What you need to know about Afghanistan:
Evacuation flights from Afghanistan resumed with new urgency on Friday, a day after two suicide bombings targeted the thousands of desperate people fleeing the Taliban takeover. The U.S. says further attempted attacks are expected ahead of the Tuesday deadline for foreign troops to leave, ending America’s longest war.
Kabul residents said several flights took off Friday morning, while footage shared by a local Tolo TV correspondent showed the anxious crowd outside the airport as large as ever.
Thursday’s bombings near Kabul’s international airport killed at least 95 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops, Afghan and U.S. officials said, in the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since August 2011.
The true toll could be higher because other people may have taken bodies away from the scene, an official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
In an emotional speech, U.S. President Joe Biden blamed the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate — Islamic State-Khorasan Province, or ISIS-K — which is more radical than the Taliban militants who seized power less than two weeks ago.
“We will rescue the Americans; we will get our Afghan allies out, and our mission will go on,” Biden said. But despite intense pressure to extend Tuesday’s deadline, he has cited the threat of attacks as a reason to keep to his plan.
The Taliban, back in control of Afghanistan two decades after they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks, insist on the deadline.
The Trump administration in February 2020 struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for it to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for the removal of all U.S. troops and contractors by May; Biden announced in April he would have them out by September.
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Canada officially ended its evacuation mission in Afghanistan, which carried 3,700 to safety. But thousands are left behind and many feel abandoned. 2:00
While the U.S. on Thursday said more than 100,000 people have been safely evacuated from Kabul, as many as 1,000 Americans and tens of thousands more Afghans are struggling to leave in one of history’s largest airlifts.
Gen. Frank McKenzie, the U.S. Central Command chief overseeing the evacuation, on Thursday said about 5,000 people were awaiting flights on the airfield.
Evacuation efforts ending
The scenes at the airport, with people standing knee-deep in sewage and families thrusting documents and even young children toward U.S. troops behind razor wire, have horrified many around the world as far-flung efforts continue to help people escape.
But those chances are fading fast for many. Some U.S. allies have said they are ending evacuation efforts, in part to give the U.S. time to wrap up its evacuation work before getting 5,000 of its troops out by Tuesday.
Britain said Friday its evacuations from Afghanistan will end within hours, and the main British processing centre for eligible Afghans has been closed. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News there would be “eight or nine” evacuation flights on Friday, and they will be the last. British troops will leave over the next few days.
Canada ended its evacuation operations on Thursday. And the Spanish government also said it has ended its evacuation operation.
France’s European affairs minister said France will end its evacuation operation in Kabul “soon” but may seek to extend it until after Friday night. Clement Beaune said on French radio Europe 1 France continues its operation at the moment in order “to evacuate as many people as possible.”
Untold thousands of Afghans, especially ones who had worked with the U.S. and other Western countries, are now in hiding from the Taliban, fearing retaliation despite the group’s offer of full amnesty.
The militant group has claimed it has become more moderate since its harsh rule from 1996 to 2001, when it largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music and held public executions.
But Afghans in Kabul and elsewhere have reported that some Taliban members are barring girls from attending school and going door to door in search of people who had worked with Western forces.
Struggle for humanitarian aid
Meanwhile, people in Afghanistan face a growing humanitarian crisis.
Medical supplies are running out in Afghanistan, where the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it hoped to establish an air bridge into the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif with the help of Pakistani authorities within the next two or three days.
“Right now because of security concerns and several other operational considerations, Kabul airport is not going to be an option for the next week at least,” Rick Brennan, WHO’s regional emergency director, speaking from Cairo, told a Geneva briefing.
Insurance rates for flying into Afghanistan have “skyrocketed,” he said, speaking a day after bombs at Kabul airport killed dozens of people. “Once we can address that we can hopefully be airborne in the next 48-72 hours,” he added.
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The need for humanitarian aid is huge for ordinary Afghans, says Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Half the population is already thought to be in need of aid, he says. (Credit: Associated Press Photo) 1:24
The UN refugee agency is gearing up for as many as half a million people or more to flee from Afghanistan in a “worse-case scenario” in the coming months.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last week “remains uncertain and may evolve rapidly,” with up to 515,000 new refugees fleeing.
The agency said that would add to the 2.2 million Afghans who already are registered as refugees abroad — nearly all of them in Pakistan and Iran.
“The upsurge of violence across the country and the fall of the elected government may have a serious impact on civilians and cause further displacement,” the plan said.
The agency cited estimates that 558,000 people have been internally displaced within Afghanistan due to armed conflict this year alone — four in five of them women and children.
“UNHCR estimates that the number of displaced will rise, both internally and across border,” it said.
Najeeba Wazedafost, CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network, in an online UNHCR news conference on Friday, warned of “coming darkness” in Afghanistan amid a “tragically intertwined series of crises.”
The UN agency is seeking nearly $300 million US for its response plan for inter-agency requirements.
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