Live updates Biden set to update on evacuations Pentagon orders commercial airlines to provide planes

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the activation of a program that will use 18 commercial airplanes to aid the U.S. military evacuation of American nationals and refugees in Afghanistan.

The activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet will provide the Defense Department with “access to commercial air mobility resources” in the evacuation efforts, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement Sunday.

The activation is for 18 aircraft: Three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines.

The commercial planes will not fly into Kabul airport but instead be used “for the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases,” the statement said â€" probably from Persian Gulf Arab nations such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates where many Afghans are awaiting next steps.

Here’s what to know

Seven Afghan civilians were killed outside the Kabul airport.

Abdul Ghani Baradar, considered the Taliban’s top political leader, arrived in Kabul over the weekend as the Islamist group eyes the formation of a new government.

Afghans in airport hangars in Qatar and elsewhere begin to ponder next steps now they’re out of the country.

Blinken says ‘al-Qaeda members and remnants’ are still in AfghanistanLink copied

Secretary of State Antony Blinken defended President Biden’s remark that al-Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan, saying what Biden was referring to was the terrorist group’s capacity to carry out another attack on the scale of the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes. He did, however, acknowledge that “remnants” of the group remain in Afghanistan.

“What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point, with al-Qaeda gone?” Biden asked Friday, once again defending his decision to withdraw American troops from the country.

On “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace pressed Blinken repeatedly on Biden’s Friday statement: “Simple question: Is al-Qaeda gone from Pakistan, from Afghanistan?”

“Al-Qaeda’s capacity to do what it did on 9/11, to attack us, to attack our partners or allies from Afghanistan is vastly, vastly diminished,” Blinken said.

“Is it gone?” Wallace pressed.

“Are there al-Qaeda members and remnants in Afghanistan? Yes,” Blinken responded. “But what the president was referring to was its capacity to do what it did on 9/11. And that capacity has been very successfully diminished.”

Wallace also pushed Blinken on Biden’s claim that he had not seen any U.S. allies question the actions and cited the criticism from German and British officials.

“Mister Secretary, does the president not know what’s going on?” Wallace asked Blinken.

Blinken again defended Biden and said it was “a powerfully emotional time” for the United States and its allies. He also said the administration was not trying to avoid accountability.

“There always will be accountability, but there is a time and place for everything,” Blinken said. “In the time and place right now is this mission. And I’m seeing people around this country rally to it. I’m seeing allies and partners around the world rally to it.”

Taliban’s rhetoric of compromise carries echoes of its previous rise to powerLink copied

At a news conference in Kabul this week, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made the case that today’s Taliban was no longer the same group the world remembers from the last time it came to power nationally.

Observers were quick to seize on signs of compromise and divergence from the hard-line stance that has marked Taliban attitudes regarding the role of women and girls: Female journalists returned to the screen the day after Kabul’s fall, even interviewing a Taliban official on live television. The Taliban’s political office spokesman tweeted a video of a Taliban-aligned scholar advising female hospital staffers to continue their work.

These moments would have been difficult to imagine during the Taliban’s previous rule over the country, which lasted from 1996 until the 2001 invasion by U.S.-led forces.

But this week wasn’t the first time the Taliban tried to present a reassuring face. Some of the official assurances that accompanied the group’s ascension in 1996 struck a similar tone.

One week into Taliban takeover, humanitarian situation in Afghanistan worsens Link copied

In the week since the abrupt Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, its citizens have been plunged into crisis, say humanitarian workers.

Amnesty International campaigner, Samira Hamidi, sketched a grim portrait of life in the nation on Sunday with the cost of basic food goods doubling, banks shuttered as people try to withdraw their savings and little to no Internet or phone cards, she said, stifling communications. Hamidi said an estimated 35 million Afghans were in need.

“This group will make people suffer,” she wrote on Twitter, referring to the Taliban. “It has already started.”

Everyday citizens are likely to feel the financial pain of Afghanistan’s economy under the Taliban, which has seen the United States freeze the country’s financial reserves and international humanitarian groups halt billions of dollars of aid.

Senior officials in Afghanistan’s toppled government, including acting central bank governor Ajmal Ahmady who has fled the country, have also warned in recent days that parts of the nation’s economy are on the brink of devastation, given the country’s high dependence on international funding.

United Nations officials have also sounded the alarm over a worsening humanitarian situation.

“Afghanistan is on the brink of a humanitarian and displacement crisis. The scenes that we’ve been seeing at Kabul airport are extremely distressing,” Laura Padoan, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Refugee agency, told Sky News on Sunday.

“We are extremely concerned about the human rights situation inside the country,” Padoan said, adding that the U.N. was distributing emergency tents, hygiene kits and basic aid.

