August 19, 2021, Afghanistan-Taliban news

Erdogan speaks during a televised address following a cabinet meeting, in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, August 19.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on other European countries to take responsibility for the?Afghans fleeing the Taliban, warning Turkey has no obligation to be “Europe’s refugee warehouse.”??

He said about half of the “irregular” migrants Turkey has registered in the past three years are from?Afghanistan.???

Turkey hosts around 5 million foreign nationals — including 3.6 million Syrians and 300,000?Afghans, Erdogan said.??

The President said “if necessary” Turkey would be open to meeting with the “government to be formed by the Taliban.”??

Around 500 Turkish citizens were evacuated from?Afghanistan recently, and about 300 more who are still stuck there will be brought home soon, he added.??

Two photographs of President Joe Biden this week neatly illustrated the White House’s fight to contain the fallout of the biggest crisis of his presidency.

In the first, he sat alone at Camp David, staring upwards at a bank of video monitors surrounded by 18 empty leather chairs. Even some White House officials wondered whether the imagery, including him in a polo shirt, was helpful.

Three days later, when Biden was back at the White House, the picture was much different. He sat in suit and tie at the head of the Situation Room conference table, mask hanging off one ear as he scowled toward the assembled members of his national security team. The same team assembled a day later to “manage efforts in?Afghanistan,” the White House said.

Biden has found himself caught this week in some of the most dire days of his seven-month-old presidency, accused of badly botching the end of America’s longest war even by some of his most reliable allies at home and abroad.

The White House has scrambled to explain the chaos in?Afghanistan through briefings, speeches and interviews – even as Biden himself remains defiant in his decision and insists the American people are behind him.

So far, the President’s reflexive response to the crisis to deflect blame and reject criticism has done little to quiet the questions swirling about whether he properly prepared for the Taliban’s takeover. It has tarnished what had been a carefully-honed image of competence, and Biden’s own explanations for what happened – that the chaos was inevitable and the?Afghan?army was to blame – belie the empathy that is his chief political characteristic.

Read the full story here:

Related article As White House scrambles on Afghanistan, Biden faces some of most dire days of his presidency

The Mexican government began processing Afghan?refugees’ applications for asylum on Wednesday, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on Twitter.

According to Ebrard, the country’s ambassador in Iran has begun helping process the applications of?Afghan citizens, especially women and girls.

The minister did not provide more details on how many?Afghan?refugees the Mexican government is planning to take.

US soldiers stand guard as Afghans wait to board a US military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, after Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan.

A group of US diplomats wrote a classified cable to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in mid-July, warning that swift action needed to be taken because they believed the situation in Afghanistan could rapidly deteriorate and they feared a catastrophe.

They laid out how the department should act quickly to process and evacuate Afghans who had assisted the United States and get them out of the country quickly.?

The diplomats decided to send the dissent memo because they felt previous warnings and recommendations they had made were being ignored and labeled alarmist, two State Department officials told CNN.

The classified cable, signed by more than a dozen US diplomats, urged specific steps to be taken, including starting a biometric enrolment program for the Afghans applying for Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) or refugee status ahead of the evacuation, so they wouldn’t waste time before what they believed would be the imminent collapse of the Afghan government as the US withdrew.

The State Department responded to the cable within days of receiving it and followed through on some of the issues it raised, said a source familiar with the matter. But not all of the recommendations in the memo were quickly implemented, the diplomats said.

Read the full story here.?

Niloofar Rahmani, the first female fixed-wing air force aviator in Afghanistan, says she has a hard time believing the Taliban will change their mistreatment of women, especially since she remembers growing up under their rule as a child.?

“For a little girl, that memory never ever goes away,” she continued. “I still close my eyes, especially recently when they are creating their own government in Afghanistan, it just takes everything from me. It brings pain to my heart.”

She went on to say she has a “hard time believing” they will change their treatment of women, despite the Taliban’s promise to form an “inclusive Islamic government.”

“It does not make sense to me that people, the government, that they proved themselves in the past, how they can change that way? How is that even possible?” she asked.

Watch the interview:

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, who served in Afghanistan, said the US must urgently evacuate its Afghan allies and partners before it’s too late.

“The first step is getting them out of Afghanistan,” said Crow, noting the many complicated visa issues that seem to be slowing the extrication process.

Some context: Crow, who served two combat tours in Afghanistan, was also critical of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from the country so far, saying he is receiving constant requests for help from those caught up in the chaos on the ground.

“This is not the sign of a situation that’s going well,” he said. “Our honor as a country, our integrity as a country is at stake, our reputation is at stake, but our moral authority is at stake here.”

Afghanistan's General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports posted these photos of Zaki Anwari on Facebook on August 19, 2021.

A teenager on Afghanistan’s youth national football team was one of the victims who fell from the US military C-17 aircraft on Monday, Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Body and Sports confirmed in a statement on social media Thursday morning.?

The post continued that young Anwari was?“endeavoring to leave the country like hundreds other youth from his country. He?has fallen down from the US military plane and lost his life.”?

One day after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul on Sunday, hundreds of people fled to the tarmac at?Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul?on Monday, desperate to find a way to evacuate the country.

As the C-17 aircraft taxied to the runway several people?clung?to the landing gear as the aircraft?gained?speed. Video emerged shortly after showing a C-17 ascending over Kabul and at least two bodies falling from the aircraft.?

Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Body and Sports statement said Anwari was among “several other compatriots who fell to the ground while flying” in search of a “better future in America.”??

“They died and were martyred,” the post said, “may his soul rest in peace and his memory be remembered.”

The?post included prayers for Anwari to be “granted high position in heaven and pray to God to grant patience for his family, friends and his sports comrades alike.”

A total of 12 people have been killed in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport since the Taliban took control of the capital on Sunday, Reuters reported Thursday, citing?NATO sources and Taliban officials.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US government does not “have the resources to go beyond the airport compound” and evacuate American citizens at this point.

Asked if the US had approached other nations about assisting with such an effort, Price told reporters, “you will be hard-pressed to find a country that has the capacity on the ground, if any such country exists, in a position to do that.”

Price added: “So, the United States military is undertaking a gargantuan airlift operation right now. That itself is a major undertaking. You’ve heard from the Secretary person the chairman of the resources that are involved in that. At this point, we don’t have the resources to go beyond the airport compound.”

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price holds a briefing in Washington, DC, on August 19, 2021.

There are 6,000 people at the airport in Kabul who have been “fully processed by our consular team and will soon board planes,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday during a briefing.

