August 30 Afghanistan-Taliban news

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrives at the US Capitol before briefing members of the House of Representatives on August 24 in Washington, DC.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he is “proud of those with whom I served and led” in a statement marking the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Austin said the evacuation effort was “historic” and that “no other military in the world could accomplish what we and our allies and partners did in such a short span of time.”?

In this photo tweeted by the US Department of Defense, Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commanding general of the All American Division XVIII Airborne Corps, boards a US Air Force C-17 on August 30.

The Department of Defense has?tweeted?a picture of Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, boarding a C-17 to depart Kabul.

He was the last soldier to depart the country.?

On Monday, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, told reporters that Donahue and the top US diplomat in Kabul, Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson, were the last two US officials to step off of Afghanistan soil and onto a US military aircraft out of Afghanistan.

“On the last airplane out was Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd?airborne division and my grand force commander there, and he was accompanied by our charge Ambassador Ross Wilson, so they came out together,” McKenzie said.

“The state and defense team came out on the last aircraft and were in fact the last people to step on the ground, step on the airplane,” he added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US and its allies are discussing ways to reopen the airport in Kabul as quickly as possible to facilitate safe travel out of Afghanistan for Americans, US legal permanent residents and Afghans who worked with the US to leave the country.

“We?discussed how we will work together to facilitate safe travel out of Afghanistan, including by reopening Kabul’s civilian airport soon as possible,” Blinken said.

He continued: “And we very much appreciate the efforts of Qatar and Turkey, in particular, to make this happen. This?would enable a small number of daily charter flights, which is a key for anyone who wants to depart from Afghanistan moving forward.”?

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the United States’ next steps in Afghanistan “a new chapter,” saying the country will now lead a diplomatic mission with the nation after it withdrew all of its military forces.

Blinken outlined the US’ plans for the “days and weeks ahead,” including suspending their diplomatic presence in Kabul as of today and creating a new team.

“First, we built a new team to?help lead this new mission.?As of today, we suspended our?diplomatic presence in Kabul and?transferred our operations to?Doha, Qatar, which will soon be formally notified to?Congress.?Given the uncertain security?environment and political?situation in Afghanistan, it was?the prudent step to take,” he said.

Blinken said that for the time being, the US will use this post in Doha to “manage our diplomacy with Afghanistan, including consular affairs, administrating humanitarian assistance, and working with allies, partners and regional and international stakeholders to coordinate our engagement and messaging to the Taliban.”

The secretary of state thanked the top US diplomat in Kabul, Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson, for his work in Afghanistan, saying he has “done?exceptional, courageous work?during a highly challenging?time.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that State Department believes there is “a small number of Americans, under 200 and likely closer to 100, who remain in Afghanistan and want to leave.”

“We’re trying to determine exactly how many. We’re going through manifests and calling and texting through our lists,” Blinken said in remarks at the State Department. The top US diplomat noted that there are residents of Afghanistan who have US passports who were trying to determine if they should leave.

Blinken said the State Department would help Americans leave no matter when they decide that they wish to depart.

CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said earlier Monday that no American citizens were evacuated on the last five flights out of Afghanistan.

On the heels of the United States officially completing the withdrawal from Afghanistan, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken lauded the effort of the operation, calling it “one of the most difficult in our?nation’s history.”

Speaking from the State Department, Blinked referenced the various challenges of the mission, noting that what the United States achieved was a “feat of?logistics and coordination under?some of the most challenging?circumstances imaginable.”

With the Pentagon announcing that the last US military planes have left country, the United States’ longest war formally came to a close, an achievement that relied on the efforts of countless Americans, both in Afghanistan and stateside.

Calling the evacuation operation?“very personal,” the secretary of state referenced the countless lives lost throughout the war.

“We also lost cherished members?of our foreign service community?in Afghanistan,” he said, adding “we’ll never forget them.”

Rescuing Americans and Afghan partners alike became “more than just a high stakes?assignment for our team,” said Blinken. Instead, he called it a “sacred duty,” one conducted on a global stage, allowing the world to see how American “diplomats rose to the challenge?with determination and heart.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is delivering remarks on Afghanistan after the Pentagon announced that the last US military planes have left country – marking the end of the United States’ longest war.

During his remarks tonight, Blinken thanked the US’ allies and partners.

The exit also marks the first time in nearly two decades that the US and its allies have not had troops on the ground in Afghanistan. After $2 trillion in spending and nearly 2,000 US troops killed in action, the pullout also raises questions about the utility of the 20-year war.

With no US diplomats remaining in the country a senior State Department official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul to suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military retrograde but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any commitments to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk Afghans, to the Afghan people.”

As of Monday, more than 122,000 people had been airlifted from Hamid Karzai International Airport since July, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, including 5,400 Americans.

