Afghanistan News Highlights: At least 146 evacuated people expected to reach India today

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The US military is considering “creative ways” to get Americans and others into the Kabul airport for evacuation from Afghanistan amid “acute” security threats, Biden administration officials said, and the Pentagon on Sunday ordered six US commercial airlines to help move evacuees from temporary sites outside of Afghanistan.

“The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and something we're focused with every tool in our arsenal," said Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan said on CNN's “State of the Union” that 3,900 people had been airlifted out of Kabul on US military flights over the past 24 hours. A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, said those people were flown on a total of 23 flights — 14 by C-17 transports and nine aboard C-130 cargo planes. (AP)

A Vistara flight carrying 104 people rescued from Afghanistan reached Delhi today at 5.09 am from Doha.

Qatar Airways flight QR578 with 30 Indian passengers reached Delhi from Doha at 1.55 am on Monday. Another Air India flight, AI 972, also reached Delhi from Doha, which includes a person coming from Afghanistan.

In addition, IndiGo and Vistara's flights are also going to reach India carrying rescued people from Afghanistan. In total, at least 146 people stranded in Afghanistan will reach India today.

US President Joe Biden on Sunday said he was hoping for the Afghan airlift to end by August 31, which is the deadline for the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan.

Joe Biden said at least 11,000 individuals were evacuated from Kabul over the weekend and he remains committed to assisting all Americans who want to leave Afghanistan get out. He said his first priority was getting American citizens out of Afghanistan “as quickly and safely as possible".

"We’re working hard and as fast as we can to get people out. That’s our mission. That’s our goal," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

The US president also said that the terrorists may seek to exploit the situation and target innocent Afghans or American troops. "We are maintaining constant vigilance to monitor and disrupt threats from any source, including ISIS and the Afghan affiliate known as ISIS-K."

A small group of Indian officials is coordinating the country's evacuation mission at the Kabul international airport amid continuing chaos and a challenging ground situation, news agency PTI reported.

The multi-agency group has been coordinating with the American officials handling security at the airport as well as other relevant authorities, they said.

India evacuated 200 people, including the Indian envoy and other staffers of its embassy in Kabul, in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF on Tuesday in view of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital city. Read more

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children's fund (Unicef) have called for the immediate establishment of a humanitarian airbridge for the sustained and unimpeded delivery of aid into Afghanistan.

"Immediate and unimpeded access to deliver medicines and other life-saving supplies is pivotal to save lives. The massive humanitarian needs facing the majority of the population should not - and cannot be neglected," WHO and Unicef said in a joint statement.

"Critical needs are unfolding in Afghanistan amid the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation. Over 300K people displaced in the last two months only," the statement read.

The Economic Affairs Commission of the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" has imposed a strict ban on the export of scrap metal from the country.

() . pic.twitter.com/4zyYXuUkSp

— Tariq Ghazniwal (@TGhazniwal) August 22, 2021

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has pledged to help achieve peace in Afghanistan and said its future leaders must guard against allowing the country to be used as a platform or safe haven for "terrorists".

Sources close to the Taliban have said that the group has given a green signal as negotiations have failed with Ahmed Massoud.

#BREAKING Taliban says 'hundreds of fighters' heading for holdout Panjshir Valley pic.twitter.com/KSXsL4XXud

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 22, 2021

India on Sunday evacuated 392 people, including two Afghan lawmakers, on three different flights as part of its mission to bring back Indians and Afghan partners from Kabul amid a scramble by various nations to rescue their citizens from the war-ravaged country in the wake of a deteriorating security situation and increasing Taliban hostilities.

Separately, 146 Indian nationals, who were evacuated from Afghanistan to Doha, are being repatriated to India on Sunday night, the Indian embassy in Qatar said on Sunday evening. (PTI)

People who were stranded in Afghanistan arrive by a special repatriation flight of IAF at the Hindan Air Force Station, in Ghaziabad on August 22, 2021. (PTI Photo)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday described the situation at the overcrowded Kabul airport where many people have died as “incredibly volatile”.

“Crowds have massed at the gates outside the airport. It's an incredibly volatile situation, it's an incredibly fluid situation. We've seen wrenching images of people hurt, even killed that hit you in the gut. And it's very important to make sure to the best of our ability, because it's such a volatile situation, that we do something about the crowding at the gates of the airport, and that's exactly what we're doing,” PTI quoted Blinken as telling Fox News in an interview.

