US troops land in Kabul to evacuate diplomats

Some expatriate Afghans have been sharing their frustrations with trying to help loved ones stranded in Kabul.

One German resident who contacted the BBC said his relatives had requested special immigrant visas for the US, which he says they are eligible for. However, they are still waiting.

“They are in a very bad situation, but the thing is, all the embassies are closed because of corona. I don’t know what will happen with my family. That’s why I want to share my pain and my sadness with people and say just help Afghanistan,” he said.

They have considered going through a third country such as Tajikistan. But again, the embassies are closed.

“I speak to my family every day. Many days I’m in my German class but my mind, my focus, everything is in Afghanistan. I’m thinking about my family.

“I don’t know what will happen. My family are afraid. Just last night I talked with my sister and she was crying. I told her be safe, take care, don’t go outside.”

He appealed for the US and UK to remain for some time.

“Because of their colleagues, because of those people who work for peace, construction, children’s rights and women’s rights."

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As we mentioned earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, warned that Afghanistan is spinning out of control.

He also said he was “deeply disturbed by early indications that the Taliban are imposing severe restrictions on human rights in the areas under their control, particularly targeting women and journalists”.

“It is particularly horrifying and heart-breaking to see reports of the hard-won rights of Afghan girls and women being ripped away from them,” he said.

Under the previous period of Taliban rule in 1996-2001, women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male family member when leaving the house.

As news of Taliban forces’ rapid takeover of major cities raised concerns about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, BBC Persian spoke to a US-based women's rights and peace activist.

When asked about her take on the developments in her homeland, Malalai Habibi became visibly upset and listed prominent Afghan women who had long and repeatedly warned of a Taliban takeover and what it would mean for millions of women and children.

“All of this was predicted: Taliban murdering civilians, slaughtering women, forced marriages for women, all of it. What's there left to say that we haven’t warned about already?” Malalai asked.

But sadly, she said, no-one had heard their voices: “Not the media, not the politicians and not the international community, and now the people of Afghanistan are falling victims to the dirty, domestic and international politics.”

Malalai was no longer in the mood to talk. Given that the voices of Afghan women are now ignored, she said she hoped her silence would instead gain attention. She then taped over her mouth.

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As US troops arrive in Kabul, the UK government has also announced the beginning of its operation to evacuate British nationals and others eligible to relocate to the UK.

Six hundred troops have begun deploying to support the evacuations as part of Operation Pitting, while officials will also be sent to help speed up processing visas and other documents from Afghanistan, according to a government statement.

RAF aircraft could be used if needed.

More than 2,000 local members of staff who worked with the UK in Afghanistan have been relocated to the UK along with their families since April this year, the government says.

The UK has urged all British nationals to leave the country immediately in response to the deteriorating security situation, providing emergency travel documents and loans where appropriate.

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Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod has announced that Denmark will be closing its embassy in the Afghan capital for now, as the security situation deteriorates.

All employees at the embassy are being evacuated, he added, calling on all Danes to leave the country immediately.

Just yesterday, Denmark announced that it would be suspending deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers to Afghanistan until 8 October - joining a growing list of European countries doing the same.

The decision was an about turn. Last week, Denmark and five other EU nations signed a letter to the European Commission, insisting on their right to forcibly deport Afghan asylum seekers whose cases had been rejected.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says that the US is "able to move thousands" of evacuees out of the country each day.

The estimate came after he was asked about the plan to rescue interpreters and other Afghans who have worked with the US government.

"But that's just the air lift capacity. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to end up with that everyday," he said from the Pentagon in Virginia.

"It's going to depend on the processing in, and how that goes," he added.

"So what we want to be able to do is get there fast... and be able to provide as much capacity to the State Department as we can and our intention is to be able to move thousands per day."

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President Ashraf Ghani has ruled out the idea of resigning, multiple sources have told the BBC’s Secunder Kermani in Afghanistan.

Secunder reports that the Taliban strategy now appears to be one of isolating Afghanistan’s central leadership in Kabul, and either making a military push into the city or waiting for international pressure on Ghani to step down.

Meanwhile, a key Taliban opponent who surrendered this week has been rallying other warlords to capitulate.

“This is what Taliban mean by power sharing,” Secunder says about the deals being made between the Taliban and independent warlords, rather than with the internationally-backed central government.

“Since the Moscow conference in 2019 I got the sense they’re happy to make deals with power brokers like Ismail Khan,” says Secunder, referring to the captured anti-Taliban figure.

“That means they won’t face constant war, and they can say it’s not monopoly rule.

“No room for Ghani in their vision, though.”

As we reported earlier, former US President Donald Trump has issued a statement on the "tragic mess in Afghanistan", taking it as as an opportunity to ask Americans "do you miss me yet?".

His spokeswoman added on Twitter: "Trump bombed Taliban to negotiating table; Biden let them waltz to Kandahar."

But earlier today, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace laid the blame for the present situation squarely at Mr Trump's door.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he described former Mr Trump's previous agreement with the Taliban as a "rotten deal" that potentially undermined the Afghan government.

"We as international partners found it uncomfortable because we had deployed through a US framework... so when they pulled that framework, we had to leave."

These images from today show how the country has been affected by the Taliban advance.

The militants are continuing their rapid offensive, seizing more territory and capturing key cities. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes.

The US and UK have sent troops to the capital Kabul in order to evacuate nationals.

