Afghanistan crisis live updates: Govt employees face financial problems as offices shut down

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said on Thursday that Former president Ashraf Ghani's escape from Afghanistan in mid-August ruined a last-minute deal with the Taliban. Khalilzad said in an interview with the Financial Times that Ghani was to remain at his post until there was a political settlement in Qatar, even if the Taliban stood at Kabul's doors, reported Tolo News.

Several rockets fell in one of the districts of the Afghan capital of Kabul, local media reported. The incident took place near a power plant in Kabul. Residents say the shells may have hit the station, Sputnik reported citing Tolo News. There is no information about casualties yet.

India's external affairs minister Dr S. Jaishankar is likely to hold discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, being held at Tajikistan's Dushanbe from Thursday, the MEA spokesperson said. Jaishankar, who has reached the Tajik capital, will be holding bilateral talks with his counterparts from Tajikistan and Iran, Sirojiddin Muhriddin, and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, respectively.

With the country currently cut off from funding from the International Monetary Fund, the Washington-based crisis lender is worried about the fate of the people in Afghanistan, spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters. "We stand ready to work with the international community to advocate for urgent actions to stall a looming humanitarian crisis," Rice said. Rice signaled the IMF favors "allowing the flow of remittances and small scale transfers" to Afghanistan. But the IMF cannot resume direct engagement with Afghanistan "until there is clarity within the international community on the recognition of the government."

Taliban have barred female employees from entering the Ministry of Women Affairs in Kabul, allowing only males into the building, an employee of the ministry said. "Four women were not allowed to enter the building", Sputnik quoted the employee as saying. The women intend to protest the move near the ministry.

A number of travel agencies say that currently only Pakistan visas can be obtained legally, but visas of a number of other countries are being sold in the black market at high prices, Tolo News reported. "The real price for a Tajikistan visa is $60, but in the black market it is around $350 to $400. The real price for Turkey's visa is $120, but in the black market it is selling for up to $5,000," according to the director of a travel agency in Kabul.

As of Sept. 14, about 64,000 evacuees from Afghanistan had arrived in the United States. The vast majority were at risk under Taliban rule after the U.S. withdrawal from the country last month. Nearly 49,000 are living on eight domestic military bases, waiting to be resettled in the United States, according to an internal federal document obtained by The New York Times. Roughly 18,000 are on bases overseas, largely in Germany. Some leave within weeks, but most stay longer.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi on Thursday that no new Afghan refugees had entered Pakistan since the Taliban took control in neighboring Afghanistan last month. According to a government statement, Ahmed said Pakistan has sent trucks carrying food for the Afghan people to help try to avoid a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

A UN official met with Afghanistan's new interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is one of the world's most wanted terrorists, and discussed the ongoing situation of Afghanistan and humanitarian aid. According to Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, Haqqani met Deborah Lyons, head of UNAMA, and her delegation on Wednesday. The Haqqani network is a US-designated terror group aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda. Sirajuddin Haqqani has a $5 million US bounty on his head.

Taliban-led government's acting army chief Qari Fasihuddin on Wednesday said that those who defend democracy in Afghanistan and oppose the Taliban will be suppressed. Fasihuddin also said that they will also suppress all who defend the gains of the past two decades under the name of specific ethnic groups or resistance in Afghanistan. Fasihuddin said that 'these people' are disturbing the security of the country and intend to cause bloodshed in Afghanistan, reported The Khaama Press.

Under intense pressure and questions over his whereabouts, the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has now released a video message. "There had been news in the media about my health and death. Over the past few nights, I have been away on trips. Wherever I am at the moment, we are all fine, all my brothers and friends," Baradar said in the clip, ARY News reported. "The media always publish fake propaganda. Therefore, bravely reject all those lies, and I'm 100 per cent confirm to you there is no issue in the ranks of the Taliban and we have no problem." On the recent visit of Qatari foreign minister where he was absent, Baradar said he was unable to meet the visiting Qatari visiting dignitary as he was on a trip.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) countries are against hosting Afghan refugees and foreign military bases on their territories, the press office of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan are members states of CSTO.

Human rights and refugee groups appealed Thursday to the European Union to step up its help for people trying to flee Afghanistan, accusing the bloc of failing to do enough to assist those living in fear of Taliban rule. More than 100,000 people were airlifted out of Kabul in a chaotic exodus late last month after President Joe Biden announced that US troops would withdraw, and the Taliban seized control of strife-torn Afghanistan in just a few weeks. “The EU should be sharing, rather than shirking, the responsibility to offer them protection,” the 24 non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International, Caritas Europa, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, and the Red Cross, said in a statement.