Some of the US military equipment used in Afghanistan was removed from the country and other items were disabled, Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, told reporters during a briefing on Monday.

The US military kept some equipment operating until nearly the end of the withdrawal to protect US forces and people at Kabul international airport, McKenzie said. That equipment was “demilitarized,” McKenzie said, meaning it was disabled in a way that makes it impossible to use.?

As an example, McKenzie said he advanced C-RAM defensive system, which stands for Counter-Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar, was left at Hamid Karzai International Airport. The automated C-RAM system, which detects incoming fire and destroys it with a machine gun, was activated just one day before the withdrawal was complete, when militants fired approximately five rockets at the airport. Two rockets that would have landed on the field were intercepted by C-RAM.?

The US military also left behind about 70 MRAPS or Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, 27 Humvees, which are tactical vehicles, and 73 aircrafts at the Kabul airport. This equipment was disabled, McKenzie said.?A “total of 73 aircraft, those aircraft will never fly again when we left, they’ll never be operated by anyone,” McKenzie said.

US Army soldiers assigned to the 10th Mountain Division stand security at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16.

President Biden thanked the final US forces serving in Afghanistan for executing the “dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled,” with no further loss of American lives, in a statement released Monday evening, making the end of the United States’ longest war.

“The past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in US history, evacuating over 120,000 US citizens, citizens of our allies, and Afghan allies of the United States. They have done it with unmatched courage, professionalism, and resolve,” the President wrote in the statement released Monday night.?

Biden said he will address the nation on Tuesday on his decision to not extend America’s presence in Afghanistan past Aug. 31, but said in his statement that “it was the unanimous recommendation of the Joint Chiefs and of all of our commanders on the ground to end our airlift mission as planned.”

The President also made clear he intends to hold the Taliban accountable to their commitment to allow those seeking to leave the country will be able to do so safely.

“The Taliban has made commitments on safe passage and the world will hold them to their commitments. It will include ongoing diplomacy in Afghanistan and coordination with partners in the region to reopen the airport allowing for continued departure for those who want to leave and delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” the President wrote.

Earlier Monday, CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie acknowledged that the US military “did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out.”

Biden ended his statement “with a moment of gratitude for the sacrifice of the 13 service members in Afghanistan who gave their lives last week to save tens of thousands,” naming each of the American service members killed.

The last two US officials to step off of Afghanistan soil and onto a US military aircraft out of Afghanistan were Gen. Chris Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the top US diplomat in Kabul, Charge d’Affaires Ross Wilson, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, told reporters during a briefing on Monday.

“The state and defense team came out on the last aircraft and were in fact the last people to step on the ground, step on the airplane,” he added.

The Federal Aviation Administration is prohibiting?US civil operators, pilots and US-registered civil aircraft from operating at any altitude over much of Afghanistan, according to a statement sent Monday.?

“US civil operators may continue to use one high-altitude jet route near the far eastern border for overflights. Any U.S. civil aircraft operator that wants to fly into/out of or over Afghanistan must receive prior authorization from the FAA,” the statement said.

Shortly before,?the FAA issued a notice to airmen, saying that effective immediately, Hamid Karzai International Airport is “uncontrolled.”?

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, announced Monday that the last US military planes have left Afghanistan. The US departure marks the end of a fraught, chaotic and bloody exit from the United States’ longest war.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, said the Taliban have been “very?pragmatic?and very businesslike” during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.?

McKenzie said that one of the last things Maj.?Gen. Chris?Donahue did before leaving Afghanistan was “talk to the Taliban commander.”

The US did coordinate with the Taliban commander on when the US was leaving, “but there was no discussion of turning anything over of that at all,” McKenzie said.

“We did not turn it over to the Taliban. General Donahue, one of the last things he did before leaving was talk to the Taliban commander that he had been coordinating with, as soon as, about the time we were going to leave just to let them know that we were leaving. But there was no discussion of turning anything over of that at all,” McKenzie said.

Parts of Kabul erupted in celebratory gunfire after the last?US C-17 aircraft lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport right before midnight local time on?Monday.?

A local reporter working with CNN heard heavy gunfire and saw tracer fire arcing across the sky shortly after the last aircraft departed.??

Video viewed by CNN showed Taliban fighters on a street in the capital firing automatic weapons into the air.?

An air crew prepares to load evacuees aboard an aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21 in Kabul, Afghanistan.?

The US military conducted the “largest non-combatant evacuation” in the military’s history over the past 18-day period starting on Aug.14, Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command said on Monday.

In the 18 days, the US military evacuated 79,000 civilians from Hamid Karzai International Airport, he added.

Out of the 79,000 evacuated, that included 6,000 Americans and more than 73,000 third-country and Afghan civilians, McKenzie said.

