Afghanistan crisis live updates: US troops surge evacuations out of Kabul but threats persist

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The US military says an Afghan woman gave birth aboard an Air Force C-17 that flew from the Middle East to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The base is being used as a transit post for people being evacuated from Afghanistan. The military's Air Mobility Command tweeted that the mother began having complications during the flight Saturday. It says: "The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilise and save the mother's life." On arrival at Ramstein, US medical personnel came aboard and delivered the child in the aircraft's cargo bay. "The baby girl and mother were transported to a medical facility and are in good condition," the military said. (AP)

The Taliban said on Sunday that “hundreds” of its fighters were heading to the Panjshir Valley. “Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully,” the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account. (AFP)

Ahmad Massoud, leader of Afghanistan's last major outpost of anti-Taliban resistance, said on Sunday he hoped to hold peaceful talks with the Islamist movement that seized power in Kabul a week ago but that his forces were ready to fight.

Taliban political office spokesman Mohammed Naeem said in an interview with Saudi- owned Al Hadath TV that al-Qaida is not present in Afghanistan and that the movement has no relationship with them. He added that talks are ongoing with the US and other countries regarding the situation in Afghanistan, after the Islamist movement seized power in Kabul a week ago. (Reuters)

The Biden administration on Sunday commandeered 18 aircraft from six commercial airlines to airlift American nationals and allies from Afghanistan amid the ceaseless crisis in Kabul where the Taliban continued to pose hurdles before evacuation efforts. Orders for requisitioning aircraft came from the defence department, which invoked the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) provisions created after World War II to access "commercial air mobility resources." The programme, arising from the Berlin airlift, involves pledges by private airlines to loan aircraft to the Pentagon within 24 hours upon activation.

"Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully," the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account.

“Crowds have massed at the gates outside the airport. It's an incredibly volatile situation, it's an incredibly fluid situation. We've seen wrenching images of people hurt, even killed that hit you in the gut. And it's very important to make sure to the best of our ability, because it's such a volatile situation, that we do something about the crowding at the gates of the airport, and that's exactly what we're doing,” Blinken told Fox News in an interview.

The United States will use 18 commercial aircraft to help transport people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan, moving them from temporary locations after they have landed from Kabul, the Pentagon said on Sunday. The move highlights the difficulty Washington is having in carrying out the evacuation of U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans following the Taliban's swift takeover, marking the third time the U.S. military has employed civilian aircraft.

The son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was one of the main leaders of Afghanistan's anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, said he will not surrender areas under his control to the Taliban, Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel cited him as saying on Sunday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he had called a G7 leaders’ meeting on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan and urged the international community to find ways to prevent it from escalating. "It is vital that the international community works together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people to secure the gains of the last 20 years," Johnson said on Twitter on Sunday.