Desperate crowds gather at the airport as people try to escape after the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban on Sunday
Continue reading...Category Archives: Afghanistan
‘Some won’t get back’: UK defence secretary chokes up over Afghanistan – video
The UK defence secretary has admitted 'some people will not get back' as Britain tries to evacuate Afghan allies from Kabul, along with its own citizens, with British forces aiming to repatriate more than 1,000 people a day. Ben Wallace appeared to hold back tears as he spoke to LBC radio about the effort to repatriate Britons and process visas for Afghan interpreters and other staff following the Taliban takeover
- Some Afghan allies will be left behind, UK defence secretary concedes
- Afghanistan live news: desperate crowds at Kabul airport
Kabul falls to the Taliban as thousands of Afghans try to flee – video report
The Taliban has declared that Afghanistan is under their control after they took over the presidential palace just hours after president Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The Islamist militants encountered no resistance as they took back power two decades after they were overthrown by a US-led invasion. Chaotic scenes erupted at Hamid Karzai International Airport with thousands flooding the tarmac desperate the get a flight out of the country.
- Afghanistan live news: desperate crowds converge on Kabul airport as Taliban declare ‘war is over’
- Taliban declares ‘war is over in Afghanistan’ as foreign powers exit Kabul
- The fall of Kabul: a 20-year mission collapses in a single day
New Zealand to deploy troops to aid citizens’ evacuation from Afghanistan
Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand would also attempt to evacuate Afghan nationals who worked with the country
New Zealand is racing to get its remaining citizens out of Afghanistan, and will deploy troops to assist with their evacuation after the Taliban swept to power overnight.
Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that the country would also try to evacuate a number of Afghan nationals and their families who worked with the New Zealand deployments or in-country operations, many of whom are now in hiding and fear they will be targeted by the Taliban.
Continue reading...Afghanistan: western leaders react to Taliban takeover of Kabul – video
Leaders from the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have reacted to the news that the Taliban has begun taking control of Kabul after a 20-year mission to Afghanistan led by western countries. UK prime minister Boris Johnsons said, ‘we don't want anybody bilaterally recognising the Taliban’, while New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern said conversations over how the new regime is treated will be for some time in the future. US secretary of state Antony Blinken blamed ‘the inability of Afghan security forces to defend their country’ for the quick takeover while Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said he was ‘heartbroken’ at the news. Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said that fighting for freedom is ‘always worth it whatever the outcome.’
- The fall of Kabul: a 20-year mission collapses in a single day
- Afghanistan live news: Taliban declare ‘war is over’ as they take control of Kabul
- ‘This is manifestly not Saigon’: Blinken defends US mission in Afghanistan
Chaos at Kabul airport as Taliban seize control of Afghan capital – video
Crowds have packed the tarmac at Kabul airport in a bid to flee the Afghan capital as Taliban insurgents began taking over the city. Insurgents took control of the presidential palace. Al Jazeera showed footage of what it said were Taliban commanders in the palace with dozens of armed fighters. President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan. Many Afghans attempted the flee via road or via the airport.
Continue reading...Taliban’s Abdul Ghani Baradar is undisputed victor of a 20-year war
Return to power of movement’s co-founder embodies Afghanistan’s inability to escape history of conflict
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago, has emerged as an undisputed victor of the 20-year war.
While Haibatullah Akhundzada is the Taliban’s overall leader, Baradar is its political chief and its most public face. He was said to be on his way from his office in Doha to Kabul on Sunday evening. In a televised statement on the fall of Kabul, he said the Taliban’s real test was only just beginning and that they had to serve the nation.
Continue reading...Defeat amid anxious bureaucracy of western evacuation from Afghanistan
Analysis: The speed of the fall of the country to the Taliban leaves many questions unanswered
This is what defeat looks like. Embassy burn bins blazing through day and night. The president fleeing. Helicopters and armoured SUVs shuttling foreigners to the airport, amid the anxious bureaucracy of evacuation with its queues and “go” bags at the airport, the few items that you keep packed for when you have to flee.
The speed of the fall of Afghanistan leaves many questions unanswered, not least whether the devastating humiliation for the Afghan government, its military forces and its western backers was in any way avoidable.
Continue reading...The abandonment of Afghanistan is shameful | Letters
Jane Ghosh thinks we have left behind devastation and despair, Trevor Curnow looks at parallels with Vietnam, while Daniel Peacock expresses concern for a generation of women and girls. Plus letters from Martin Harris and Caroline Willcocks
The history of western interference after the second world war in countries throughout the world has been one of unmitigated failure for which we all bear a share of shame (UK and US send troops to aid evacuation from Afghanistan as Taliban advance, 13 August).
Western powers have invaded countries thousands of miles away in the name of “democracy” and achieved a vacuum of power that has swiftly been filled by the very forces they went to evict. Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. We have left behind devastation and despair while never learning the lessons of each disaster. If people want a one-party state, why does the US and its poodles think it has a duty or right to impose a very flawed system of democracy on other nations? Hubris followed inevitably by nemesis.
Jane Ghosh
Bristol
A tale of two armies: why Afghan forces proved no match for the Taliban
Poorly led and riddled with corruption, the Afghan army was overrun in a matter of weeks
The Taliban have 80,000 troops in comparison with a nominal 300,699 serving the Afghan government, yet the whole country has been effectively overrun in a matter of weeks as military commanders surrendered without a fight in a matter of hours.