“This last category includes?Special Immigrant Visas, consular staff, at-risk Afghans and?their families,” he said.

“In total, US and coalition aircraft combined to evacuate more than 123,000 civilians which were all enabled by US military service members who were securing and operating the airfield,” Mckenzie explained.?

During the evacuation mission, the US military evacuated “more than 7,500 civilians” on average over the 18 days, including evacuating 19,000 on a single day during the mission, McKenzie said.?

“The numbers I provided represent?an accomplishment, but they do not do?justice to the determination,?the grit, the flexibility, and?the professionalism of the men?and women of the US military?and our coalition partners who?were able to rapidly combine?efforts and evacuate so many?under such difficult conditions,” he said.

Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, the top general of US Central Command, acknowledged that the US military “did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out.”?

“I want to emphasize again that simply because we have left that doesn’t mean the opportunities for both Americans that are in Afghanistan who want to leave and Afghans who want to leave. They will not be denied that opportunity,” McKenzie added.

CENTCOM Commander Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie said Monday that no American citizens made it on the final five evacuation flights leaving Kabul, meaning that Americans who may have wished to leave Afghanistan have been left on the ground.?

McKenzie said there were no evacuees left at the airport when the final flights left.

A senior State Department official said earlier Monday the Department believed there were fewer than 250 American citizens who may wish to leave Afghanistan.

“We believe there’s still a small number who remain, and we’re trying to determine exactly how many,” the official told reporters Monday. “We are going through manifests of people who have departed, we are calling and texting and WhatsApping and emailing our lists, in an effort to have a more concrete figure regarding how many Americans may remain.”

The official declined to say how the US intends to help Americans and others who wish to leave after the US government is no longer present on the ground, saying that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss it in his remarks on Monday evening.

Blinken on Sunday said that “our commitment to continue to help people leave Afghanistan who want to leave and who are not out by September 1st, that endures.?There’s no deadline on that effort. “

The top US general for the Middle East, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, said the last?US C-17 lifted off from Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport “on August 30th, this afternoon, at 3:29 p.m. East Coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”

The local Kabul time?for the last US aircraft liftoff was 11:59 p.m. Aug. 30, the US deadline for withdrawal was Aug. 31.

A press briefing is held at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, on August 30.

Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, announced the completion of US withdrawal from Afghanistan during a Pentagon news conference on Monday.

McKenzie added that the US will continue the diplomatic evacuation mission.

“While the military evacuation is?complete, the diplomatic mission?to ensure additional US citizens and eligible Afghans, who want to leave, continues,” he said.

“Tonight’s withdrawal signifies?both the end of the military?component of the evacuation, but?also the end of the nearly?20-year mission that began in?Afghanistan shortly after?September 11, 2001.?It’s a mission that brought?Osama bin Laden to a just end,?along with many of his?al Qaeda co-conspirators.?It was not a cheap mission.?The cost was 2,461 US Service?members and civilians killed and more than 20,000?who were injured.?Sadly, that kills 13 service?members who were killed last week by an?ISIS-K suicide bomber.?We honor their sacrifice today?as we remember their heroic?accomplishments,” he continued.

McKenzie also highlighted the sacrifices of those who served in Afghanistan and his personal connection to the mission.

“No words from me could possibly?capture the full measure of?sacrifices and accomplishments?of those who served, nor the?emotions they’re feeling at this?moment.?But I will say that I’m proud that both my son?and I have been a part of it,” he said.

Planes are seen on the tarmac at the airport in Kabul late on August 30.

The last US military planes left Afghanistan with troops and the remaining core diplomatic staff, Commander of US Central Command, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie announced Monday at the Pentagon.?

The US departure marks the end of a fraught, chaotic and bloody exit from the United States’ longest war.

The departure marks the first time in nearly two decades that the US and its allies have not had troops on the ground in Afghanistan after?$2 trillion in spending and nearly?2,000 US troops killed in action.

A senior State Department official said Monday that the State Department will not have civilians on the ground once the US military leaves Afghanistan. “We are not going to have civilians on the ground once the military has left,” they said.?

The official said that they expected the US Embassy in Kabul to suspend embassy operations upon the end of the military retrograde, but said “that doesn’t mean that we are suspending any commitments to American citizens in Afghanistan, to at risk Afghans, to the Afghan people.”

The UN Security Council has approved a resolution for creating a “safe passage” zone for people seeking to leave Afghanistan from Kabul’s airport after the US withdrawal from the country.

The Council is relying?on the Taliban to secure a safe passage out for Afghans and foreign nationals seeking to leave the country.

