Afghanistan crisis live updates: India allowed to operate two flights daily to evacuate citizens from Kabul

While thousands of Afghan security force members have managed to flee from Afghanistan to other countries such as Iran and Uzbekistan as the Taliban seized the country but tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and commandos are still on the run and being hunted by the terror group.

Facebook has launched a one-click tool for people in Afghanistan to quickly lock down their account, as the Taliban has regained control of the war-torn country. When their profile is locked, people who aren't their friends can't download or share their profile photo or see posts on their timeline, said Facebook's head of security policy Nathaniel Gleicher. "On Instagram, we're rolling out pop-up alerts in Afghanistan with specific steps on how to protect your account," he said in a series of tweets late on Friday.

Men affiliated with the Taliban have abducted over 150 people, mostly Indian citizens, from an area close to Hamid Karzai International Airport earlier this morning, local media outlet Kabul Now reported quoting a source. The source, who managed to escape along with his wife and some others, added that the abductees include some Afghan citizens and Afghan Sikhs as well but most of them are Indian citizens. He added that they were all boarded on eight minivan vehicles around 01:00 AM, this morning, heading to the Kabul airport for evacuation but they couldn’t enter the airport for lack of cooperation.

From above, the new border wall separating Turkey from Iran looks like a white snake winding through the barren hills. So far it only covers a third of the 540-kilometer (335-mile) border, leaving plenty of gaps for migrants to slip across in the dead of night.

The Taliban's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with fellow members of the group and other politicians on establishing a new Afghan government"He will be in Kabul to meet jihadi leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up," a senior Taliban official told AFP.

About 12,000 foreigners and Afghans working for embassies and international aid groups have been evacuated from Afghanistan since Taliban insurgents entered the capital, Kabul, a NATO official said on Friday. "The evacuation process is slow, as it is risky, for we don't want any form of clashes with Taliban members or civilians outside the airport," the official, who sought anonymity, told Reuters.

On the outskirts of Pakistan's populous metropolitan city of Karachi is nestled a slum township, which in recent days is seeing an influx of Afghan families fleeing from the Taliban rule in the northern Kunduz province in conflict-ridden Afghanistan. “We are not surprised and in the last two weeks we have some 500-600 families, which means around 4,000 to 5,000 people including women and children, joining us in the Basti,” said Haji Abdullah, an elderly Afghan who has been living in Karachi for the last 25 years.

Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover of the Afghan civil war into Pakistani territory, a US government report has said, citing inputs from the Defence Intelligence Agency. "Pakistan continues to support peace talks, while maintaining ties with the Afghan Taliban," US Department of State Office of the Inspector General noted in its latest quarterly report on Afghanistan. "According to the DIA, Pakistan's strategic security objectives in Afghanistan almost certainly continue to be countering Indian influence and mitigating spillover into the Pakistani territory," the report said.

The Taliban will be accountable for its actions and will investigate reports of reprisals and atrocities carried out by members, an official of the Islamist militant group told Reuters on Saturday. It has been just a week since the Taliban completed a lighting fast takeover of the country, finally walking into Kabul last Sunday without firing a shot. Since then, individual Afghans and international aid and advocacy groups have reported harsh retaliation against protests, and roundups of those who formerly held government positions, criticised the Taliban or worked with Americans. "We have heard of some cases of atrocities and crimes against civilians," the official said. "If Talibs (members) are doing these law and order problems, they will be investigated."