Price told reporters that they “are aware of congestion around the airport” and are “working closely with the Department of Defense to facilitate safe and orderly access for consular processing on the airport compound.”

He said flights continued throughout the airport, noting that US citizens and legal permanent residents “will be given the first opportunity to board, with other priority groups filling in seats from there.”

Price said they were continuing to deploy more consular officers, including to Qatar and Kuwait as well as in Kabul.

The spokesperson said later in the briefing that the they expect 20 flights to depart Afghanistan tonight, citing the Defense Department, and noted that the operation “will continue at as fast a clip as we can possibly manage.”

Germany’s ninth military evacuation flight departed Kabul Thursday evening with more than 150 people on board, Germany’s Ministry of Defense confirmed in a Tweet.?

“More than 150 people are flown from the Afghan capital to Tashkent — and therefore safe,” the ministry added.?

In earlier tweets, the Defense Ministry said its soldiers are “on duty 24/7” in?Afghanistan, while officials in Germany work “around the clock” to monitor the situation, adding that more than 1,000 people have now been evacuated from?Afghanistan?by the German military.

Germany?has been operating a shuttle service between Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Kabul several times a day as part of its evacuation efforts.

The US Embassy in Kabul notified “all Americans who had expressed an interest in being relocated to consider traveling to the airport” overnight, as well locally employed staff and “a segment of the SIV [Special Immigrant Visa] population” about evacuation flights, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday.

Price said he had seen reports of people not able to access the airport, telling reporters that “every report of someone unable for whatever reason to reach the airport is something we take very seriously.”

“We are doing everything we can mechanically, logistically, but then of course there’s also the diplomatic element to this as well. We are making very clear, we are making very clear together with our international partners, more than 100 countries have come together, the G7 mentioned this today as well, that safe passage should be guaranteed for all of those who wish to transit to the airport,” Price continued.

Price added: “When it comes to American citizens, we have a relatively large cadre of consular officers on the ground in Kabul right now. They are in regular and constant contact with American citizens. I can tell you that they have received as of a couple hours ago a small handful of reports from American citizens who weren’t able to reach the airport for whatever reason.”

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab waits to greet participants at the G7 foreign and development ministers' meeting in London on May 5, 2021.

G7 leaders are continuing efforts to do “everything possible to evacuate vulnerable persons” from Afghanistan, UK Foreign Secretary and Chair of the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Meeting Dominic Raab?said Thursday, calling on the international community to provide “safe and legal resettlement routes” for those being evacuated.??

“The G7 Ministers called for the Taliban to guarantee safe passage to foreign nationals and Afghans wanting to leave,” Raab said in a statement.?

The British Foreign Secretary’s statement comes after a meeting of G7 Foreign and Development Ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States of America, as well as the High Representative of the European Union, to discuss the unfolding situation in Afghanistan.

According to Raab, G7 ministers called for an international response and “intensive engagement” with both Afghan and international partners.?

Ministers also affirmed their commitment to the urgent cessation of violence, respect for human rights, inclusive negotiations, and respect for international humanitarian law by all in Afghanistan

“The G7 Ministers underlined the importance of the Taliban holding to their commitments to ensure the protection of civilians and are deeply concerned by reports of violent reprisals in parts of Afghanistan,” Raab said.?

“They concurred that the Taliban must ensure that Afghanistan does not become host to a terrorist threat to international security,” he added.?

In a tweet, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian reiterated that two key priorities were outlined during the emergency meeting: accelerating coordination on evacuation operations from Kabul and strengthening cooperation in anticipation of the consequences of the “Afghan crisis.”?

This satellite image from Planet Labs shows people on the tarmac at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 16, 2021.

The State Department?on Wednesday?sent a notice to the thousands of locally employed staff at the Kabul embassy telling them that they can come to the airport for evacuation flights, according to the message reviewed by CNN.

Some?of the Afghans who made it into the airport were bloody and mentally distraught, having lost most of their belongings along the way, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

But some decided they didn’t even want to pursue the perilous journey even though they desperately want to get out of the country, multiple sources told CNN. Others who did take the dangerous risk had to turn back after facing an untenable situation.

He went to the airport with his family, including small children, at 4 a.m. local time only to get caught in a horde of thousands of people on the outskirts of the airport which left him fearing for his life. He watched as his 2-year-old son grew dehydrated and men tried to inappropriately touch his wife. The gates remained closed for too long.?

“We had to go home,” the Afghan said, describing people with guns and knives in the mass of people. “I will not go back. The Americans left me in a very bad situation. They know it.?They put our family’s lives in risk.”

The US military is in communication with the local Taliban commander on the ground in Kabul, and they are discussing “making sure that those at-risk Afghans, Special Immigrant Visa applicants and additional Afghan citizens that we want to move through are able to move through,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday during an on-camera briefing.

Kirby noted the reports of some hostile Taliban actions towards Afghans on the way to the airport, but by and large US officials are saying that the Taliban are largely keeping their commitment to ensure safe passage and pointing to the evidence: the Afghans and Americans who have been able to get to the airport.?

President Biden said yesterday that the US is looking at evacuating?between 50,000 and 65,000 Afghans in total, a figure that includes the Afghan visa and refugee applicants plus their families.

Biden did not commit to keeping the US troop presence at the Kabul airport until that number of Afghans are evacuated but he did say that the US troop presence would stay in place until all Americans who want to get out of the country are out.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi holds a press conference in Rome on July 22, 2021.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has held talks with both his French and Russian counterparts to discuss the unfolding situation in Afghanistan, the prime minister’s office said Thursday in a statement.?

According to the statement, Draghi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the “implications of the Afghan crisis,” including the “management of the migration flows” following the evacuation of Afghan nationals from Kabul.?

The two leaders also spoke about the “protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms” in Afghanistan.

Separately, Draghi spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss the “situation on the ground in Afghanistan and its regional implications.”?

“During the call the two leaders also assessed the guidelines that could inspire the action of the International Community in the different contexts, aiming to restore Afghanistan’s stability, fight terrorism and illegal trafficking and protect women’s rights,” the statement added.

All senators will get an unclassified virtual briefing on Afghanistan Friday at 3:15 p.m. ET, per two Senate officials.

Briefers will be Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.

“No substantive decision has been taken yet”?with regards to Uganda temporarily hosting Afghan refugees?following?a request from the United States,?Minister of?Foreign?Affairs Jeje Odongo told a parliamentary foreign affairs committee on Thursday.?

