The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport on Thursday due to the threat of a terror attack by Islamic State (IS) militants as Western troops hurry to evacuate as many people as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline. Pressure to complete the evacuations of …
Read More »Turkish military began evacuating from Afghanistan
Turkey’s military has begun evacuating from Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Wednesday after the Taliban had asked Ankara for technical help to run Kabul airport but insisted it withdraws its military by the end of August. President Tayyip Erdogan’s government had said for months it could keep a presence …
Read More »Internal UN document says Taliban threatened, beat staff: Reuters
The Taliban stopped an Afghan United Nations staff member as he tried to reach Kabul airport on Sunday. They searched his vehicle and found his U.N. identification. Then they beat him. On Monday, three unknown men visited the home of another U.N. staff member who was at work at the …
Read More »Afghans with legal papers will be able to travel beyond August 31:Taliban
The Taliban have told Germany that Afghans with legal documents will be able to travel on commercial flights beyond the Aug. 31 cut-off date after which evacuations from Kabul airport will no longer be allowed, a senior German diplomat said on Wednesday. “Director Stanekzai assured me that Afghans with legal …
Read More »FIRE reported at Kabul airport amid frantic evacuation, VIDEOS show billowing smoke
A fire has apparently broken out at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, amid ongoing evacuation efforts. Video footage shows a cloud of smoke rising from the airport. News of the blaze broke on Monday evening local time. Little is known about the fire’s severity or origin, but videos …
Read More »Taliban beat back crowd at Kabul airport after seven killed in crush
The Taliban fired in the air and used batons to force people desperate to flee Afghanistan to form orderly queues outside Kabul airport on Sunday, witnesses said, a day after seven people were killed in a crush at the gates. On Sunday, there were no major injuries as gunmen beat …
Read More »At least 20 people died in, around Kabul airport in past seven days: NATO
At least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the Kabul airport during the evacuation effort after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital last week, a NATO official said on Sunday. “The crisis outside the Kabul airport is unfortunate. Our focus is to evacuate …
Read More »‘Impossible’ to evacuate all allied Afghans by August 31: EU foreign policy chief
“It’s mathematically impossible” for the US and its allies to evacuate tens of thousands of their Afghan personnel and families by August 31, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Saturday. Borrell, speaking to AFP from Spain in a telephone interview, added that “we have complained” to the Americans that …
Read More »Crushed to death, dehydrated and terrified: The evacuation chaos at Kabul’s airport (Video)
The US embassy in Afghanistan has advised American citizens to avoid traveling to Kabul’s airport due to “potential security threats”. Stuart Ramsay reports on what he saw on Saturday morning as thousands of people wait to get inside to be evacuated. The mornings are always challenging on the barricades. The …
Read More »US has 5,800 troops at Kabul airport to help with evacuations: Official
There are currently about 5,800 US troops at the airport in Kabul to help with evacuation efforts, a US official said on Friday. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered about 6,000 troops to Kabul, a number that is expected to be reached in the coming days. NATO on Friday …
Read More »German civilian wounded by gunshot on way to Kabul airport, Berlin says
A German civilian was shot on his was to Kabul airport but is not in a life-threatening condition and will soon be flown out of Afghanistan, a German government spokeswoman said on Friday. “A German civilian suffered a gunshot wound on his way to Kabul airport. He is receiving medical …
Read More »Spain to airlift 500 Spanish and Afghan staff from Kabul airport
Spain plans to airlift around 500 people including Spanish embassy staff and Afghans who worked with them and their families from Kabul, radio station Cadena SER said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the evacuation. A first military plane landed at Kabul airport late on Wednesday morning, the Spanish Foreign …
Read More »Australia says it has evacuated 26 people from Afghanistan in first flight
Australia flew 26 people out of Afghanistan in its first rescue flight, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday, after Australian troops arrived to help with the evacuation from Kabul airport that has been secured by U.S. and British colleagues. Australia said on Monday it would send 250 military personnel …
Read More »At least 17 injured in stampede near Kabul Airport: NATO Official
Seventeen people were injured on Wednesday in a stampede at a gate to the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a NATO security official said, as Western countries stepped up the evacuation of their diplomats and others. Afghan civilians seeking to leave after the Taliban seized the capital on Sunday …
Read More »First German plane evacuated only 7 people from Kabul
A first German military plane to land in Kabul since the Taliban takeover evacuated only seven people, the government said on Tuesday, due to chaos at the Afghan capital’s airport. Germany, which had the second-largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, wants to airlift thousands of German-Afghan dual …
Read More »At least five were killed, while US troops fire in air to scatter Afghan civilians at Kabul airport (Videos)
At least five people were killed in Kabul airport as hundreds of people tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the Afghan capital, witnesses told Reuters. One witness said he had seen the bodies of five people being taken to a vehicle. Another witness said it was not clear whether the …
Read More »Afghanistan is peaceful, Taliban say, chaos engulfs airport (Pictures)
Peace prevailed across Afghanistan on Monday, Taliban officials said, as the militants declared the war over a day after seizing the capital, while Western nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens from an increasingly chaotic Kabul airport. President Ashraf Ghani fled from the country on Sunday as the Islamists entered Kabul …
Read More »Turkey, US agree on ‘scope’ of how to secure Kabul airport: Erdogan
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey has reached an agreement with the United States on the “scope” of how to secure Kabul airport under the control of Turkish forces. Erdogan said on Friday that providing the airport security that has become a main concern for the US, was discussed between …
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