(Bloomberg) — The U.S. rushed to evacuate people from Kabul as Taliban fighters set up checkpoints around the airport, raising concerns the group may prevent citizens from fleeing after the American-backed government collapsed.
President Joe Biden said the Taliban are in the midst of an “existential crisis” about their role on the international stage but he didn’t believe the group had fundamentally changed.
Meanwhile, a White House official said the U.S. evacuated nearly 3,000 people from the airport in Kabul on Thursday, adding to the list of those who have fled the country. Human rights group Amnesty International said it has received witness reports of nine members of an ethnic minority being executed in July and warned of more killings.
NATO foreign ministers were expected to discuss developments in Afghanistan later Friday. In the U.S., the Biden administration was facing pressure, even within the president’s party, as Democratic lawmaker Seth Moulton criticized the State Department’s evacuation response as “absurd.”
Key stories and developments:
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- Can the U.S. Recover From the Afghanistan Debacle?: Editorial
- Idled Planes, Flawed Uniforms: How U.S. Blew Cash in Afghanistan
- Iran Braces for Life Next Door to the Taliban Once Again
- Here Are the Shadowy Taliban Leaders Now Running Afghanistan
Items are listed in Hong Kong time.
Taliban Kill Afghan Journalist’s Relative (4:30 p.m. HK)
Taliban fighters on a house-to-house hunt for an Afghan Deutsche Welle journalist fatally shot a family member of the journalist and seriously wounded another, the German media organization said on its website. The journalist is currently working in Germany, it said.
“It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!” said Peter Limbourg, Deutsche Welle’s general director. — Eltaf Najafizada
Some Planes Leave Part-Empty, U.K. (4:00 p.m. HK)
Some evacuation flights are leaving Kabul partially empty to keep the international flow of airplanes moving, U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said Friday. No Royal Air Force plane has departed empty, but “not all of our flights out have been completely full,” because landing and take-off slots are “at a premium,” as is space on the ground, he said.
“The way that we are generating volume is by having nine aircraft flying in constant rotation between the United Arab Emirates and Kabul and when each plane is on the ground, we scoop up as many people as we can and get them out,” Heappey told ITV. “It would be selfish to keep a plane on the ground until it was absolutely full if there was an Italian or a Spanish or an American plane circling Kabul overhead waiting.” — Alex Morales
U.S. Evacuates 3,000 on Thursday (2:28 p.m. HK)
The U.S. evacuated about 3,000 people on Thursday from the international airport in Kabul on 16, C-17 military transport flights, a White House official said, adding nearly 350 U.S. citizens were evacuated.
Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated approximately 9,000 people, the official said, adding in the last 24 hours the American military has facilitated the departure of 11 charter flights. — Justin Sink
Spanish Evacuation Flight (2:12 p.m. HK)
A Spanish military transport plane left Kabul for Dubai on Friday morning with 110 Afghan nationals on board, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a tweet. That’s the second evacuation flight Spain has organized. — Ben Sills
Taliban Kill Nine Afghans, Amnesty Says (1:30 p.m. HK)
Human rights group Amnesty International said it has received witness reports that Taliban fighters in July massacred nine ethnic Hazara men in southeastern Ghazni after taking control of the province.
The group warned the killings represent a small proportion of the total death toll inflicted by the Taliban, as the group cuts mobile phone service in many areas recently captured, trying to slow or stop information from leaking out.
“These targeted killings are proof that ethnic and religious minorities remain at particular risk under Taliban rule in Afghanistan,” Agnés Callamard, the organization’s secretary general, said in the statement. — Eltaf Najafizada
Sullivan Pledges Evacuations (7:29 a.m.)
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan vowed the U.S. would ensure the evacuation of any American in Afghanistan who wants help, despite the “risky” nature of the effort.
“We will get any American who wants to get to the airport and who we get in contact with who says, ‘I want to get out and get on a plane.’ We will make that happen,” Sullivan said in an interview Thursday with NBC News.
Sullivan said the U.S. had established contact with the Taliban to ensure the safe passage of people to the airport, and described that process as “working” at the moment. But he said the U.S. knew it could not count on those conditions holding, and that the White House was “laser focused” on contingencies like a possible terrorist attack.
Blinken, G-7 Counterparts Discussed Taliban (5:52 a.m.)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, foreign ministers of other G-7 nations and the High Representative of the European Union agreed during a virtual meeting that the Taliban’s actions will determine its relationship with the international community, the U.S. State Department said in a statement.
The call participants also underscored the imperative of safe passage for people wishing to leave Afghanistan and the need for an inclusive political resolution protecting Afghans’ fundamental human rights, the statement added.
Moulton Knocks State Over Kabul Staffing (4:22 a.m.)
Democratic Representative Seth Moulton, a former Marine who served four tours in Iraq, called the Biden administration’s efforts to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan allies out of the country “absurd,” and said the State Department should drop “bureaucracy” and sort out visa issues later.
The Massachusetts lawmaker said the department urgently needs to send more consular officers to the Kabul airport to help. The State Department has said that it would double the number of officers at the airport by Friday. “This is the greatest foreign policy disaster that we’ve seen in a very long time and they’re sending 40 people to deal with it?” Moulton said. — Daniel Flatley
Biden, Top Aides Discuss Terror Threats (1:12 a.m.)
Biden met Thursday morning with top U.S. national security officials for a briefing on evacuation efforts and potential terrorist threats emanating from Afghanistan, an official familiar with the matter said.
The president — who was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris — was told that the U.S. still maintained control over the Kabul airport where they were staging flights out of the country. — Justin Sink
U.S. Has 5,200 Troops at Kabul Airport (11:33 p.m.)
The U.S. has 5,200 troops at the airport in Kabul and evacuated another 2,000 people in the past day, Pentagon officials said.
Spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. has the ability to fly 5,000 to 9,000 people out per day. Additional gates have been opened around the Kabul airport to expand access, but reports continue to say that some people are being hindered from getting to the airport by the Taliban, and many are assumed to be afraid to venture out. –Travis Tritten
Afghans Protest Taliban Rule in Several Cities (9 p.m.)
Men and women held demonstrations against the fundamentalist group in several cities, including Kabul and Jalalabad in the east, where a number of people were shot dead while they were trying to raise the previous government’s flag, local media reported, citing witnesses.
Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who declared himself caretaker president after his boss fled to the UAE, cheered the rallies on Twitter as he seeks support for his movement against the Taliban.
The early sign of resistance comes as the Taliban celebrate the 102nd anniversary of the country’s independence from British rule. — Eltaf Najafizada
Key House Panel to Get Afghanistan Briefing Monday (8:15 p.m.)
The House Intelligence Committee is to receive a classified briefing on Afghanistan on Monday from representatives of several intelligence agencies, according to an official familiar with the plans. Administration officials will discuss the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, how circumstances evolved in advance of Kabul’s fall and what might lie ahead, the person said.
The Monday session will follow an unclassified briefing scheduled for Friday for all House members. Members of Congress have requested further briefings. — Billy House
Girls Are Still Going to School, Taliban Says (7:05 p.m.)
Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem tweeted a video that he said showed girls wearing black robes and white veils going to school in Herat province, as fears mount that the fundamentalist group will roll back the rights that activists have worked so hard to secure. — Eltaf Najafizada
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