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A senior US State Department official has deleted a tweet expressing sympathy for the women of Afghanistan.

"Woke up with a heavy heart, thinking about all the Afghan women and girls I worked with during my time in Kabul," wrote Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Molly Montgomery.

"They were the beneficiaries of many of the gains we made, and now they stand to lose everything," she added. “We empowered them to lead, and now we are powerless to protect them.”

A spokesperson later told Fox News that she "deleted the tweet on her own volition".

It is unfair to say Afghans need to fight against Taliban militants by themselves, the former US national security adviser Gen HR McMaster has said.

The militants are "the enemies of all civilisation, of all humanity", he told the BBC's Yalda Hakim on Thursday.

"Afghanistan is spinning out of control," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday, calling for an immediate halt to the Taliban offensive.

"The message from the international community to those on the warpath must be clear: seizing power through military force is a losing proposition," he told reporters.

"That can only lead to prolonged civil war or to the complete isolation of Afghanistan."

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US Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says the US military is "certainly concerned about the speed with which the Taliban is moving".

Asked if the US is concerned that the Afghans will not mount a strong defence of Kabul, Kirby hits back: "That's a question for Afghan leadership to determine for themselves."

"This is a moment for the Afghans to unite — the leadership and the military," he added.

Kirby refused to discuss the rules of engagement for US soldiers who have just arrived in Afghanistan to help embassy staff in Kabul.

"Kabul is not, right now, in an imminent threat environment," he continued, adding that the Taliban is moving to isolate the city.

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Back when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, women faced many restrictions on their daily lives: girls were banned from schools, while women were only allowed to leave their homes if they covered their faces and were accompanied by a close male relative.

The movement insists it's changed in the 20 years since it was forced from power, but some women have told a very different story since the militants began their rapid advance across the county.

Noor Khatera, 43, was one of nine women ordered to leave their office at the Azizi Bank in the southern city of Kandahar in July, according to Reuters news agency. Just two days later, a similar scene unfolded at a bank in the city of Herat in the west of the country.

"It's really strange to not be allowed to get to work, but now this is what it is," Noor told Reuters.

"I taught myself English and even learned how to operate a computer, but now I will have to look for a place where I can just work with more women around."

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby is now taking questions at a Pentagon briefing.

He says that the US will continue to conduct airstrikes on behalf of the Afghan government, but says they are not a "panacea" for all security issues facing the country.

"We never argued that our airstrikes from the air were going to turn the tide on the ground," said Kirby.

"What we have said is the Afghans on the ground have the capacity to do that.

"They have the capability. They have the air force. They have the weaponry. It's indigenous forces that can make the difference on the ground."

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A former Afghan interpreter who worked for the US military tells BBC News that he and other Afghans who have escaped the country are consumed with worry at the worsening security situation.

“We weren’t expecting this, for the Taliban to take over so many places so quickly," says Zia Ghafoori, who was wounded while attached to a US Special Forces unit in 2008.

"We thought there was a back-up plan from the [the US and its coalition allies] to save the Afghan government and save Afghan families.”

Speaking from the state of North Carolina, where he now lives, he continues: “I think children will not get to be children. Females will be taken from their homes and married to Taliban fighters.”

“Our families are in danger right now. We don’t know what to do, where to go, or who’s going to take action. We could lose everybody.”

Mr Ghafoori, 37, added that he is concerned for the fate of thousands of Afghan interpreters who remain in the country.

“Everyone is worried about their families. Their parents. I fear they’re going to get tortured,” Mr Ghafoori said.

“Someone must think about those families that are over there.”

Read more: From Afghan interpreter to US homeless

The Spanish government has said it is working to resettle translators who helped its forces in Afghanistan, news agency AFP reports.

A timeline for the relocations has not been announced but Madrid plans to process asylum applications by Afghans who worked with Spanish forces once they arrive, an interior ministry source said on Friday.

Spain withdrew its final soldiers in May this year.

Separately, Switzerland has said it will offer humanitarian visas to around 40 Afghan development agency workers and their families.

Last week, the UK foreign secretary announced that Afghan journalists who worked for the British media would be allowed to relocate to the UK if they are under "imminent threat" from the Taliban.

Some Afghan interpreters who had put their lives at risk by working with the British military have been permitted to relocate to the UK with their families since 2013.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price has just been on television, where he was asked to confirm whether the US and Taliban had brokered a deal to spare the US embassy in Kabul from attack.

"The Taliban have said themselves that they have no intention of targeting diplomatic facilities," Price told MSNBC, without addressing the question.

"Of course that is written into international law that they not do so.

"We are not going to trust anything the Taliban says. What we're going to be looking for is what they do. What we can tell through all sources of information that they plan to do.

"That's why we're taking these prudent steps right now to relocate some our civilian personnel. To take them potentially out of harm's way."

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UN security officials say they are evaluating the security situation in Afghanistan on “an hour-by-hour basis”.

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Reuters that the approximately 3,000 Afghan staff and 300 international staff in the country had a “very light footprint” in the areas conquered by the Taliban.

"The current situation is that we're evaluating, literally on an hour-by-hour basis, the security situation both in Kabul and in other locations,” she said.

“There is no evacuation of UN staff going on," she continued, adding that the UN has “contingency plans for the best case and for the worst case”.

“At this point we are remaining in Kabul,” she added.