A group of Afghan women too young to recall the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule are experiencing the same trauma once recounted by relatives after the group retook control of Afghanistan. "We are going back to darkness," said one of the university students evacuated to Qatar, who described feelings of anxiety and fear and like others declined to provide details that could identify them or their families back home for security reasons.

"It's all the stories that we were hearing from our parents and our grandparents, and at that time it was a story, but now it's like the nightmare came true," a second woman said.

The four who spoke to Reuters are among hundreds of Afghan students, mostly women, evacuated to the Gulf Arab state.

Three young Afghan female university students who have fled their country pose for a photo, hiding their identity over safety concerns for family in Afghanistan, at a residential compound in Doha, Qatar, on August 22, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS)

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Sunday said that talks on the formation of a new government with Afghan political leaders are underway and that a new government will be announced in the near future, TOLO news agency reported.

“Our political officials met with leaders here in Kabul, their views are important, discussions are moving, InshaAllah, there is hope for an announcement on the government soon,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban.

Taliban: New Govt to Be Announced Soonhttps://t.co/jae6Z3WtIX pic.twitter.com/9FPtwlD94R

— TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) August 22, 2021

The prices and sales of turbans and hijab have increased with the return of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, shopkeepers in Kabul said on Sunday.

The Taliban have so far said nothing about wearing a turban and hijab, but some people wear them traditionally. Faiz Agha, a hijab seller in Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News that turban sales had increased in the last few days.

“In the past, I could sell four or five hijabs a day, but now I sell 15 to 17 of them after the return of Taliban,” he said.

Abdul Malik, a turban seller in Kabul, said that the sales of turbans have also increased with the arrival of Taliban. He said that one turban cost from 300 to 3,000 afghanis considering its quality.

“I could sell six or seven turbans a day in the past, but now I sell around 30 of them,” he said.

They repeated the same thing for five years during their regime in 1990s and the security situation remained a justification for erasing women from society.

What could be different this time?

— Aisha Khurram (@AishaKHM) August 22, 2021

A three-members committee has been set up in Kabul to reassure media.
A member of the Cultural Commission, a member of the Union of Journalists and media outlets and a member of the Kabul Police Dept will participate as members.
They will address media problems in Kabul.

— Suhail Shaheen. (@suhailshaheen1) August 22, 2021

Panjshir valley will not be handed over to the Taliban and resistance fighters will be ready to fight back if the extremist group tries to seize it, Ahmad Massoud, the son of one of the main leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s told Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel.

“We confronted the Soviet Union, and we will be able to confront the Taliban,” Ahmad Massoud said, adding that he would not surrender areas under his control to the group.

The Taliban told Massoud he had four hours to give up Panjshir valley, north of Kabul, where the 32-year-old and Vice President of Afghanistan Amrullah Saleh are holed up.

However, he told Al Arabiya he was ready to forgive the Taliban for killing his father if the conditions for peace and security in Afghanistan are met. Massoud also called for the formation of a comprehensive government to rule the country, with the participation of the Taliban.

India on Sunday brought back 392 people, including two Afghan lawmakers, in three different flights as part of the mission to evacuate its nationals and Afghan partners from Kabul in the backdrop of increasing hostilities by the Taliban and deteriorating security situation in the city after it fell to the militant outfit a week back.

A total of 168 people, including 107 Indians and 23 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, were flown from Kabul to Hindon airbase near Delhi in a C-17 heavy-lift military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

People who were stranded in Afghanistan arrive by a special repatriation flight of IAF at the Hindan Air Force Station, in Ghaziabad on August 22, 2021. (PTI Photo)

Another group of 87 Indians and two Nepalese nationals were brought back in a special Air India flight from Dushanbe, a day after they were evacuated to the Tajikistan capital in an IAF 130J transport aircraft, officials said.

Separately, 135 Indians, who were earlier evacuated from Kabul to Doha in the last few days by the US and NATO aircraft, were flown back from the Qatari capital city to Delhi on a special flight, they said.

The group of 168 people, who were evacuated from Kabul, included Afghan lawmakers Anarkali Honaryar and Narender Singh Khalsa and their families, people familiar with the evacuation mission said. (PTI)

A small group of Indian officials is coordinating the country's evacuation missions at the Kabul international airport amid continuing chaos and a challenging ground situation, people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

The multi-agency group has been coordinating with the American officials handling security at the airport as well as other relevant authorities, they said.