“It’s a suggestion, it’s a proposal, discussions are going on,”?he added.?

Odongo’s?comments stand contrary to?earlier remarks from?Uganda’s Minister of State for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, who said Tuesday that Uganda would temporarily host some 2,000 Afghan refugees.?

According to officials on both sides, discussions between the US and the Ugandan government are ongoing.?

Since the Defense Department began supporting the State Department with movement of people out of Afghanistan at the end of July, approximately 12,000 people have been moved out of country, Gen. Hank Taylor, Deputy Director of the Joint Staff for Regional Operations said during an on-camera briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.?

That 12,000 number includes “American citizens, US embassy personnel, individuals designated by the State Department as SIV applicants and other evacuees in coordination with the State Department,” Taylor said.

Included in that 12,000 number are 7,000 people that have been moved out of Afghanistan just since Aug. 14, Taylor said.?

“Since the start of evacuation operations on Aug. 14, we have airlifted approximately 7,000 total evacuees,” Taylor said.?

The Defense Department is “ready to increase throughput and have scheduled aircraft departures accordingly,” Taylor said.

“We intend to maximize each plane’s capacity. We are prioritizing people above all else, and we are focused on doing this as safely as possible with absolute urgency,” he added.?

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey speaks in Phoenix on April 15, 2021.

Arizona will welcome its “fair share” of Afghans who served with the American military and are fleeing the Taliban, GOP Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers said?in a news release Thursday.

The Arizona Office of Refugee Resettlement will help the refugees secure housing, employment, healthcare, English classes (if needed) and enrollment in school, the release adds.?

“They helped our military members in their country, and now we stand ready to help them in ours,” Ducey and Bowers said in the news release.

The pair were critical of President Biden’s response in Afghanistan, but said that would not stop them from offering help.?

Afghans “supported our military efforts and served as translators, interpreters, drivers and more — and were instrumental in our nation’s operations and the safety of U.S. soldiers… and now their lives are in danger,” the statement said.?

Only a “trickle” of Afghans are successfully managing to make it through the two-pronged checks at Kabul airport, CNN’s Clarissa Ward reports.

For thousands of Afghans attempting to flee the country their fate is being arbitrarily determined by the Taliban forces checking documentation at the first perimeter, Ward says. President Biden said yesterday the US estimates between 50,00 to 65,000 Afghan partners and their families are still trying to get out of the country.

Afghans who make it through the first check are then subjected to further scrutiny by the Afghan special forces, who are facing accusations of similar brutality. This translates into a life-or-death risk for Afghans attempting to access Kabul airport, Ward adds.

Despite this hostility, Afghans across the country are persisting with acts of courage, replacing Taliban flags with Afghan ones, in defiance of the new regime. And the Taliban themselves, conscious of the watching eyes of the world is putting on a show of greater lenience, encouraging Shiite Muslims in Kabul to celebrate the feast of Ashura on Thursday.?

Ward, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, is on the ground in Kabul with the latest.?

Watch her report here:

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President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on August 18, 2021.

President Biden has instructed top military commanders who are facilitating the evacuation from Kabul that he doesn’t want to see any empty seats on planes, according to a senior official familiar with the directive.?

Biden, who met with senior staff in the Situation Room Wednesday, made clear he wants every flight leaving the airport filled to capacity. An official cautioned that, given the chaotic nature of the evacuation, the presidential directive doesn’t always mean it will happen for every flight.?

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, told reporters Thursday that in the last 24 hours,?13 C-17 US military airplanes arrived in Kabul with “additional troops and equipment” and 12 C-17 military planes left.?

The White House said on Wednesday that the US military evacuated approximately 1,800 individuals on 10 C-17s, although the Pentagon has said its goal is to evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people a day.

Since August 14, the US government have evacuated nearly 6,000 people.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the Defense Department is “hopeful” that there will be an increase in people able to transit through the Kabul airport given the opening of additional gates and increased personnel, but there has yet to be “some dramatic rise.”

“We’ve got additional consular officers at these additional gates with additional troops helping the consular officers so I think we’re poised to see an increase but I want to be careful before I make predictions,” Kirby said. “What we’re trying to do, what we want to drive, is an increase. That’s very much on everybody’s mind.”

There has been “no hostile interactions between the Taliban” and US troops or American citizens getting through the Kabul airport gates, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during an on-camera briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Kirby said the Pentagon has seen “reports of the Taliban harassing, and physically so, some Afghans that were trying to move to the airport,” and said the US military is in “constant communication” with the Taliban to “make sure that they have the same visibility on the people that we want to see get through as we do.”??

Kirby said conversations with the Taliban “continue,” in order to ensure both Americans and at-risk Afghans are able to get to the airport safely.?

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said there has been “no decision to change” the Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan at this point.?

“We are focused on doing everything we can inside that deadline to move as many people out as possible,” Kirby said during an on-camera briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.?

Kirby said “if and when there is a decision to change that” deadline, then “obviously that would require additional conversations with the Taliban as well,” but added he did not believe those conversations “have happened at this point.”

When asked by CNN’s Barbara Starr about communication with the Taliban, Kirby said it’s a “fundamental fact of the reality of where we are that communication and a certain measure of agreement with the Taliban on what we’re trying to accomplish has to continue to occur.”?

“I think it is just a fundamental fact of the reality of where we are that communications and a certain measure of agreement with the Taliban on what we’re trying to accomplish has to continue to occur, and again I’m not going to speculate past August 31,” he added.?

The Pentagon said it was focused on securing the Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport when asked about why US troops are not being used to retrieve Americans who are unable to get to the airport.

The US Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday advised that it “cannot ensure safe passage” to the airport, despite the Pentagon underscoring alleged Taliban assurances that it will ensure safe transit.?

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley told reporters on Wednesday that if directed, US military in Kabul have the ability to extract Americans and take them to Hamid Karzai International Airport when asked by CNN’s Barbara Starr.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin clarified that “we don’t have the capability to go out and collect the large numbers of people,” adding that he would “draw a distinction between extracting someone in an extreme condition or circumstance versus going out and collecting up large numbers of American citizens.”

Pressed on the issue, Austin said, “We’re going to do everything we can to continue to try to deconflict and create passageways for them to get to the airfield.” But again, he said the US military does not have the capability to “extend operations currently into Kabul.”

