Afghanistan Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: Afghan Athlete Makes Debut At Tokyo Paralympics Amid Crisis In Home Country
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: For all the latest developments in the Afghanistan-Taliban crisis and the situation created around it follow ABP News LIVE blog to stay updated.
Afghan athlete Hossain Rasouli participated in a long jump event at the Tokyo Paralympics on Tuesday after being evacuated from his war-torn country. Rasouli, who competed in the men's T47 long jump, became 1st athlete to represent Afghanistan in Tokyo Paralympics.
The European Commission will organize a special high-level forum in September to discuss the resettlement of needy Afghans, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said on Tuesday.
"As part of the follow up to the #JHA @EUCouncil today, I will convene, in September, a High-Level Resettlement Forum to discuss concrete priorities with the Member States and provide sustainable solutions to those Afghans who are most vulnerable, particularly women and children, but also human rights activists, journalists, lawyers. We will cooperate together with the other global leaders on a coordinated approach to safe and legal routes for resettlement," Johansson said on Twitter.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday spoke on the telephone with President of the European Council Charles Michel about the evolving situation in Afghanistan and reiterated India's commitment to further strengthening India-EU relations.
"Spoke with @eucopresident Charles Michel, President of the European Council, about the evolving situation in Afghanistan. Also reiterated our commitment to further strengthening India-EU relations," Modi wrote on Twitter.
"The leaders discussed the recent developments in Afghanistan and the implications for the region and the world. They unequivocally condemned the horrific terror attack at the Kabul International Airport that resulted in many casualties. They emphasized the importance of a stable and secure Afghanistan and discussed the potential role India and the EU could play in this context," an official statement read.
Taliban now have USD 85 billion worth of American weapons that were left behind by American Army after hostile takeover by Afghanistan, Donald Trump Jr said while taking a jibe at President Joe Biden.
Donald Trump Jr tweeted:"Each and every man, woman, and child in American contributed about $265 to their terrorist cause assuming +/-320 mil citizens. Well done Democrats."
Trump Jr mentioned that the US was leaving behind 22,174 humvees, 8,000 trucks, 634 MIII7, 162,043 radios, 155 MxxPro mine-proof vehicles, 16,035-night vision goggles/devices, 169 armoured personnel carriers, 358,530 assault rifles, 42,000 trucks and SUVs, 126,295 pistols, 64,363 machine guns, 176 artillery pieces, 33 Mi-17 and as many UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, four C-130 transporters, 23 Embraer EMB 314/A29 Super Tucano, 43 MD530 choppers, 28 Cessna 208, and 10 Cessna AC-208 planes, The News International reported.
The dreaded Kabul attack in Talian-controled Afghanistan that killed over 100 including 13 US troops has signalled severe difficulties for the nation in future. The catastrophic Daesh-K attack near Kabul was a message to the US as well as the Taliban.
Now, Al-Qaeda will probably operate more easily against the backdrop of terrorism. The attack also undermined the US argument that American troops were in Afghanistan to combat terrorism, Turkey's Daily Sabah reported.
Russia's embassy in Kabul said on Monday it was laying on extra evacuation flights from Afghanistan, while Russian troops carried out military drills close to the Afghan border amid heightened regional security risks, said Reuters. It was not clear whether the extra flights would continue past a Tuesday deadline agreed between U.S. President Joe Biden and the Taliban for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops who have led security at the airport since the Western-backed government collapsed. Russia's embassy remained operational in Kabul after Western diplomats rebased to the airport following the Taliban takeover of the capital on August 15.
The Jammu and Kashmir police Tuesday detained a 17-year-old Afghan boy in Kathua district, officials said, as reported by PTI.
They said Abdul Rehman, son of Abdul Rashid Ahmed, was apprehended near a Covid testing centre at Lakhanpur, the entry point to J&K.
He has a passport and a visa and has been taken to the Lakhanpur police station for questioning, they said.
Kathua Senior Superintendent of Police R C Kotwal confirmed the detention and said an inquiry is underway.
The detention comes at a time the Taliban has taken full control of Afghanistan and last US troops left the country, completing its withdrawal.