The U.N.’s World Food Programme Afghan country director, Mary-Ellen McGroarty, also warned Sunday that the country was facing an “absolute catastrophe” involving widespread hunger, homelessness and economic collapse.

McGroarty told Britain’s Observer newspaper that swift coordinated action was critical, “otherwise, an already horrendous situation is just going to become an absolute catastrophe, a complete humanitarian disaster,” she said.

Key updateCommercial aircraft ordered to aid U.S. evacuationsLink copied

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the activation of a program that will use 18 commercial airplanes to aid the U.S. military evacuation of American nationals and refugees in Afghanistan.

The activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet will provide the Defense Department with “access to commercial air mobility resources” in the evacuation efforts, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement Sunday.

The activation is for 18 aircraft: Three each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; two from Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines.

“The Department does not anticipate a major impact to commercial flights from this activation,” the statement added.

The commercial planes will not fly into Kabul airport but instead will be used “for the onward movement of passengers from temporary safe havens and interim staging bases,” the statement said â€" probably from Persian Gulf Arab nations such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where many Afghans are awaiting next steps.

This is the third such activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet, a program created in 1952, the statement said. It was previously used in connection with the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War.

Key updateTaliban official warns that amnesty won’t apply to ‘troublemakers’By Haq Nawaz Khan7:44 a.m.Link copied

A senior member of the Taliban’s ruling council, or shura, on Sunday reiterated the militant group’s offer of amnesty to all those that worked for the previous government or U.S.-led coalition â€" unless they were threatening security.

Muhammad Nabi Omari’s remarks came after scattered protests around the country against the Taliban, including cases where its white flag was pulled down in favor of Afghanistan’s national emblem.

“There is a general amnesty of all, except those elements who are creating law and order situations,” he said according to several Taliban-linked twitter accounts, following a visit to the western city of Khost where he met with local elders and clerics to assure them of Taliban intentions. Omari was part of the group that brokered a peace deal with the United States in 2020.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to the Washington Post his remarks. “Omari spoke correctly, there will be no amnesty for trouble makers.”

Since its lightning takeover of regional capitals around the country, the Taliban has been at pains to ensure its moderate intentions and plans to form an inclusive government.

There have been have reports, however, of door-to-door searches for those who worked for coalition forces, as well as the torture and persecution of ethnic minorities such as the Shiite Hazaras.

Soon after overrunning Kabul, the Taliban held a news conference in which it promised freedom of the press and protection of women’s rights within an Islamic framework.

The group is in negotiations with a number of members of the old government to form a new administration, which could be announced even before U.S. troops withdraw, added Mujahid.

Key updateSeven Afghan civilians killed in airport chaos, says U.K. militaryLink copied

Taliban forces fired in the air and used batons to make people line up in 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 yet reported as gunmen beat back the crowds and long lines of people were being formed, the witnesses told Reuters. The British military confirmed that seven Afghan civilians had died on Saturday amid chaotic crowds scrambling to board planes out of the country.

“Our sincere thoughts are with the families of the seven Afghan civilians who have sadly died in crowds in Kabul,” a spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Sunday.

“Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible.”

The Pentagon, on Saturday, strongly hinted that U.S. troops may stage further operations outside the Kabul airport to help evacuate stranded American citizens and Afghans who aided the war effort, amid increased concerns about potential attacks by the Islamic State.

International troops are struggling to fly thousands out of Kabul, with significant bottlenecks, paper work and crushing crowds since the Taliban seized the capital city last Sunday, triggering a rush of fearful people desperate to leave.

On Sunday, an official with the Taliban’s Cultural Commission, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, told the Al Jazeera media network that a general amnesty was in place and expressed regret over the crush of people trying to enter the airport to escape the country. “This hysteria that has taken place is unfounded,” he said.

Taliban fighters were manning checkpoints outside the airport while the U.S. forces and their allies control the interior, Balkhi added. “We are in talks and we have a working relationship with the Americans about the security arrangements,” he said.

Taliban official says high priority on discipline within organization’s ranks to preserve amnesty Link copied

An official with the Taliban’s Cultural Commission told the Al Jazeera network on Sunday that discipline would be enforced within its ranks and the amnesty toward former members of the government would be observed.

Amid reports that people who used to work with the U.S.-led coalition or the former Afghan government were being hunted down by victorious Taliban fighters, Abdul Qahar Balkhi maintained that an amnesty was in place.

“Our foremost priority is discipline in our own ranks and not enforcing laws on others, but enforcing it on ourselves first, and then giving it as an example on the rest of society to follow suit,” he said, speaking in English to the network’s correspondent Charlotte Bellis.