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, said F-18s from the Ronald Reagan Carrier strike group “flew armed overwatch flights” over Kabul, Afghanistan, “to ensure security” over the last 24 hours.

“We maintain a watchful high and?are continuously conducting?in-depth assessments to protect?the safety of Americans.?We’ll use all of the tools in?our arsenal to achieve this?goal.?I want to reinforce that we are?absolutely focused on this?mission of national importance.?We are committed to the safe?evacuation of as many people as?quickly and as safely as?possible,” Taylor said.

The flights are providing air support, the general said.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby added that the flights were “not low pass flights” they’re “at altitude.”

“As general briefed, they are overwatch.?And in this case the general?briefed F-18 flights, but there are F-18 flights but there?are other aircrafts that Gen. McKenzie… have at their disposal?to provide this kind of over?watch.?So they are not low passes.”

Asked if the aircrafts have authorization to fire if US troops and allies come under attack, Kirby said, “As always, we?have the right to defend?ourselves and our people and our?operations.”

The US military is in communication with the local Taliban commanders on the ground in Kabul, and they are discussing “making sure that those at-risk Afghans, Special Immigrant Visa applicants and additional Afghan citizens that we want to move through are able to move through,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during an on-camera briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday.

Kirby said the Pentagon is hearing reports that “the process is working,” this morning.?

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, said since the start of US evacuation operations on Aug. 14, about 7,000 have been evacuated from Afghanistan.?

The cumulative number of people moved out of Afghanistan is somewhere near 12,000.

“This increase is reflective of both a ramp up of aircraft and airlift capability, faster processing of evacuees and greater information and fidelity in reporting,” Taylor said in a Pentagon briefing.?

The US military troop presence in Kabul is now 5,200 on the ground.

Taylor did not provide a breakdown of numbers on evacuees, but said said that it included?American citizens, US embassy personnel, others designated as SIV applicants and other evacuees in coordination with the State Dept.

In the past 24 hours, 13 C-17 US military airplanes arrived in Kabul with “additional troops and equipment,” Taylor said, and 12 C-17 military planes departed, he added.?

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby and Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, are proving an update now on US evacuations from Afghanistan and the latest on US military presence in the country.?

According to earlier figures from a White House official, the US has evacuated 1,800 individuals from Afghanistan over the last 24 hour – a total of 6,000 since Saturday.

President Biden said in an ABC News interview yesterday that there are still between 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan and the US estimates between 50,000 to 65,000 Afghan partners and their families are trying to get out of the country.?

The US Embassy in Kabul warned yesterday it could not ensure safe passage for Americans to the airport to escape Afghanistan, despite the Pentagon underscoring alleged Taliban assurances that it will ensure safe transit.

A bipartisan group of 53 senators is urging President?Joe Biden?to quickly evacuate Afghan Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and their families and fully implement changes to the program signed into law in late July.

“American inaction would ensure they become refugees or prime targets for Taliban retribution,” they wrote.

The Biden administration pledged to assist the Afghans who worked for, and on behalf of, the US government and military during its two decade military campaign in Afghanistan, but has come under sharp scrutiny by lawmakers and advocates for not acting more quickly to relocate these Afghans and their families. The Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country has made relocation efforts?fraught and dangerous. US troops and diplomats based at Kabul airport are scrambling to get US citizens and Afghans at risk of Taliban reprisal on to flights out of the country.

In their letter Thursday, the senators noted that the US military mission was “at every step of the way” aided “by Afghans who fought alongside us for a better future for their country.”

“They risked their safety and the well-being of their families to work with the United States. With the departure of U.S. forces and Taliban rule in place, the safety and security of our Afghan allies who put their lives on the line to help our service members and diplomats must be a top priority,” the letter said.

Read more about the letter here.

Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, August 19.

Large Taliban convoys have been deployed through the streets of Kabul after crowds were seen marching through the Afghan capital with the country’s national flag to mark independence day, a CNN team has witnessed.?

The convoys, consisting of two-three pickup trucks with at least six Taliban fighters each, were seen circling several areas of the city, with sirens blaring.?

Sporadic gunfire was also heard, at a more intense rate than on previous days.

Earlier on Thursday, CNN reported that crowds were seen marching through the streets of Kabul carrying the Afghan national flag, in defiance of the Taliban who use a different flag.?

The Taliban has been making statements, telling the world that women will be allowed to continue in their professions as long as they adhere to the rules. However, glimpses of reality on the ground are slowly surfacing, showing a different picture, including how some female journalists are being barred from working.

The uncertainty under the Taliban has forced some journalists to self-censor, said Lotfullah Najafizada, head of TOLOnews TV in Afghanistan.

“I don’t think we know what’s?going to happen to journalists …?and all other female journalists,” he told CNN. “We know that the Taliban stopped?female journalists [from] going to the?state broadcaster, which the?Taliban fully control now.?The independent and private?broadcasters, I think we still have?to determine, see what’s going?to happen to them.”

There is a vacuum in Afghanistan and nothing is known about the fate of journalists, he added.

It was clear in the case of Afghan journalist Shabnam Dawran, who announced that she was not permitted to go to work and was warned not to continue her job.

Her video was posted by Miraqa Popal, head of Afghan news channel?TOLO?News, on Wednesday.

“Taliban didn’t allow my ex-colleague here in @TOLOnews and famous anchor of the?State-owned @rtapashto Shabnam Dawran to start her work today,” Popal tweeted.

Here is what the video said:

Watch CNN’s interview with the head of TOLOnews TV in Afghanistan:

People wait to leave Kabul airport on August 16.

As the Taliban sealed their grip on Afghanistan with the capture of Kabul on Sunday, many in the country — including Afghans that have worked with US and European forces — are fearing for their lives, and have spent the better part of the week attempting to flee.

President Biden said yesterday the US estimates between 50,00 to 65,000 Afghan partners and their families are trying to get out of the country. In order to get them out before the Aug. 31 deadline, the President said evacuations will have to ramp up.

But statements put out by governments including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union on the commitment to their Afghan partners have been criticized as meek and uncertain, with thousands of Afghans desperate to flee now facing an uncertain future.

Afghans who have a long history of working with, or for the US government or contractors, who are still awaiting evacuation, tell CNN they feel trapped and abandoned. And it remains unclear whether those who have managed to flee will be given asylum in the country they have been evacuated to.

