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

A total of 5.5 million have been internally displaced in Afghanistan, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said. More than 500,592 were displaced in the last eight months, according to a report by the United Nations's OSHA. IOM said 850,805 undocumented Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan during the last eight months, TOLO news reported.

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. Thousands more Afghans want to leave.

Addressing the security situation and the Taliban's ability to govern Afghanistan, Dr Weeda Mehran, a Lecturer at the University of Exeter's Dept. of Politics, considered key challenges facing the new government. The expert highlighted challenges like brain drain, and depreciating currency. Moreover, the current caretaker cabinet's problematic lack of inclusivity, with no Hazaras, Shia or women representatives. As many as 17 of the 33 cabinet members, including the new minister of the interior, are on UN and FBI terrorist lists, while the Taliban has released thousands of IS, al-Qaeda, TTP and other prisoners, which could cause huge security challenges in Afghanistan if they decide to confront the regime.

Members of a Russia-led security bloc that includes some countries adjacent or close to Afghanistan have no plans to host Afghan refugees amid the political and security crisis in the country, bloc member Kazakhstan said on Thursday. The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) includes three Central Asian nations - Tajikistan, which has a lengthy border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan - as well as several more remote former Soviet republics.

Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has said that the ‘wait and watch' policy on recognising the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was flawed and could result in the economic collapse of the conflict-torn country. The Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, ousting the previous elected leadership which was backed by the West. The interim Cabinet announced by the Taliban consists of high-profile members of the insurgent group.

China says it will host a virtual meeting of Central and South Asian state leaders to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. The meeting of members of the China and Russia dominated Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is scheduled for Thursday.Afghanistan is an observer member of the grouping, but it wasn't clear if any representatives from the Taliban leadership would be attending.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said the US war against terrorism was "disastrous" for Pakistan as Washington used Islamabad like a "hired gun" during their 20-year presence in Afghanistan. "We (Pakistan) were like a hired gun," Khan said in an interview with CNN. "We were supposed to make them (the US) win the war in Afghanistan, which we never could."This comes two days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the US would reassess its ties with Pakistan following the military drawdown from Afghanistan. Blinken told US Congress during a hearing that Pakistan has a "multiplicity of interests some that are in conflict with ours."

Friction between pragmatists and ideologues in the Taliban leadership has intensified since the group formed a hard-line Cabinet last week that is more in line with their harsh rule in the 1990s than their recent promises of inclusiveness, said two Afghans familiar with the power struggle. The wrangling has taken place behind the scenes, but rumors quickly began circulating about a recent violent confrontation between the two camps at the presidential palace, including claims that the leader of the pragmatic faction, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was killed.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar -- deputy prime minister in the Taliban's newly announced caretaker government and the top figure in the Doha deal -- has been named among the 100 most influential people of 2021 by Time magazine. Mullah Baradar led the Taliban in negotiations with the US during the peace deal. Baradar is considered to be a quiet, secretive man who rarely gives public statements. He represents a more moderate current within the Taliban.

Afghanistan would soon have a regular army to defend the country, Taliban's army chief of staff Qari Fasihuddin has said. "Afghanistan would have a regular, disciplined and strong army in near future to defend and protect the country and consultations in this field continue," Xinhua news agency quoted Fasihuddin as saying to the Afghan radio service Salam Watandar. He said the members of the proposed army would be well-trained and disciplined to defend and protect Afghanistan, according to the radio service.

Afghan youth rights activist Wazhma Sayle says she was shocked to see a photo online, apparently of women dressed in black all-enveloping niqabs and gowns, staging a demonstration in support of the country’s new Taliban rulers at Kabul University. The 36-year-old, who is based in Sweden, later posted a photo of herself on Twitter dressed in a green and silver dress captioned: “This is Afghan culture & how we dress! Anything less then this does not represent Afghan women!”

A major row broke out between members of the Taliban over the make-up of the new government in Afghanistan last week, the BBC reported on Tuesday. The argument between the group’s co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and minister for refugees Khalil ur-Rahman Haqqani happened at the presidential palace in Kabul, the report said. Unconfirmed reports of disagreements have been circulating since Baradar disappeared from public view in recent days.

The Taliban's abrupt return to power has left hundreds of Afghan diplomats overseas in limbo: running out of money to keep missions operating, fearful for families back home and desperate to secure refuge abroad. The Islamist militant movement, which swiftly ousted Afghanistan's Western-backed government on August 15, said on Tuesday that it had sent messages to all of its embassies telling diplomats to continue their work. But eight embassy staff who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, in countries including Canada, Germany and Japan, described dysfunction and despair at their missions.

The group continues to violate the basic human rights of media personnel as they are being harassed, tortured, and killed. Journalists are scared; feeling hopeless as the spirit of journalism they built in the past two decades is ceasing to exist now, reported Al Arabiya Post. There has been a change in the content being shown on private TV channels. Critical news bulletins, political debates, entertainment and music shows, foreign dramas are replaced with programmes tailored to the Taliban government.

A 50-year-old Indian has reportedly been abducted at gunpoint from Kabul. Indian World Forum (IWF) president Puneet Singh said on Wednesday that the Indian national, identified as Bansri Lal Arendhe, was allegedly abducted on Tuesday from near his chemist shop. Bansri, a resident of Khost, had been living in Gurdwara Karte Parwan. His family lives in Delhi.

United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on Wednesday (local time) said that they are noticing early signs that al-Qaida may be regrouping in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. According to the Deputy Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency David Cohen said that current intelligence reports indicate "some potential motion of Al Qaeda [returning] to Afghanistan," reported Intelnews.org.