Chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul – as it happened

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Here are the key developments today.

• US President Joe Biden said the US achieved its goals in Afghanistan. Speaking on Afghanistan for the first time in a week, Biden said the US had succeeded in weakening al-Qaida and that its goal was not to help establish democracy in Afghanistan. He also blamed former president Ashraf Ghani for fleeing the country and criticised the collapse of the Afghan military.
• French president Emmanuel Macron said the EU will launch an initiative to thwart the arrivals of Afghan refugees. In a speech laden with comments about security and terrorism, Macron said they would be attempting to stop the expected increased arrivals and would take down smuggling rings.
• There were desperate scenes at Kabul airport as thousands attempt to flee following the Taliban takeover. Video footage appears to show Afghans falling to their deaths from a plane after takeoff. Other footage appears to show people clinging to moving US aircraft. Some aircraft did however manage to take off with hundreds aboard.
  
• Unconfirmed reports are of up to seven people killed at the airport amid the chaos, according to witnesses.
• A US official confirmed to Reuters that American forces at the airport were “forced to fire into the air to prevent Afghans running on to tarmac to board military flights”. The official said that military flights from Kabul are “only meant to ferry diplomats, foreign staff, and local embassy staff”. Biden later confirmed that they were taking control of the airport and air traffic control.
• Hundreds of Afghan troops landed in neighbouring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over the weekend. Fleeing from the Taliban in dozens of military aircraft, they landed at airports just the other side of the border.
• The UK is sending another 200 troops to help with evacuations, taking the total military presence to 900 after another 600 began deploying over the weekend.
• British prime minister Boris Johnson will launch a scheme to resettle Afghans “most in need”, according to Downing Street. There have been repeated calls for western countries to evacuate Afghans who fear Taliban rule, especially those who worked with foreign governments and other sensitive areas, like journalism.
• UK defence secretary Ben Wallace 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.
• Taliban spokesman: “The war is over in Afghanistan” The spokesman for the Taliban’s political office told Al-Jazeera Mubasher TV that the war is over in Afghanistan and that the type of rule and the form of regime will be clear soon.
• Senior Taliban official: “Too early to say how we will take over governance.” A Taliban leader said on Monday that it was too soon to say how the insurgent group will take over governance in Afghanistan, Reuters reports. “We want all foreign forces to leave before we start restructuring governance,” the leader told Reuters by phone. He did not want to be named. He also said that Taliban fighters in Kabul had been warned not to scare civilians and to allow them to resume normal activities.
• Russian ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, will meet a Taliban representative on Tuesday to discuss security for the diplomatic mission. Russia will evacuate some of its embassy staff in Kabul “in order not to create too big a presence”, the Kremlin envoy to Afghanistan said on Monday. Zamir Kabulov told the Ekho Moskvy radio station that some of roughly 100 Russian embassy staff “will be placed on leave or evacuated in some other fashion just in order not to create too big a presence”.
• Ben Wallace appeared to hold back tears as he spoke about the effort to repatriate Britons and process visas for Afghan interpreters and other staff. About 4,000 British nationals and eligible Afghans are thought to be in the capital in need of rescue.
  
• Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has compared chaotic scenes at Kabul airport to “Saigon 2.0”, referencing evacuations as the North Vietnamese army captured the southern capital and ended the Vietnam War.
• European Union foreign ministers will hold emergency talks on Tuesday to discuss the crisis. The EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said in a tweet on Monday that he decided to convene the extraordinary video conference so the ministers can make “a first assessment” of developments.
  
• Families of British soldiers who died on previous tours of Afghanistan have criticised the British and US governments’ handling of the withdrawal as the Taliban start to seize control.
  

A US military transport aircraft evacuated 640 Afghans during today’s scramble at Kabul airport, reports the military-focused news site Defense One.

A photo shared with the website showed the hundreds of people crowded in on floor of the cargo plane. The plane’s crew decided to take off despite not planning to carry such a large number of people.

British prime minister Boris Johnson will announce a “new and bespoke” resettlement scheme for “the Afghans most in need”.

Downing Street did not specify what would be required to qualify for the scheme but said details were still being worked on and would include women and girls.

No 10 also said Johnson is calling for a virtual meeting of G7 leaders to coordinate the international response.

“The UK team in Afghanistan is working around the clock in incredibly difficult circumstances to help British nationals and as many others as we can get to safety as soon as possible.

“At the same time, we are bringing together the international community to prevent a humanitarian crisis emerging in Afghanistan – it’s in everyone’s interest not to let Afghanistan fail.

“That means providing whatever support we can to the Afghan people who have worked so hard to make the country a better place over the last twenty years and who are now in need of our help.”

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani destroyed the opportunity for a two-week ceasefire when he fled Afghanistan, Bloomberg reports.

The agreement had been brokered by government and Taliban negotiators and depended on Ghani resigning from his position and the opening of talks on a transitional government.

According to the report, his departure, which he said was to prevent a bloodbath, surprised his own negotiators and aides, as well as the Americans.

Biden approached his speech with a clear message – that the US is finished in Afghanistan.

He said the US should never have hoped to achieve anything more than the removal of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida’s influence, and that it made a mistake in trying to achieve more.

But he also repeatedly laid blame on Afghans, both the leaders and the military, especially for the rapid takeover in the week since he last spoke. He was scathing about the performance of Afghan troops, saying the military’s surrenders were a reason to not expect American troops to continue fighting.

Biden returned to his argument that America’s mission was to prevent terrorism and degrade al-Qaida’s abilities, which succeeded, while attempts to nation-build failed.

He closed by saying he will not pass the war on to a fifth president.

“It’s the right decision for our people, the right one for our brave service members, the right one for America,” he concluded.

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Thousands of Afghans crowded around the planes at Kabul airport today, desperate to catch a flight out of the country, and the scene was captured from above.

Civilian flights were cancelled but satellite imagery shared by Maxar Technologies showed the tarmac dotted with people hoping to get their chance as foreign missions and militaries evacuated their own people.

The gridlocked roads outside were also caught as people drove then and found ways into the chaotic airport, which US troops have taken control of.

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Biden said American troops are trying to secure the airfield and are taking over air traffic control.

He said they will continue to support the evacuation of civilian personnel of allies. He said they have supported the move of 2,000 Afghans and are working to move more Afghans eligible for Special Immigrant Visas.

He claimed part of the reason they did not move Afghans earlier was that some were not ready to go and that the Afghan leaders wanted to prevent a mass exodus.

“The response will be swift and forceful” if the Taliban tries to interfere in the US evacuation, he said. “Once we have completed this mission, we will conclude our military withdrawal.”

Biden accused former president Ashraf Ghani of refusing advice on seeking a diplomatic settlement with the Taliban and failing to fight the movement and root out corruption.

“How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghanistan’s civil war?” he said.