In view of the evolving situation in Afghanistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently directed that a high-level group comprising of EAM, NSA & senior officials focus on the immediate priorities of India, said ANI.
This group has been meeting regularly over the last few days. It's seized of issues pertaining to the safe return of stranded Indians, travel of Afghans (especially minorities) to India & assuring that Afghan territory is not used in any manner for terrorism directed against India.
The group has also been monitoring the ground situation in Afghanistan and international reactions, including the Resolution passed this morning by the UN Security Council
Pakistan on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of allowing the long-term presence of US troops coming from Afghanistan in Islamabad, saying the American forces' stay in the country would be for a limited period, reports Dawn.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's response came after pictures of US troops at Islamabad airport circulated on social media, sparking rumours about a possible long-term presence of American forces on Pakistani soil.
The minister told the Dawn newspaper that the foreigners came to Pakistan after evacuation from Afghanistan and their stay would be for a limited period and have been issued transit visas ranging from 21 to 30 days.
The Taliban has to earn international legitimacy and support, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, as reported by PTI.
He said the group can do this by meeting its commitments and obligations.
The Taliban seeks international legitimacy and support. Our message is: any legitimacy and any support will have to be earned, Blinken said in an address to the nation hours after the US concluded its mission to Afghanistan early Tuesday.
The Taliban can do that by meeting commitments and obligations on freedom of travel; respecting the basic rights of the Afghan people, including women and minorities; upholding its commitments on counterterrorism; not carrying out reprisal violence against those who choose to stay in Afghanistan; and forming an inclusive government that can meet the needs and reflect the aspirations of the Afghan people, he said.
Blinken said the US engaged with the Taliban during the past few weeks for evacuation operations.
Going forward, any engagement with a Taliban-led government in Kabul will be driven by one thing only: our vital national interests.
If we can work with a new Afghan government in a way that helps secure those interests including the safe return of Mark Frerichs, a US citizen who has been held hostage in the region since early last year, and in a way that brings greater stability to the country and region and protects the gains of the past two decades, we will do it, he added.
But we will not do it on the basis of trust or faith. Every step we take will be based not on what a Taliban-led government says, but what it does to live up to its commitments, Blinken said.
UNSC notes "that the Taliban statement of August 27 in which the Taliban committed that Afghans will be able to travel abroad, may leave Afghanistan anytime they want to, and may exit Afghanistan via any border crossing, both air & ground."
In the UNSC resolution accessed by ANI, UNSC notes "that the Taliban statement of August 27 in which the Taliban committed that Afghans will be able to travel abroad, may leave Afghanistan anytime they want to, and may exit Afghanistan via any border crossing, both air & ground"
Taliban fighters watched the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan around midnight Monday and then fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency that drove the world’s most powerful military out of one of the poorest countries.
The departure of the U.S. cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan, fearful of the return of Taliban rule after the militants took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.
Background
Afghanistan Taliban Crisis HIGHLIGHTS: The US military has completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end a brutal 20-year war, which has been America's longest. It started and ended with the hardline Taliban in power, despite billions of dollars spent trying to rebuild the conflict-wracked country, reports AFP.
Celebratory gunfire rang out in Kabul in the early hours of Tuesday, and elated senior Taliban officials hailed the event as a watershed moment.
The withdrawal came after the fraught final days of a frantic mission to evacuate tens of thousands of Americans and Afghans who had helped the US-led war effort -- and which left scores of Afghans and 13 US troops dead in a suicide attack last week.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says fewer than 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan who want to leave and the US will continue to try to get them out. Blinken says the number of Americans left may be closer to 100. He says the US would work with Afghanistan's neighbors to secure their departure either overland or by charter flight once the Kabul airport re-opens.
Taliban fighters watched the last U.S. planes disappear into the sky over Afghanistan around midnight Monday and then fired their guns into the air, celebrating victory after a 20-year insurgency that drove the world's most powerful military out of one of the poorest countries.
The departure of the U.S. cargo planes marked the end of a massive airlift in which tens of thousands of people fled Afghanistan, fearful of the return of Taliban rule after the militants took over most of the country and rolled into the capital earlier this month.
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