?Here is a breakdown of the vote:

Following the adoption of the UN resolution, UN Director at Human Rights Watch Louis Charbonneau issued a statement urging the Taliban to uphold human rights and?he called on other countries “do their part by speedily processing asylum claims and issuing visas for at-risk Afghans so they can resettle.”

President Joe Biden speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 26.

President Biden has made clear to his military commanders that they should “stop at nothing” to make ISIS pay for the deaths of 13 American service members in Afghanistan last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.

Asked by CNN’s Phil Mattingly if Biden personally gave the green light to a drone strike on an explosives-laden vehicle that US Central Command had said posed an “imminent ISIS-K threat,” to the airport in Kabul, Psaki did not directly answer, but said the commanders have the authorities necessary to carry out such strikes.

“Obviously, these are ISIS terrorists who killed US service members, and the President is regularly briefed, but he has directed them to go after and to kill these ISIS terrorists who have taken the lives of the men and women serving our country,” she added.

CNN has reported that Sunday’s drone strike killed 10 members of one family, including seven children, according to a relative of those killed who spoke to a local journalist working with CNN. Central Command had said earlier they were assessing the possibilities of civilian casualties.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that as the US military presence in Afghanistan approaches its final hours, Americans can expect to hear from President Biden in “the coming days.”

Psaki would not give specifics when asked whether Biden would speak on Tuesday, the US deadline to evacuate Afghanistan, saying the public should “expect to hear from the President in the coming days.”

Of his time spent with the families of those service members who died in Afghanistan last week, Psaki said Biden was “deeply impacted.”

“He knows first hand that there’s nothing you can say to a family member, to someone who loses a child, that is going to fill the black hole,” she said.

Psaki added that she would not speak to the specifics of those conversations but that Biden was “grateful” to be at Dover Air Force Base for the dignified transfer and to honor the service members sacrifice.

A funeral is held for the victims who were killed in a US defensive airstrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday.

The remains of a two-year-old girl were identified by family members in Kabul today as the 10th person to have died in Sunday’s US drone strike, Omid Haqparast, a family member told CNN.

The remains of the girl, named Malika, were recovered on Monday.?

According to the family, Malika had been missing after the airstrike. They went to several hospitals but were unable to find her. When they came back to the airstrike site, near where they live, they began searching again, and somehow found her remains at the scene – a day after the airstrike.

The US carried out a?defensive airstrike?in Kabul Sunday, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an “imminent” threat to the airport, US Central Command said.

Haqparast told CNN it is unclear whether Malika was inside the vehicle or in the compound that was targeted by the drone on Sunday.

Relatives of the 10 victims spent Monday at a Kabul hospital identifying remains and separating them into coffins.

Two of the coffins were marked with the names Malika and Sumaya. Both girls were two-years-old and the youngest victims of Sunday’s airstrike, according to the family.

The funerals took place on Monday for the 10 family members killed on the hill of Khawja Rawash. Family members shouted “Death to America” as they gathered around the coffins.

Some more background: The US strike came after two bombing attacks?on Thursday outside Kabul’s airport that killed 13 US service members and at least 60 Afghans, according to the Pentagon and Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health.

The deadly blasts occurred as the United States and other Western countries raced to complete a massive evacuation of their citizens and Afghan allies following the Taliban takeover of the country.

The US military said in their statement on Sunday that there were “Significant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material.”

Maj. Gen. Bill Taylor, Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations, told a press briefing Monday:?“We are aware of reports of civilians casualties. We take these reports extremely seriously”

On Monday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the US works hard to avoid civilian casualties.

“But you know what else we didn’t want to see happen. We didn’t want to see happen what we believe to be a very real, a very specific and a very imminent threat to the Hamid Karzai International Airport and to our troops operating at the airport as well as civilians around it and in it and that is another thing that we were very concerned about.”

The “threat stream is still real. It’s still active, and, in many cases, it’s still specific,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said when asked if another attack on the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul was still likely.

“We’re taking it very seriously and we will right up until the end,” Kirby said.

Kirby said after the US conducted a drone strike on a vehicle heading towards Kabul airport on Sunday, there were rocket attacks on the airport.

Former Afghan Special Forces commandos may be incorporated into the British army after fleeing Kabul, according to one senior source?in the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry.

The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has yet to be formalized.??

The idea, according to the UK’s Press Association, has the support of Conservative MPs who are also military veterans including Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, and Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the defense select committee.

The timeline for discussion of the proposal within Parliament is currently unclear.??

The proposal is to incorporate hundreds of Afghans who have had intense training from British Special forces, and years of combat experience, into the army either as a regiment in its own right or by absorbing the soldiers into other units.?

“We can’t treat them like the Poles in ‘45 otherwise they’ll all become Uber drivers,” said one senior defense source.?