Balkhi was the translator for the Taliban’s official spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in the organization’s first news conference on Tuesday.

He expressed regret over the crush of people trying to enter the Kabul airport to escape the country this weekend saying that with the amnesty, “this hysteria that has taken place is unfounded.”

Separately, another senior Taliban leader, Amir Khan Muttaqi, called on Taliban fighters to show restrain and treat people kindly. “Avoid unnecessary patrols, taking selfies or speaking for the the Islamic Emirate,” he added in the tweet.

Taliban fighters are manning checkpoints outside the airport while the U.S. forces and their allies control the interior, Balkhi said.

“We are in talks and we have a working relationship with the Americans about the security arrangements,” Balkhi said. “They are in constant contact with one another.”

The Taliban say they plan to form an “inclusive” government and talks are ongoing with different representatives of the country. One of the topics will be the situation of women.

Balkhi restated the Taliban position that women’s rights would be guaranteed under Islamic law. “Hopefully during the consultations there will be clarifications on what those rights are,” he said.

During the Taliban’s earlier rule from 1996-2001, women’s role in society was dramatically curtailed and they were prevented from working, getting an education or leaving home without a male accompaniment.

Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan contributed to this report.

How to help Afghan refugees and those trapped during the Taliban takeoverLink copied

As militants crowded Kabul streets, thousands of Afghans and people who support them have tried to board flights to escape Taliban rule â€" but not all have been successful.

The result has been a crisis marked by displacement within the country and abroad. According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), nearly 400,000 people have been forced from their homes since the beginning of the year.

As the situation has escalated, organizations have launched initiatives to aid refugees. Some are providing aid to those remaining in the country, while others are helping Afghans resettling in the United States. Here’s how you can help.

Tony Blair breaks silence, criticizes Afghan withdrawal as ‘dangerous’Link copied

Former British prime minister Tony Blair, a key figure in the war against terror and the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001, broke his silence on the U.S. withdrawal Sunday, calling the “abandonment” of the Afghan people “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary.”

As leader of Britain, he took the decision in 2001 to join the United States, under former president George W. Bush, to enter the war in Afghanistan, where more than 450 British forces have since died during the almost 20 year conflict. He left office in 2007.

“I know better than most how difficult the decisions of leadership are,” Blair wrote. “There is no doubt that in the years that followed we made mistakes, some serious.”

However, he went on to criticize the recent U.S.-led withdrawal of troops from the country, lambasting it for being motivated by politics instead of strategy.

“We didn’t need to do it. We chose to do it. We did it in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan about ending ‘the forever wars,’" he said, in an apparent jibe at the Biden administration.

Blair also warned that Russia, China and Iran could now take advantage of the fragile situation in Afghanistan, with other nations regarding commitments from Western leaders as “unstable currency.”

Afghan woman goes into labor on U.S. evacuation flight, gives birth moments after landingLink copied

An Afghan woman gave birth just moments after landing on an evacuation flight, the U.S. Air Mobility Command said early Sunday.

The unidentified woman delivered a baby girl in the cargo bay of a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft, shortly after landing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Saturday.

“The mother went into labor and began having complications. The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life,” Air Mobility Command said.

Desperate to save their families, Afghans turn to members of Congress for urgent helpLink copied

From his home in Prince William County, he could hear the chaos through the phone as his wife approached the airport in Kabul. He heard gunfire, and screaming, and his wife’s voice on the other end of the line asking him with incredulity, “How can I get to the gate?”

She was a woman traveling alone in an overwhelmingly male crowd just feet away from the Taliban. She didn’t have a hijab covering her. She had just an email from the State Department telling her to be here.

“I said, ‘This is the one and only way you can save your life,’ ” her husband, Ahmad, an Afghan American who served the State Department and U.S. military in Afghanistan as a legal adviser and linguist for six years, recalled in an interview with The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of concern for his family’s safety.

Pentagon hints at more rescues outside Kabul airport, amid new security concerns and evacuation bottleneckLink copied

The Pentagon on Saturday strongly hinted that U.S. troops may stage further operations outside the Kabul airport to help evacuate stranded American citizens and Afghans who aided the war effort, as the threat of violence in the capital grows amid the return of the Taliban’s top political leader and increased concern about potential attacks by the Islamic State.

The signal that U.S. troops could undertake enhanced efforts to rescue people outside the airport came as the Biden administration scrambles to fly thousands of people per day out of Afghanistan, and amid signs there were still significant bottlenecks to doing so. All gates at the Kabul airport were closed on Saturday, as crowds continued to swell inside and the U.S. government struggled to process people quickly enough to alleviate the issues.

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