It is a tale of two armies, one poorly equipped but highly motivated ideologically, and the other nominally well-equipped, but dependent on Nato support, poorly led and riddled with corruption.
Continue reading...What does the Taliban’s return mean for al-Qaida in Afghanistan?
UK defence secretary is worried that ‘al-Qaida will probably come back’ – but it is already there
As the Taliban prepare to rule Afghanistan after sweeping across the country in less than a week, an obvious question is what does this mean for the future of al-Qaida and other extremist Islamist groups committed to waging a global jihad.
There is no doubt that the astonishing rapidity of the Taliban’s victory will deliver a tremendous boost to Islamist extremists everywhere – whether al-Qaida, Islamic State, fighters in Mozambique or Syria, or jihadi fanboys in bedsits in Birmingham or Manila.
Continue reading...Afghan women’s defiance and despair: ‘I never thought I’d have to wear a burqa. My identity will be lost’
As city after city falls to the Taliban, women fear that the freedoms won since 2001 will be crushed
In a market in Kabul, Aref is doing a booming trade. At first glance, the walls of his shop seem to be curtained in folds of blue fabric. On closer inspection, dozens and dozens of blue burqas hang like spectres from hooks on the wall.
As the Taliban close in on Kabul, women inside the city are getting ready for what may be coming. “Before, most of our customers were from the provinces,” says Aref. “Now it is city women who are buying them.”
Continue reading...Afghanistan: Taliban close in on Kabul as last government stronghold in north falls – live updates
Capital hit by blackout as insurgent fighters reach outskirts and western nations race to evacuate citizens
We’ll have more from Jalalabad shortly. Reuters is reporting that the Taliban’s taking of the city has been confirmed by an official source.
US secretary of state Anthony Blinken has just tweeted that he has had a “wery productive conversation” with Canada’s foreign minister:
Very productive conversation with Canadian Foreign Minister @MarcGarneau about our efforts to reach a diplomatic solution in Afghanistan. I am grateful for Canada’s shared commitment to bring vulnerable Afghans to safety.
Continue reading...Belarus repression and the Taliban advance: human rights this fortnight – in pictures
A round-up of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Thailand to Mexico
Continue reading...Biden in an impossible bind as Afghanistan blame game begins
The president has been condemned by Republicans as the Taliban advance – but the roots of the crisis date back years
The words of political leaders can come back to haunt them. “None whatsoever, zero,” Joe Biden said last month when asked if he saw any parallels between the US withdrawals from Vietnam and Afghanistan.
“The Taliban is not the North Vietnamese army. They’re not remotely comparable in terms of capability. There’s going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of the embassy of the United States from Afghanistan. It is not at all comparable.”
Continue reading...US troops start to arrive for Afghanistan evacuation as Taliban close in on Kabul
Thousands of western nationals and vulnerable Afghans to be airlifted out of Kabul as Taliban launch major assault on northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif
US troops have begun arriving in Afghanistan to help evacuate thousands of people, including embassy staff, and Afghans and their families who worked for them as a sweeping Taliban offensive draws ever nearer to Kabul.
Diplomats and nationals from a host of western countries are scrambling to leave the capital, with insurgent fighters now camped just 50km (30 miles) away after a campaign that has seen provincial capitals swiftly fall.
Continue reading...‘Maestro of humanity’: Italian surgeon Gino Strada dies at 73
Tributes paid to doctor whose NGO set up world-class hospitals in war zones such as Iraq, Yemen and Sudan
Tributes have been paid to Gino Strada, the Italian surgeon and “maestro of humanity” known for setting up world-class hospitals for the victims of war, who has died aged 73.
The medic, who in 1994 co-founded the humanitarian organisation Emergency to provide free, quality healthcare for those injured in conflict, died on Friday in France, reports said.
Continue reading...Seven days that shook Afghanistan: how city after city fell to the Taliban
Rout of government forces beginning in city of Zaranj has left country in chaos and western leaders looking on in dismay
The end for Afghan forces in the south-western provincial capital of Zaranj, a trading hub close to the Iranian border, was announced by a Taliban commander. Except that he framed it as a start, and an ominous one.
“This is the beginning,” he declared in a statement. “See how other provinces fall in our hands very soon.”
Continue reading...Taliban seize four more provincial capitals in Afghanistan
Insurgents’ seemingly unstoppable advance continues as they close in on Kabul
The Taliban’s seemingly unstoppable advance across Afghanistan continued on Friday, as insurgents took control of four more provincial capitals after their seizure on Thursday of Kandahar and Herat, the country’s second and third biggest cities.
With Afghan government forces in disarray, and amid reports that the country’s vice-president has fled, the Taliban are heading inexorably towards Kabul. They control more than two-thirds of the country, just as the US plans to pull out its last remaining troops.
Continue reading...‘Nowhere to go’: divorced Afghan women in peril as the Taliban close in
As horror stories emerge from areas that have fallen to the Islamist militants, women living alone fear they have no route of escape
There’s an old saying in Afghanistan that encapsulates the country’s views on divorce: “A woman only leaves her father’s house in the white bridal clothes, and she can only return in the white shrouds.”
In this deeply conservative and patriarchal society, women who defy convention and seek divorce are often disowned by their families and shunned by Afghan society. Left alone, they have to fight for basic rights, such as renting an apartment, which require the involvement or guarantees of male relatives.
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