An Defense Ministry source close to Defense Secretary Ben Wallace speaking on condition of anonymity,?said that the Cabinet minister was “considering a variety of options within Operation?Warm Welcome.?”

First reported in the Daily Telegraph the plan to absorb the Afghan troops would be a way of keeping the expensively trained soldiers’ skills available to British generals – much like Britain’s other “foreign legion” the Brigade of Gurkhas, who are recruited from?Nepal.

At least 34 Afghan children who were evacuated arrived in the United States without parents, according to an administration official, although some have already been reunited with family in the country.

The children are placed into the care of the Health and Human Services Department, which oversees an expansive shelter network to house minors until they can be reunited with a sponsor, such as a parent or guardian in the US. The unaccompanied children arriving from Afghanistan are placed into that network until they can be relocated.

The figure,?first reported by CBS, is small compared to the hundreds of migrant children who are transferred to HHS care daily from the US southern border, though it underscores the frenzied evacuation out of Afghanistan. HHS did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.??

CNN?earlier reported?about four young siblings who landed in the US on Sunday after hiding in Afghanistan’s capital. They are waiting to be reunite with their mother, who lives in the US.

The administration has implemented additional medical support for vulnerable populations, including unaccompanied children, according to DHS?Chief Medical Officer?Dr. Pritesh Gandhi, who was speaking on a call to local and state law enforcement Friday.?State health officials, as well as staff from HHS and the?Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are also assisting, he said.?

There is a standardized process for all arrivals from Afghanistan to the United States, which includes Covid-19 testing and potential quarantine. Covid-19 vaccinations are also available at both Dulles and Philadelphia airportts, the airports being used for arrivals.?

Full medical care, including,?tuberculosis screening, MMR?vaccination?and polio vaccination, is available at the military bases, where many Afghans are being temporarily housed in the US.?

British military personnel depart a C-17 aircraft at Royal Air Force Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, late Sunday, August 29. The final UK troops and diplomatic staff were airlifted from Kabul on Saturday, drawing to a close Britain's 20-year engagement in Afghanistan and a two-week operation to rescue UK nationals and Afghan allies.

The UK has evacuated a total of 15,063 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 13, the country’s Home Office tweeted Monday.?

More than 8,500 of the evacuated are at-risk Afghans, who are part of the country’s ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) re-settlement scheme for Afghan nationals that have supported British efforts in Afghanistan.?

“Our commitment to the people of Afghanistan will endure,” adds the tweet.?

About 1,200 evacuees departed Afghanistan on 26 military C-17 aircrafts in the last 24 hours, Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of Regional Operations for the Joint Staff, said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Monday. In total, 28 flights departed from Kabul airport in the last 24 hours, he added.

More than 122,000 people – including 5,400 Americans – have departed Afghanistan as of today, Taylor added.?

Now, evacuees are awaiting follow-on transport in both the US Central Command area of responsibility which covers the Middle East and the European Command area of responsibility which covers Europe.?

Another 27,000 evacuees are waiting for “follow-on movement from six active locations,” in the US Central Command area, and 22,000 people are waiting for follow on movement in the European Command area, Taylor said.

There are 13,000 evacuees that remain at five different locations in the Northern Command area of responsibility, Taylor added.?

17 flights will transport more than 3,700 people to both Dulles and Philadelphia International Airports today, Taylor said.

“These numbers are a snapshot in time and movement of personnel is very fluid. We do not expect these passenger totals to match the total number of evacuees from Afghanistan nor will they match the total number of evacuees in the United States,” Taylor said.

The Pentagon said military operations are still are continuing in Afghanistan ahead of President Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw US troops.

Joint Staff deputy director for regional operations Army Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor said the focus is on the security of the US troops who are still in Kabul but they continue to have capability to evacuate Afghans until the very end.

Taylor did note that, “while operations in Afghanistan will conclude soon, the DOD effort to support the interagency is ongoing.”

The Uzbek-Afghan border is now completely closed and no land crossings are allowed through the Termez checkpoint, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

“In order to ensure security, the Uzbek-Afghan border is currently completely closed and land crossing through the Termez checkpoint is not carried out,” said the statement posted on the website of Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that the opening of the Termez checkpoint on the Uzbek-Afghan border is not planned any time soon.

According to the Ministry, attempts to cross the Uzbek-Afghan land border, regardless of their reasons, will be “suppressed in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.”

Previously, Uzbekistan allowed people from Afghanistan to fly into Uzbekistan as a transit point on their way to other countries, but, the Ministry stated, the country does not accept any refugees from Afghanistan on its territory.

The Uzbek officials emphasized that the country is “firmly committed to maintaining traditionally friendly and good-neighborly relations with Afghanistan and the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring country”.

US soldiers board a US Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul on August 30, 2021.