Here’s what some countries have said so far:

United States: Biden on Wednesday suggested for the first time that he’s willing to keep US forces in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave are out of the country, but stopped short of making the same commitment to the United States’ Afghan partners. The US has evacuated 1,800 individuals from Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, a total of 6,000 since Saturday, according to a White House official. Biden said in an ABC News interview yesterday that there are still between 10,000 to 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan.?

European Union: Top diplomat Josep Borrell said the bloc cannot rescue all Afghans from the country. The EU has been able to evacuate 106 EU staff from Afghanistan, but “there are still 300 more Afghan staff” who are trying to get a flight out, Borell said.

United Kingdom: British?forces have?evacuated?306 UK nationals and 2,052 Afghan nationals so far, and a further 2,000 Afghan applications have been completed, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

“These are interpreters, locally engaged staff and others who have risked their lives supporting our military efforts,” Johnson said. “We are proud to bring these brave Afghans to our shores.”

He promised that the UK “will not be sending people back to Afghanistan” but added that the government will also now allow people to come from Afghanistan to this country “in an indiscriminate way.”

Czech Republic: Two flights from Kabul, carrying?Czech?and Afghan citizens, has already reached Prague this week, according to the Ministry of Defense. One landed on Monday and the other landed on Tuesday. There were 46 people on board the first flight and 87 on the second one. A third flight also flew out of Afghanistan on Wednesday.

Germany: The country has been operating a shuttle service between Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Kabul several times a day as part of its evacuation efforts. More than 900 people have been evacuated, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.?This includes German citizens, local forces and other people at risk. These evacuees were first flown from Kabul to Tashkent, Uzbekistan.?Since then, some of them have been flown to Frankfurt, Germany. However, it is unclear, if those included Afghan nationals.

Italy: About 85 Afghan nationals were evacuated on Wednesday.

“Our commitment is to work with the utmost effort to complete the evacuation plan for Afghan collaborators, activists and those exposed to danger,” Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said in a press release.

Evacuees were taken to Kuwait and then transferred to a flight en route to Italy, the press release read, and added that plans were in place to evacuate another 150 people and bring them to Italy. A first plane carrying Italian diplomats and their Afghan assistants had arrived in Rome from Kabul on Monday.

President Joe Biden speaks from the East Room of the White House on August 18, in Washington, DC.

US President Biden was asked if it was a failure of intelligence, planning, execution or judgment that led to the situation in Afghanistan.

“When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government getting into a plane and taking off and going to another country. When you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained, that was — you know I’m not — that’s what happened. That’s simply what happened,” he said.

Asked if he thought the withdrawal?could have been handled better,?Biden said: “No.”

The President said he thought chaos in the country?was inevitable after US troops departed.

“(T)he idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” he said Wednesday.

But in public statements since the troop drawdown was first announced in April, Biden repeatedly relayed to the American people that the withdrawal would proceed safely and in an orderly fashion.

In April, he said the drawdown would be done “responsibly, deliberately, and safely.”

And in July,?Biden used a question-and-answer session in the White House?to downplay the prospect the Afghan government could collapse and the Taliban could take over, saying that outcome was not inevitable. He indicated that the “drawdown is proceeding in a secure and orderly way, prioritizing the safety of our troops as they depart.” And he also insisted there would be “no circumstance” in which American personnel were evacuated from the roof of their embassy, rejecting any comparison to the fall of Saigon.

Asked during the ABC News interview if chaos was “always priced into the decision,” Biden initially responded yes, but then added that exactly what happened was not part of his calculation.

“One of the things we didn’t know is what the Taliban would do, in terms of trying to keep people from getting out. What they would do. What are they doing now? They’re cooperating, letting American citizens get out, American personnel get out, embassies get out, etc., but they’re having — we’re having some more difficulty having those who helped us when we were in there,” Biden said.

The President was also asked if the intelligence was wrong or if he downplayed it when he called a takeover unlikely.

“There was no consensus if you go back and look at intelligence reports,” the President responded. “They said that it’s more likely to be some time by the end of the year.”

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Crowds of Afghans in Kabul are defying the Taliban by marching through the streets with the national flag of Afghanistan in celebration of the country’s 1919 independence from British colonial rule.

The Taliban seeks to replace the black, red and green Afghan national flag with their own white and black flag.

Witnesses accounts and video shared widely on social media Thursday show crowds marching through the capital with the national flag. In some instances, people had replaced the white and black Taliban flag with the Afghan tricolor.

One witness CNN spoke with said protesters in Kabul marched past Taliban fighters screaming “Long Live Afghanistan.” Another witness told CNN the Taliban had fired into the air to try and break up the procession. It is unclear if anyone was injured.?

In the eastern city of Jalalabad, the country’s fifth largest, another witness CNN spoke with said protesters demonstrated on the streets for a second consecutive day. According to the witness, protesters were met with a violent response by the Taliban.

The witness said Taliban fighters had shot onto the crowd.?

Video sent to CNN from Jalalabad showed protesters that had been injured, seemingly hit by gunfire. The video showed protesters being transported onto cars, wrapped in Afghanistan’s national flag.

The Taliban have not yet commented on the incident.?

Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday, August 19.

The Taliban have celebrated Afghanistan’s Independence Day on Thursday by declaring victory over the US, which they described as a “powerful and arrogant force.”

Thursday marks the country’s independence from British colonial rule, marked by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi.?

The Taliban claimed victories against US, Soviet and British forces, holding their success to a higher power.

“There is no doubt that this divine victory was achieved by God at the hands of a helpless people like the people of Afghanistan, who defeated three arrogant empires in three successive centuries,” they said.?

“It is thanks to this blessing that we work together with all honesty and sincerity to establish this Islamic system, to unite this country, to uplift it and advance it,” the statement said, adding: “We ask God to grant our Muslim people success in achieving this lofty wish for Afghanistan. Let it be ruled by the Quran, and may peace by upon you and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

A few hours later, the Taliban called on imams, or preachers, across Afghanistan to urge citizens to cooperate with the incoming government in Friday prayers, underscoring a connection they seek to bridge between the country’s population and their hardline fundamentalist values.

While the militants have so far sought to present an image of themselves as more progressive than the group that ruled Afghanistan through terror two decades ago, every pledge has been caveated by a reminder of the Taliban’s “core values” – a strict interpretation of Sharia law, which experts say has not been drastically re-imagined in the space of 20 years.

Sharia law was established 1,400 years ago and can only be amended or updated with extreme care by religious scholars, experts in the region told CNN.

When last in power, the Taliban used Sharia law as justification for scores of violent and repressive punishments, including public executions. Alleged adulterers were stoned to death and suspected theft punished by amputation.

