Taliban government talks continue in Kabul as US issues warning to stranded citizens

Militant group prepares to formalise rule as thousands of Afghans trying to flee add to chaos at Kabul airport

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  Pakistani soldiers stand guard as Afghan and Pakistani citizens queue to cross into Afghanistan at the border in Chaman, Pakistan. AFP

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  Indonesians repatriated from Kabul, Afghanistan, arrive in Jakarta. Reuters

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  Taliban fighters patrol Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. The Taliban celebrated Afghanistan's Independence Day on Thursday by declaring they beat the United States, but challenges to their rule ranging from running a country severely short on cash and bureaucrats to potentially facing an armed opposition began to emerge. (AP Photo / Rahmat Gul)

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  A Taliban fighter patrols the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul. AP

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  Passengers at the departure terminal of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. AP

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  A US Air Force officer assists people aboard a C-17 Globemaster III plane at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. AFP

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  A US Marine waits with a child at the airport in Kabul. AFP

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  Children wait for the next flight at Hamid Karzai International Airport. AFP

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  A US soldier with a reunited family at the airport in Kabul. AFP

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  US troops provide assistance at Hamid Karzai International Airport. AFP

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  A US C-17 aircraft transports US Marines to Afghanistan from an air base in Kuwait. Reuters

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  US soldiers help a woman over a wall as crowds gather at Kabul airport. Reuters

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  A daughter hugs her father at Skopje International Airport in North Macedonia, after he was repatriated from Afghanistan. EPA

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  A man from Afghanistan with his son at an undisclosed location in the Middle East after being flown out of Kabul. AP

The Taliban's senior leaders were set to gather in Kabul on Saturday to discuss the establishment of an "inclusive" government, as desperation deepened for thousands of people still trying to leave Afghanistan amid a chaotic evacuation operation.

A senior Taliban official told AFP Abdul Ghani Baradar, who co-founded the hardline group, would meet "leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up".

Taliban officials said the meeting would include a senior official from the Haqqani Network, which has been designated a terrorist organisation by the US, with million-dollar bounties on its leadership.

The western-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani collapsed after the Taliban entered Kabul on Sunday, retaking control of Afghanistan two decades after the 2001 US-led invasion toppled their regime because they were sheltering Al Qaeda.

The Taliban have promised a "positively different" rule to their reign between 1996 and 2001, when they imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law that excluded women from public life.

They have vowed not to seek revenge against their opponents, promising a general amnesty for anyone who worked with the US-backed government.

But reports of Taliban fighters going door-to-door to hunt down former government officials, journalists and people who worked with US and Nato forces have increased fears about retribution from the group.

On Saturday, an unnamed militant confirmed to Reuters that foreigners were being "interrogated" before leaving the country. It was not specified what such interrogations might entail.

Following reports that some US citizens had been violently assaulted in Kabul, the militant said "we are questioning some of them before they exit the country."

US warns citizens

The US State Department issued new instructions to Americans still in the country on Saturday.

"Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so," read a travel advisory update.

On Friday it became clear that the US was working on other methods of evacuating US citizens and a select number of Afghan allies, other than allowing them to travel by road through a security cordon around the airport.

Former foes, Taliban fighters and international coalition forces have had to coordinate to stop crowds of desperate Afghans over-running the airport.

As tensions rose outside the airport's gates, the US military has sent helicopters to rescue over 150 Americans and 96 Afghan allies unable to reach the airport gates, an official said.

Senior American military officials confirmed on Saturday that an American CH-47 Chinook helicopter picked up Afghans, mostly women and children, and ferried them to the airport on Friday. The US Army’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division airlifted the Afghans from Camp Sullivan, a small outpost several hundred metres from the airport.

The officials say sorties like this one have been underway for days as Afghans seek to flee the country taken over by the Taliban.

American officials earlier confirmed that evacuation operations from Afghanistan had stalled for about seven hours Friday, because the receiving base in Qatar was overflowing.

On Saturday, the Pentagon gave a more detailed update on the crisis. The US has evacuated 2,500 Americans from Kabul over the past week, senior officials said, adding that Washington is fighting against "time and space" to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

During the briefing, Major General William Taylor said a total of 17,000 people have so far been evacuated.

As evacuation efforts continued, in the capital the security situation was deteriorating.

Last week, Women for Afghan Women (WAW), the largest non-governmental organisation in the country supporting women's rights, said it was monitoring reports of kidnappings being carried out by suspected Taliban militants. Fear has gripped the city.

"Please, please, please help me ... where should I go, what should I do?" one man, who said he worked for the US embassy in the mid-2000s, wrote on a WhatsApp group set up for people to share information on how to leave the country.

"I have tried to get there [to the airport] for some days, but I cannot reach. Please save me."

Six days after the Taliban took back power, the flow of people trying to flee the group continues to overwhelm the international community.

Traffic, people and checkpoints choked roads to Kabul airport, while families hoping for a miracle escape crowded between the barbed-wire surrounds of an unofficial no-man's land separating the Taliban from US-troops and remnants of an Afghan special forces brigade.

Thousands of US soldiers are at the airport trying to shepherd foreigners and Afghans on to flights, but President Joe Biden admitted the presence of troops offered no guarantees of safe passage.

"This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history. I cannot promise what the final outcome will be," Mr Biden said on Friday.

On Saturday, Bahrain joined the UAE in offering to assist the evacuation effort, saying it was “allowing flights to make use of Bahrain’s transit facilities”.

On Friday, the UAE said it would host up to 5,000 Afghans before they depart for a third country, following a request by the US after its Al Udeid Airbase in Qatar filled up with those fleeing the Taliban takeover.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said so far 13 countries agreed to host at-risk Afghans, at least temporarily, while another 12 agreed to serve as transit points for people fleeing Afghanistan, including US citizens.