Two United Nations diplomats tell CNN they expect the UN Security Council to vote to approve a resolution calling for a safe passage area for people wanting leave Kabul airport after the US departs.

The vote would be after 3 p.m. ET Monday, however timing could change.

France, the United Kingdom and non-Council member Germany proposed a Security Council resolution calling for safe passage for those leaving Afghanistan, that would include counterterrorism, human rights, and humanitarian elements, CNN reported over the weekend.

It is not clear yet if China and Russia are fully on board.

Apparently, security for a safe passage zone will be left to the Taliban, according one diplomat.

The Taliban remains on several UN terrorism lists.

A plane carrying World Health Organization (WHO) health supplies and medicines landed in Afghanistan on Monday according to the WHO. This is the first shipment of medical supplies to land in the country since it came under Taliban control, the WHO statement said.

The supplies arrived on Monday at 12:25 p.m. local time and arrived at Mazar-i-Sharif airport. Supplies included trauma kits and emergency health kits. They are enough to cover the needs of more than 200,000 people as well as 3,500 surgical procedures, and can treat 6,500 trauma patients. They are set to be delivered immediately to 40 health facilities in 29 provinces across the country, the WHO statement read.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, provided by the Pakistan government, was loaded in Dubai by the WHO logistics team and flew directly to Mazar-i-Sharif. It is the first of three flights planned with PIA to address the urgent shortages in medicine and medical supplies in Afghanistan.

“I would like to thank the Government of Pakistan and PIA for their efforts to support WHO and the people of Afghanistan. Humanitarian agencies such as WHO have faced enormous challenges in sending life-saving supplies to Afghanistan in recent weeks due to security and logistics constraints. The support of the Pakistani people has been timely and life-saving,” Al-Mandhari said.

Earlier Monday morning, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan tweeted, “First PIA Cargo flight with WHO medical supplies from Islamabad to Mazar Sharif today. A humanitarian air bridge for essential supplies to Afghanistan in coordination with international agencies. Thanx PIA.”

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and others gather for a UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan on August 16, 2021 at the United Nations in New York.

The United Nations Security Council will meet at 3 p.m. ET Monday on Afghanistan, according to the public schedule.

The council is likely to be briefed by a UN official on the latest.

This comes after France, the United Kingdom and non-Council member Germany proposed a Security Council resolution “calling for safe passage for those leaving Afghanistan,” that would include counterterrorism, human rights, and humanitarian elements, diplomats told CNN over the weekend.

It’s unclear whether the council will discuss this.

The briefing will be available LIVE from UNTV.

An US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul on August 30.

As the US deadline for leaving Kabul nears, a steady stream of US military aircraft has been arriving at and leaving the Hamid Karzai International Airport in daylight hours Monday.

One C-17 military transport aircraft was seen to deploy flares on its final approach. Just before dusk, a Qatari military transport also touched down.

CNN has been monitoring flight tracking sites and a live video feed from near the airport.?

Most of the aircraft have been arriving in Kabul from bases in the Gulf.?

Pakistan has not “given refugee status to a single person since Kabul fell,” the country’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said at a news conference in the capital city of Islamabad.?

Rasheed said that Pakistan will not be covering the expenses of evacuees flying into its borders, and any special planes arriving at Islamabad International Airport for evacuation purposes are paying fees to Pakistan.?

According to Rasheed, 1,627 evacuees have been flown into Islamabad from Afghanistan and “some 500 to 600 people” are “waiting at the airport” in Islamabad where they will be flown out directly by their sponsors.?In addition to this evacuees are being given “special 21 day transit visas” while they wait in Pakistan to be flown out by their sponsors.?

Rasheed stated that in the event of any security threat, “Pakistan’s army is on posted every inch of the Afghan-Pakistan border and ensuring that its doing its duty.”?

The US evacuation mission has massively slowed down in the last few days, as to be expected as the country nears the August 31 exit deadline.

Despite Taliban assurances that foreign nationals or anyone with the appropriate documentation will be allowed to leave after this date, that’s not doing much to alleviate the concerns of many Afghans still in the country.

One family from Texas who are US passport holders were in a complete panic Monday morning that they would not be “one of the lucky ones” to escape before Tuesday’s deadline.

The family lives in the US but had gone to Afghanistan to visit parents and just happened to get caught up in the Taliban takeover.

Over the last two weeks, they have repeatedly tried to reach airport gates but failed to get past Taliban checkpoints.

Many people are fearful of the purge or bloodletting, once the international community leaves Afghanistan.

Displaced Afghan women and children from Kunduz take shelter at a mosque in Kabul on August 13.

While the massive evacuation efforts are “praiseworthy,” the majority of Afghans — some 39 million — will remain inside the country once the airlift ends, and need assistance, says Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, in a statement published Monday.?