“We ask all the honorable preachers to deliver a Friday sermon tomorrow… Urging citizens to cooperate in order to build and advance the nation without trying to escape from it, and to return all cadres and wealth to the country,” the group’s Committee for Advocacy, Guidance, Recruitment, Enjoying Good and Forbidding Wrong said in a statement published by the Taliban on an official Twitter account.

The Taliban also asked preachers to deliver “a statement of interests (on the Islamic system) for the citizens, and a call for unity and agreement among the people,” and to address “the spoiled response to the enemy’s negative propaganda and provocations in order to convince and reassure the people.”?

During the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, brutal floggings, amputations and public executions were commonplace.

Women were largely confined to their homes and the death penalty was in place for offenses including female adultery, homosexuality and the rejection of Islam.?

Since Afghanistan fell to the militant group on Sunday, the Taliban have sought to present an image of themselves as more progressive, inclusive and restrained – claiming that they will not seek retribution against their political enemies, and that women will play an important role in society and have access to education.

Members of the Taliban’s sophisticated communications operation have been increasingly visible in the first days of the new regime, telling international journalists at every opportunity that the group will form an “inclusive Islamic government.”?

But their early actions have dashed many Afghans’ hopes that the Taliban might have changed in the intervening decades.

Women have?already disappeared from the streets of Kabul, fearing the new reality of life under Taliban control; husbands and fathers have been purchasing burqas in the fear that their female relatives will be safe only if they cover up.

And attacks on women across the country as the Taliban regained control of provinces have provided a chilling preview of what may be in store for millions.

Read more about the Taliban’s aims and its leaders:

Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. The Taliban declared an "amnesty" across Afghanistan and urged women to join their government Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Related article The Taliban want the world to think they've changed. Early signs suggest otherwise

Josep Borrell arrives for an EU summit in Brussels, on May 24.

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has said that the bloc cannot rescue all Afghans from the country, as thousands continue to scramble to get on flights out of the capital’s airport.

Borrell said the EU has been able to evacuate 106 EU staff from Afghanistan, but that “there are still 300 more Afghan staff from European Union delegations blocked on the streets of Kabul, trying to reach the airport and trying to have a seat on some of the European Union member states flights.”

“These people have loyally promoted and defended EU interests in Afghanistan over many years, it’s our moral duty to protect them and to help to save as many people as possible,” he said, while conceding the EU won’t be able to rescue everyone.

Borrell added that the situation on the ground was a “catastrophe.”

“We have been facing a new and painful reality on the ground on Afghanistan,” he said. “This is a catastrophe for the Afghan people, for western values and credibility, and for the developing of international relations,” he said.

“Was it foreseeable, was it preventable? In any case, it is a nightmare,” Borrell said.

A total of 12 people have been killed in and around Hamid Karzai International Airport since the Taliban took control of the capital on Sunday, Reuters reported Thursday, citing?NATO sources and Taliban officials.

Reuters reports, citing an unnamed Taliban official, that the deaths were caused either by stampedes of people trying to get into the airport in the hope of boarding an evacuation flight or by gun shots in the area.?

CNN has been unable to independently verify the reports.?

Desperate scenes have been unfolding at Kabul’s airport since the Taliban took over the city on Sunday.

On Monday, hundreds rushed the runway, with video showing Afghans clinging to the fuselage of a US military aircraft as it taxied. ?Video of people running with the plane went viral,?as did video appearing to show Afghan civilians falling from the side of the plane in mid-air after desperately trying to hold on. The US Air Force Office of Special Investigations is opening an investigation into human remains found in the?wheel well of a C-17 that took off from the airport, the Air Force said in a Tuesday statement.

The situation continues to deteriorate at the airport and around its perimeter, which is under Taliban control. On Wednesday night, loud detonations – perhaps caused by stun or flash grenades – and what appeared to be tear gas, were recorded on video. Dozens of people could be seen scrambling beside the walls at the entrance to the airport, with distressing images of mothers handing over their babies to British soldiers across barbed wire also being recorded.

Evacuees from Kabul sit inside a military aircraft in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on August 17, before reaching their final destination in Germany.?

Germany has evacuated a further 211 people from Afghanistan, bringing the total number the country has taken to more than 900, the Defense Ministry said Thursday.?

“During the night we were able to evacuate another 211 people to be protected from Afghanistan. Another Bundeswehr plane brought German citizens, local forces and other people at risk from Kabul to Tashkent – bringing the number of evacuees to more than 900,” a tweet from the ministry said.?

Two planes from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, also landed in Frankfurt, Germany, early on Thursday morning with hundreds of people on board who had previously been brought to safety from Afghanistan, the ministry said.

“In total, the two Lufthansa and Uzbekistan Airways planes carried around 500 people,” it added.

The Defense Ministry said that people from 17 nations were on board the flights, but did not specify how many Afghans had been evacuated.

Germany has been operating a shuttle service between Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Kabul several times a day as part of its evacuation efforts.

The Bundeswehr is planning another four flights to Kabul Thursday, the ministry said.

Tamana, 30, had lived in Afghanistan her entire life – until last Friday, when she flew to Washington, DC, after receiving a special immigrant visa.

When she touched down, “I said that I am dreaming, it is not possible that I am in the US,” she told CNN. “

She had applied for the visa four years ago, worried that she might be in danger for her work with USAID, the US government foreign aid agency. It’s a relief to be out of the country – but her father, three brothers and two sisters are still in Afghanistan, and she prays they won’t be targeted because of her.

She is now looking for a job and a permanent place to live. She knows she may not see her family again for a long time – but “I don’t have any choice,” she said.

She and other Afghan refugees are now being supported by non-profit and charity efforts, with boxes of donations arriving by the hundreds to help the expected influx of?refugees and displaced people in the days?to come.?

The 29-year-old woman was getting ready to attend a seminar at a school in Kabul on Sunday when she received a phone call with the news: The Taliban had entered the capital.

“I was just crying and I told my husband that now, what will happen?” said the woman, who works in the education sector and asked not to be identified for her safety. “I took my phone and I kept calling my sisters and my relatives … we just contacted many people (asking) how to go, how to leave the country.”

In the end, she decided to go to her parents’ house for safety. On the taxi ride over, she watched the city descend into chaos outside the window, with terrified people everywhere “trying to find a safe place for themselves.”

