Afghanistan’s new Taliban government and “guide it actively”, in a phone call with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Wang Yi, Chinese state councillor and foreign minister, also said that Washington should work with the international community to help the new regime run governmental functions normally, according to a statement. He added that the US’s “hasty withdrawal” could allow terrorist groups to “regroup and come back stronger”.
Continue reading...Several rockets were fired at Kabul airport on Monday, less than 48 hours before the United States is due to complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Eyewitnesses said the rockets were launched from a car and were aimed towards the airport on Monday morning. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack
Western G7 powers are meeting Turkey, Qatar and Nato in Doha to discuss how Kabul airport could be reopened
Talks are due in Doha and New York to try to reach an international consensus on the conditions for recognising the Taliban government in Afghanistan. There are signs of tensions between superpowers after Russia called on the US to release Afghan central bank reserves that Washington blocked after the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul earlier this month.
“If our western colleagues are actually worried about the fate of the Afghan people, then we must not create additional problems for them by freezing gold and foreign exchange reserves,” said the Kremlin’s envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov.
Continue reading...The White House on Sunday reasserted its promise to capture or kill the perpetrators of the deadly attacks on Kabul airport, as Joe Biden travelled to Delaware for the repatriation of the bodies of the 13 US troops who died.
Related: Pentagon names troops killed in Kabul – some were babies at time of invasion
Continue reading...A dedicated crew of people helped the women’s national football team and others to flee the Taliban over two remarkable weeks
“We have been working like fingers on one hand, with different roles, and we came together as a big strong punch,” says the former captain and one of the founders of the Afghanistan women’s national football team, Khalida Popal. She is talking about the small team that pulled off the mission to evacuate 100-200 Afghan athletes and a number of individuals connected to them from the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.
Across a two-week period those fingers worked tirelessly around the clock and across numerous time zones, tracking the real-time movements of the Taliban and military personnel on the ground to pull off what seemed completely impossible: to get a group of female football players, many teenagers, and a host of others, including family members, into the airport and on to planes.
Continue reading...US forces have launched a 'defensive' military strike in Kabul against a vehicle carrying 'multiple suicide bombers' from the Islamic State’s local affiliate in Afghanistan who were aiming to attack the airport, American officials have said.
There was no immediate word on casualties and few other details have so far emerged about the incident, which may have triggered a second blast in a nearby house.
Witnesses reported an explosion near Kabul airport and television footage showed black smoke rising into the sky. Taliban officials confirmed the US account. According to some reports, a child died in the second blast
Speaking on Saturday afternoon, Biden vows further strikes against Islamic State as airport terror threat ‘remains high’; largest UK evacuation mission since second world war comes to a close
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
If you’re just joining us, here is our main story with all the key developments:
The US remains on high alert for another possible terror attack at Kabul airport and has warned citizens to “immediately” leave the area, as military forces moved into the final stage of evacuations from Afghanistan and the Taliban signalled its readiness to take over.
Related: US warns of fresh threats at Kabul airport as evacuations enter final phase
Continue reading...The chaotic evacuation has dented the president’s image of empathy and competence but political attacks may have limited shelf life
For Republicans it was a day of thoughts and prayers – and political opportunity.
Related: Kabul airport atrocity offers a glimpse of the chaos to come in Afghanistan
Continue reading...Ex-marine Pen Farthing said to have left expletive-laden message for defence secretary’s adviser as he sought to fly out staff and pets
A former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Kabul left an expletive-laden message for a government aide as he sought to place his staff and pets on a flight out of Afghanistan, according to reports.
The Times newspaper said it had obtained a leaked audio recording of Paul “Pen” Farthing berating Peter Quentin, a special adviser to the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, who he accused of “blocking” efforts to arrange a flight.
Continue reading...The British ambassador to Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, said it was 'time to close this phase' of the evacuation effort, after the final UK flight for Afghan nationals left Kabul airport. About 14,000 people have been airlifted out of the country by British forces in less than two weeks
Continue reading...Several of the 13 American military personnel killed in the suicide bombing at Kabul airport on Thursday were not even a year old when the US invaded Afghanistan in late 2001.
Related: Afghanistan drone strike targeted Islamic State ‘planner’ in car, US says
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