The UN High Commissioner said Afghanistan’s borders should be kept open for people seeking safety abroad.?

He also points out that neighboring Pakistan and Iran host more than 2 million registered Afghan refugees, almost 90% of the total. “As we continue advocating for open borders, more countries must share this humanitarian responsibility,” said Grandi.

The Commissioner stresses that once the images of desperate crowds at Kabul’s airport seeking a way out, which “sparked an outpouring of compassion around the world,” fade there will still be “millions who need the international community to act.”?

An US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul on August 30.

The efforts to evacuate people from Kabul are winding down as the August 31 deadline approaches, but continue despite grave dangers on the ground.?

Approximately 1,200 people were evacuated from the capital in the last 24 hours, almost entirely on US military flights, according to the White House.

It’s down from a high point last week when 21,000 people were evacuated in a 24-hour period (last Monday into Tuesday).

It brings the total to approximately 116,700 people evacuated from Afghanistan since August 14, and 122,300 people since late July.?

President Joe Biden was briefed overnight on a rocket attack at the Kabul airport.

This post has been updated to include additional information.

The Taliban would like a “cultural, economic, trade and financial relationship” with India, a top official said in a speech posted online Saturday.

The deputy head of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, said that “India is another great and close neighboring country in the region. India is an important country in the region for us and we want to have positive relationship with them as well.”?

The Indian government has not made any official comments on a future relationship with Afghanistan, citing the rapidly evolving ground situation.?

When asked about recognizing the new leadership in Kabul, Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said at a news conference last week that the prime concern for now was people’s security and safety.

Earlier this month, Beheshta Arghand made history in Afghanistan.

Arghand, a female anchor at TOLO, an Afghan news network, interviewed a senior Taliban representative on the air. The interview garnered headlines around the world.

Two days later, Arghand did it again, interviewing Malala Yousafzai, the activist who survived a Taliban assassination attempt, in what TOLO described as the first time Yousafzai had ever been interviewed on Afghan TV.

Arghand was blazing a trail, but her work has been put on hold. She decided to flee Afghanistan, citing the dangers that so many journalists and ordinary Afghans are facing.

Arghand corresponded with CNN Business via WhatsApp and recounted the experience of the past two weeks.

Read the full story here:

Related article Female journalist flees Afghanistan following groundbreaking TV interview with Taliban spokesman

Soldiers board an US Air Force aircraft at the airport in Kabul on August 30.

For some on the ground in Afghanistan, the next hours can’t go soon enough. For others they’re desperate to slow down the clock.

As many as five rockets were fired at Kabul airport Monday, US officials said, with no casualties reported so far.

The rocket attack activated a counter-rocket – or C-RAM – defense system, essentially mitigating the force of the onslaught.

It appears the militants were able to use a civilian car as a kind of makeshift rocket launcher. Videos show the car completely incinerated.

It comes as the US carried out a?defensive airstrike?in Kabul on Sunday, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an “imminent” threat to the airport, US Central Command said.

Nine members of one family – including six children – were killed in the drone strike targeting a vehicle in a residential neighborhood of Kabul, a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.

All of this gives a sense of just how tense the situation still is, as we enter the final hours of the US’s 20-year war in Afghanistan.

Evacuees from Afghanistan are seen at a temporary emergency shelter at the Ramstein Air Base on August 26, in Ramstein-Miesenbach, Germany.

Around 15,000 evacuees from Afghanistan are awaiting onwards travel at the Ramstein US Air Base in Germany, the base’s Public Affairs Office (PAO) said on Monday.

Ramstein is one of the largest US airbases outside America, and has been transformed into a temporary transit point for evacuees to the US.

As of 7.30 a.m local time (1.30 a.m. ET) Monday, approximately 100 US Air Force aircraft have arrived at the base. Within the next 12 hours, approximately 1,700 more evacuees are expected to arrive.

More than 8,000 evacuees have departed on approximately 38 flights from Ramstein Air Base to their resettlement locations, the majority of which are in the US.

Within the next 12 hours, more than 2,000 evacuees are expected to depart Ramstein Air Base, according to the PAO.?

In Italy, a recently arrived Afghan refugee tells CNN about what he’s accomplished over the past 20 years and his heartache at leaving it all behind.

Dr Arif is a two-time refugee. He first fled Afghanistan in 1993 when he was 32-years-old, walking for weeks to reach safety in Pakistan before eventually moving to Italy.

Dr Arif.

He returned in 2006 with the Italian Development Agency to rebuild his country, creating infrastructure like roads and training medical staff.

Elsewhere in Italy, Arianna Brigante is chairwoman of the agency Nove Onlus, which has worked in Afghanistan for the last decade to empower women.

Arianna Brigante.