Before the Taliban’s takeover, she was able to travel alone, hold a job and have an independent source of income. “But now I feel like I am in a jail,” she said. “I can’t do anything, and I am scared (of) when the Taliban will come to my home and when they will shoot me.”

The Taliban have assured the Afghan and international communities that they will allow women to continue studying in schools under a new “Afghan inclusive Islamic government.”

But, the 29-year-old said, after the Taliban’s bloody and oppressive former regime, “I cannot trust a person who killed many innocent people. How can we trust them?”

Even though they had watched the Taliban launch its nationwide offensive with fear and trepidation, nobody expected the nation to fall so quickly and completely – or for the Afghan President to flee and leave his people to fend for themselves, she said. What’s left is a sense of surreality and despair.

The Taliban’s takeover of Kabul means that Nowzad – a non-profit that has spent nearly 15 years reuniting stray dogs with the soldiers who rescued them – no longer has a future in Afghanistan.

The organization’s founder, Pen Farthing, now has a new mission: finding safe homes for his staff and close to 200 animals in their care.

Since its founding in 2007, Nowzad has cared for more than 1,600 rescued animals and reunited them with soldiers. Now, Farthing is fighting to get all 25 of Nowzad’s staffers and their immediate families out of Afghanistan and onto a repatriation flight to the United Kingdom.

Farthing has a relocation plan for 98 of their dogs and 88 cats. It’s called Operation Ark, and they plan to rent a cargo plane to fly the animals out of Afghanistan. He is not currently disclosing their destination, but once there, they are partnered with another animal welfare group to take charge of them. He’s working to raise $200,000 through?Nowzad’s donation page?to cover the costs.

Nowzad only has days left, Farthing estimated, before they need to abandon their location in Kabul. Their facilities include a dog shelter, animal clinic, and Afghanistan’s first donkey sanctuary.

Read the full story:

Related article After Kabul's fall, Pen Farthing says he's not leaving until his team and their animals are safely out of Afghanistan

The government of Costa Rica said on Wednesday it was willing to provide humanitarian shelter to 48 Afghan women who had been working for the United Nations in Afghanistan.?

Costa Rica’s offer follows a request made by the United Nations Population Fund.

The Costa Rican government said in a statement it is currently in talks with the UN to settle the humanitarian offer.?

Pakistan International Airlines has helped evacuate 1,100 people from Afghanistan so far, according to Pakistan’s Information Ministry.

“In two days we evacuated nearly 1,100 people from Kabul after which the airport was run over by the crowd and all airport set up got dismantled,” the ministry said in a statement.?

The evacuated people are of several nationalities. Numerous countries and international agencies, including the US, Philippines, Canada, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands, requested help with evacuating their citizens, said the airline.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Kabul said that hundreds of visas have been issued to foreign media, Afghans, and other nationals in the country, according to government-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan.

Protests reportedly broke out in the cities of Jalalabad and Khost on Wednesday, with hundreds of people taking to the streets in an outpouring of anger over the Taliban’s takeover of the country.

Videos that emerged on social media purportedly showing the demonstrations also show women protesting, with signs calling for their continued rights under Taliban rule. CNN has not independently verified these videos.?

“A lot of Afghans I’ve spoken to,?particularly politicians who?have tried to fight for women’s?rights, they have told me that?this is their moment – this is their moment to go out,” said Abawi.?“But at the same time, they are?also scared to.”

Anger at Biden: Abawi added that many Afghans she has spoken to share a sense of betrayal, and anger at US President Joe Biden.

In an interview with ABC News that aired on Wednesday, Biden doubled down on his previous rhetoric, denying that the US pullout was a failure and instead pointing to “the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained.”

But, Abawi, said, “It’s not just the Afghans.?There were a lot of mistakes?made by the international?community, in particular the?US administration.?And yes, we could point to?finger at past administrations … but the buck to stop with?President Biden.”

President Joe Biden is struggling against an?intensifying examination of his judgment,?competence and even his empathy over the chaotic US exit from Afghanistan. And each attempt the administration makes to quell a furor that’s tarnishing America’s image?only provokes more questions about its failures of planning and execution.

A defiant Biden on Wednesday rejected criticism of his leadership, as he battled the most significant self-inflicted drama of a term that he won by promising proficient government and to level with voters.

The President had repeatedly pledged the withdrawal from the country’s longest war would be orderly, deliberate and safe and that there were no circumstances that Afghanistan would suddenly fall to the Taliban.

But in the ABC News interview he changed tack, saying there was no way the US could have left without “chaos ensuing” and that such scenes were always baked into the decision to get all troops out this year.

Biden is failing to adequately explain why he so badly failed to predict the swift collapse of the Afghan state. And his credibility has been sullied because his confident downplaying of the risks of the withdrawal has been repeatedly confounded by events. Seven months into his term, Biden no longer gets credit?simply for not being Donald Trump.

Read the full analysis:

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 18: U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on the COVID-19 response and the vaccination program in the East Room of the White House on August 18, 2021 in Washington, DC. During his remarks, President Biden announced that he is ordering the United States Department of Health and Human Services to require nursing homes to have vaccinated staff in order for them to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding. The President also announced that Americans would be able to receive a third booster shot against Covid-19. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Related article Analysis: Biden's presidency is under scrutiny as never before over Afghan chaos

In parts of Kabul, there is a “general veneer of calm and sometimes order,” said CNN?International Security Editor?Nick Paton Walsh, who was in the national capital when it fell to the Taliban.

“But the calm is deceptive,” he added. Anxiety is running high among the public that Taliban – who have worked to project a “civilized and disciplined” image since their takeover – may transform into “something less benevolent once the world’s initial fascination fades.”

“It is deeply surreal to see the Taliban, for years the hidden enemy of the government there, just openly walking its streets,” he added. “There are rumors of revenge by them against government soldiers or employees, but not much hard evidence to back it up.”

Shops are half-open and streets are sometimes busy – but scenes get far more chaotic outside the international airport, which desperate Afghans and their families have been largely unable to enter.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team were reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, when they were confronted by armed Taliban fighters on Wednesday.

The team was near the airport, surrounded by desperate Afghans and their families hoping to escape on an evacuation flight, and Taliban fighters firing shots in an attempt to control the crowd.

“We had Taliban fighters all?around approaching us,?one man shouting at me to cover?my face or he wouldn’t talk to?me,” Ward told CNN after the incident,.

At one point, a Taliban fighter took the safety off his AK-47 assault rifle and pushed through the crowd, gun lifted into the air as if he were about to begin firing, prompting the CNN team to run for cover.

