Afghanistan news – live: Biden not ruling out sending more troops to Kabul, as airport death toll hits 20
Follow the latest updates as thousands attempt to flee country
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Joe Biden asks his defence chiefs “every single day” whether they need more troops or other resources to ensure safe evacuations of Americans and non-US citizens from Kabul airport, his national security chief said today.
Jake Sullivan told NBC’s Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that “so far” that the US president’s top generals have not indicated a need for more forces beyond the 6,000 deployed to assist with evacuations and securing the perimeter at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
He left open the possibility that such an assessment could change.
Mr Sullivan’s comments came as a Nato official confirmed that at least 20 people had been killed near Kabul airport following chaotic scenes as large crowds gathered to escape from the country.
Meanwhile, a senior Tory MP has warned that the crisis in Afghanistan showed that there had been a “demise” in the so-called special relationship between the UK and US.
Tobias Ellwood, the chair of the Commons Defence Committee, said on Sunday that the UK had “not been included in the conversations” around the withdrawal of US troops – which has led to the takeover of the country by the Taliban.
Johnson should phone Biden over Kabul crisis, Labour shadow minister suggests
Boris Johnson should personally phone US president Joe Biden to request that America keeps troops on the ground in Kabul beyond the current deadline of 31 August, Labour’s shadow defence secretary has suggested.
John Healey told Times Radio that the UK “must pursue every option” to save people who are in danger in Afghanistan.
“The series of questions that we want the government to be clear on, such as has the prime minister even spoken personally with president Biden to ask him to extend the evacuation period beyond the end of August?” Mr Healey said.
“That is important so we can complete our commitment to getting Afghans out safely who have worked with us, giving their lives to it.
“I think working with Nato allies on a back-up plan to hold the airport if the US do pull out prematurely.
“Can our UK troops, with the others there, create safe assembly areas, better passage to Kabul airport, like a Nato-led military policing mission, if you like?”
Opinion: ‘The tough choice for Afghans over the Taliban’
Our international correspondent Borzou Daragahi asks how far Afghanistan’s people are willing to challenge the country’s new leaders.
The Afghan aid official and his family tried to make it to Kabul Airport. They wanted desperately to get out of the country. But they were daunted by the massive, desperate crowds outside and the presence of unruly soldiers protecting the facility.
The 52-year-old called relatives and members of his extended family who are in touch with “the other side,” as he described the Taliban. He implored them to vouch for him and his family, and to win assurances that the militant fundamentalists now in control of Afghanistan would not harm him.
With the Taliban now lording over Afghanistan, thousands of such negotiations are unfolding every day, with ordinary Afghans struggling to either resist or accommodate their new masters to pursue their own lives and ambitions.
Read the full piece here:
Opinion: Resist, accommodate or flee: The tough choice for Afghans over the Taliban
The question is how much the people are willing to challenge, question, push, cajole and negotiate with the country's new leaders, writes Borzou Daragahi
People move away after gates close at Kabul airport - German general
A german general, who is currently stationed at Kabul airport, has said people are moving away from the airfield’s north and east gates because they are now closed.
We’ll bring you updates on this as they develop.
Afghan withdrawal was ‘not something we needed to do,’ says Blair
Former PM Tony Blair suggests the “conditional” deal former US president Donald Trump made with the Taliban became void when the militant group failed to “change its behaviour”.
“The deal [Mr Trump] made with the Taliban was conditional on behaviour changes from the Taliban,” he told Sky News, “and they broke the terms of that agreement literally without any compunction whatsoever.”
“So I think it’s important to realise this is not something we needed to do,” he added.
Video: BBC presenter breaks down during Afghanistan story
US airlines will be used to ferry Afghan evacuees - Pentagon
Joe Biden’s administration said today that commercial aircrafts would be used to help ferry people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan.
A Pentagon spokesman revealed on Sunday the 18 airplanes, including flights from United, American Airlines and Delta, would not fly into Kabul but be used to transport people who have already left Afghanistan.
This is the third time such a move has been made under the “Civil Reserve Air fleet”, according to an analysis by Reuters.
Tory MP says colleagues ‘stunned’ by lack of UK leadership in Afghanistan crisis
Video: Scotland’s health sec takes aim at Raab during Afghanistan rally
Humza Yousaf took aim at Dominic Raab and the UK government as he addressed crowds at the Afghanistan rally in Glasgow.
Scotland’s health secretary claimed Mr Raab was “more occupied with having Pina Coladas by the pool as opposed to helping Afghan interpreters”.
The MSP also said there was “not one single ounce of compassion from the UK Government” for the people of Afghanistan after the Taliban overthrew its government.
Watch the clip here:
Watch: Scotland’s Health Secretary takes aim at Raab during Afghanistan rally in Glasgow
Scotland's Health Secretary Humza Yousaf took aim at Dominic Raab and the UK government as he addressed crowds at the Afghanistan rally in Glasgow.Mr Yousaf claimed Raab was "more occupied with having Pina Coladas by the pool as opposed to helping Afghan interpreters".The MSP also said there was "not one single ounce of compassion from the UK Government" for the people of Afghanistan after the Taliban overthrew its government.He said: “In amongst all these big numbers, in amongst the trillions and the billions and the millions and the hundreds of thousands, not one single apology from the UK Government."
Blair insists UK’s involvement in Afghanistan not a ‘hopeless endeavour’
Former prime minister Tony Blair has insisted that the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan over the past 20 years has not been a “hopeless endeavour”, despite the swift Taliban takeover of the country.
“Our troops were fantastic in Afghanistan, and a lot of them made the ultimate sacrifice, a lot of them were injured,” Mr Blair said.
“And it's really important that they know that this wasn't a hopeless endeavour, and it wasn't a bad cause.
“It was a good cause, that we went there because we had a state of Afghanistan turned into a state that was run by an extremist Islamist group that were harbouring people who were carrying out attacks, like the 9/11 attack, and who were providing support for terrorist groups around the world.”
The former Labour leader added: “We went in there for very good reasons, and we achieved a lot thanks to those British and American and other armed forces over the last 20 years.
“What I'd say to them is the sacrifice was not in vain, that those 20 years matter. What we achieved in Afghanistan matters today.
“I think it's really important that people realise this, the story of Afghanistan, the story of the Taliban takeover, it's not over. It's tragic what's happened, I think it's unnecessary, I think we've made a serious mistake in doing this in this way, but it isn't over yet.”
UK pushing for extension to Afghanistan evacuation deadline, minister says
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has made “representations” to his counterparts in the US in a bid to extend the Afghanistan evacuation deadline beyond August, a junior minister has said.
When asked about the need for an extension, armed forces minister James Heappey said: “You know that the foreign secretary has made representations to his opposite number and to the secretary of defence and likewise
“If the programme is extended, then there is the opportunity to continue with flights.
“But the Taliban get a vote in that too, it's not just a decision made in Washington, and so I think it's important to make another point which is people shouldn't despair that whenever the airbridge, the military airbridge, ends, that that is the end of their chances with leaving Afghanistan.”
Mr Heappey added: “The home secretary has announced that there will be other routes into the resettlement programme from around the wider region, through maybe handling centres in refugee camps, through embassies, through high commissions.”
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