The group set up a women’s driving school in Kabul and provided a shuttle service so women and girls could get home from work and school safely.

She said the Afghan women who Nove Onlus were able to help evacuate were now without hope.

“They don’t think there is a future in Afghanistan anymore,” Brigante said.

A damaged car is seen after?a US drone strike?reportedly targeted a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an "imminent" threat in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, August 29.

The US carried out a?defensive airstrike?in Kabul Sunday, targeting a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber who posed an “imminent” threat to the airport, US Central Command said.

Among those killed were nine members of one family – including six children – a relative of the dead told a local journalist working with CNN.

One witness said it was 5 p.m. when he heard the noise of a rocket coming.

“I was scared and ducked by the side of the road.” The man “waited to see where it will hit and then there was a loud bang.”

After the rocket hit, “all the neighbors tried to help and brought water to put out the fire” he said.

One neighbor also said he lost his friend in the airstrike.

And another witness said the noise of the rocket was “horrific.”

A group of 86 Afghan media workers and their families arrived in Mexico on Sunday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry announced. This is the third group of evacuees from Afghanistan to have arrived in Mexico since the Taliban takeover.?

The evacuation of the workers was coordinated by Mexican embassies in Iran, Qatar and the United Kingdom and the Mexican federal government, said the Foreign Ministry said.

The travel and living costs of the group will be covered by private sponsors and civil society organizations, the ministry added.

“The reception of people from Afghanistan is a political decision of the Mexican State and it had been carried out in full adherence to the historical tradition of humanitarian assistance in our country,” the Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

On August 24, Mexico received a group of five Afghan women from a renowned women’s robotics teams. The following day, 124 Afghan journalists who requested humanitarian protection arrived in the country.

Journalists take photos of a destroyed vehicle where rockets were fired from, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, August 30.

A civilian vehicle was apparently used as an improvised platform in the rocket attack aimed at the Kabul airport on Monday.

Video obtained by CNN showed the vehicle in flames on a street in Kabul’s Khair Khana neighborhood after the rockets were fired.?

The incinerated remnants of the car are covered with debris, the glass missing from all windows and rubber melted from the tires. The car appears to have been modified with six launch tubes, which are visible inside the car’s charred skeleton.

Rocket launcher tubes are seen inside the destroyed vehicle.

Zia ud Din, a potato-chip seller whose house was next to where the car was parked, heard the bang of the rockets launching.?

“There were a few big bangs, we all were inside the house – the whole family – when we heard the loud bangs, we ran into the garden, everything caught fire,” he said. “Fortunately, no one is killed or injured.”

Eyewitnesses said one of the rockets hit a nearby building. A?rocket impact was visible on a nearby high-rise tower. Taliban fighters and eyewitnesses said there were no casualties in the building.

Taliban fighters had initially cordoned off the area, telling bystanders the situation remained dangerous, though they later allowed journalists on the street.

A US official told CNN the rockets were likely launched by ISIS-K, but cautioned it was too early to know for sure.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the rocket attack at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

The US President was informed “operations continue uninterrupted” at the airport, she said, as the August 31 deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan approaches.

Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, August 30.

As many as five rockets were fired at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday, a US official told CNN.

The?C-RAM?defense system – designed to protect ground forces against rockets, artillery and mortars – installed at?the airport engaged with the rockets, the official said.

There are no reports of any casualties, the official said.

The official said that the rockets aimed at the airport were likely launched?by ISIS-K, but cautions it is too early to know for sure.

Residents of Kabul and local media said a blast was heard in the early morning hours, local time, in the Afghan capital.

There was?no clear indication of what kind of explosion it was or any official confirmation of the source of the blast.

The vehicle that was targeted by the US in Sunday’s strike on Kabul was next to a building and contained one suicide bomber, a US official told CNN.

It remains unclear if the vehicle was intended to be a car bomb, or if the suicide bomber was using it for transport.

“It was loaded up and ready to go,” the official told CNN.

Earlier, US CENTCOM said the airstrike on a vehicle in Kabul eliminated “an imminent ISIS-K threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport.”

The US military acknowledged Sunday night?that there are reports of civilian casualties following a US airstrike against a vehicle?in Kabul deemed to be “an imminent ISIS-K threat.”??

A spokesperson for US Central Command said “powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the?destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties.”

Note: The term “casualties” can refer to wounded?or dead.

“We are aware of reports of civilian casualties following our strike on a vehicle in Kabul today,” Capt. Bill Urban, spokesperson for US Central Command, said in a statement.?“We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of innocent life.”

US CENTCOM originally said there were no indications of civilian casualties.

CNN reported earlier that multiple members from a family, including children were killed in the US strike in Kabul, a relative?of those killed said.