Taliban confronts CNN:?But the “most frightening moment” came when two Taliban fighters spotted a CNN producer filming video with his phone, and charged toward the team, pistols raised and ready to strike.

“They were ready to pistol whip him,” Ward said. It was only when another Taliban fighter intervened, telling the others that Ward’s team were journalists with permission to report, that they were allowed to pass through.

Desperate crowds at the airport:?Before the confrontation, Ward and the CNN team had spoken to desperate and angry Afghans waiting outside the airport in Kabul, some of whom said they felt abandoned and lied to by US leaders.

“I’ve covered all sorts of crazy situations. This was mayhem. This was nuts. This was impossible for an ordinary civilian, even if they had their paperwork … There’s no coherent system for processing people,” Ward said.

The Taliban are stationed outside the airport, occasionally firing into the air and into the throng for crowd control.

“It’s so heartbreaking,” Ward said.?“Everybody (was) coming up to us with?their papers and passports,?saying, “Please,?I worked at Camp Phoenix.?I was at this camp.?I was a translator.?Help me get in, help me get to?America.”

Suneeta hasn’t been able to sleep in days.

Instead, she’s been constantly calling and texting her four children, all younger than 18 – the youngest only 7 – who are hiding by themselves in an apartment in Kabul, Afghanistan, thousands of miles away from her home in Albany, New York.

She’s scared and restless and said she hasn’t been able to go into work or do anything but worry since?the Taliban gained control?of Afghanistan and?retook the country’s capital Sunday.?With fighters controlling the streets of the city, her children are scared to step out, she said, even for a quick trip to the nearby grocery store.

Suneeta, who did not want her full name or her children’s names published by CNN because of safety concerns, said she fears the children are in grave danger because her husband worked with US troops before he went missing roughly eight years ago.

Now, all she wants is to get her children to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport and to Albany.

The rush to escape: Since Kabul fell, Afghans living in the United States have scrambled to get their families out of Afghanistan – appealing to neighbors back home, friends in America and government officials in hopes that someone can help.

The Taliban say they will grant “blanket amnesty” for everyone in Afghanistan, but?many who remember horrors from the group’s previous rule?are skeptical about the promise and?say instances of intimidation have already begun.

And like Suneeta, many who are frantically working from the United States to get their families out worry about the retribution their loved ones may face from Taliban fighters for supporting US forces.

“This is like a nightmare,” the mother of four said. “I’m very scared.”

Read the full story:

Suneeta and her family

Related article Afghans in America are desperately trying to get their families to safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is now permitting overflights of Afghanistan?on a case-by-case basis, and is telling US air carriers that they can conduct relief flights to Kabul if they get permission to land from the Defense Department.

During a briefing with reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley also said?landings into the civilian side of the Kabul airport currently have to be conducted under visual flight rules and at the crew’s on risk because of the lack of air traffic control.

On Sunday, United Airlines, Emirates, and FlyDubai announced changes to flights in and around Afghanistan.??

“Due to the dynamic nature of the situation we have begun routing affected flights around Afghanistan airspace. We will continue to work closely with the FAA and IATA to evaluate the situation and determine how we continue service to markets impacted,” United Airlines media spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.

Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul on Wednesday, Aug. 18.?

The Taliban’s stunningly swift takeover of Afghanistan has caused dread across much of the nation, as?Afghans anxiously readjust to life?under a militant group that repressed millions when last in power.

Under the Taliban’s rule between 1996 and 2001, brutal floggings, amputations and public executions were common. Women were largely confined to their homes, and the death penalty was in place for offenses including female adultery, homosexuality and the rejection of Islam.

With the glare of the media again on Kabul, and Western forces staging a hasty retreat, the world is anxiously waiting to discover whether the new Taliban era will see a return to those days.

The militants have so far sought to present an image of themselves as more progressive, inclusive and restrained than the group that terrorized communities two decades ago –claiming that they will not seek retribution against their political enemies, and that women will play an important role in society and have access to education.

The group’s co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Afghanistan Tuesday for the first time since he played a key role the last Taliban government – a sign that the influence of the Taliban’s old guard has not diminished.

And their early actions have dashed many Afghans’ hopes that the Taliban might have changed in the intervening decades.

The group’s fighters clashed with activists during the first major protest against their new regime on Wednesday, three witnesses told CNN, firing guns into a crowd and beating demonstrators in the city of Jalalabad.

Women have?already disappeared from the streets of Kabul, fearing the new reality of life under Taliban control; husbands and fathers have been purchasing burqas in the fear that their female relatives will be safe only if they cover up.

Attacks on women across the country in recent weeks, as the Taliban regained the ascendency in Afghanistan’s provinces, have provided a chilling preview of what may be in store for millions.

Read more about the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan here.

The Biden administration is moving to prevent the Taliban from accessing about $450 million in funds due to arrive next month from the International Monetary Fund.

The Treasury Department is taking steps to prevent the Taliban from accessing the IMF funds, a Treasury official told CNN on Wednesday.

In a Tuesday?letter?to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, 17 GOP lawmakers called it?“extremely concerning”?that the IMF is?scheduled to allocate funds?to Afghanistan next week. They note this would “provide nearly half a billion dollars in unconditional liquidity to a regime with a history of supporting terrorist actions against the United States and her allies.”

The GOP lawmakers, which include Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, requested an update from Yellen by 5 p.m., ET on Thursday.

The Treasury secretary cannot unilaterally act here. It’s a matter for the 190 IMF member countries, including Russia, China and Iran.

The controversy surrounds a previously-scheduled allocation of the IMF’s own currency,?known as Special Drawing Rights. SDRs can be exchanged for US dollars, euros, yen, Chinese yuan and sterling. The value of an SDR is set each day, based on a basket of currencies.

Read more about the funds here.

The refugee crisis in Afghanistan is growing as the Taliban take over the country.

Since the start of this year, 550,000 Afghans were forced to flee their homes due to internal fighting, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Now, tens of thousands more are trying to leave the country as many Afghans, especially women and children, fear a resumption of Islamic fundamentalism under the Taliban.

Others, including interpreters who helped the US Military fight the Taliban, fear retribution. Afghan journalists who have been covering the war are also at particularly high risk. You can help these refugees through non-profits providing protection, shelter, water and health care both in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

CNN’s Impact Your World has compiled?a list of vetted organizations accepting donations. Click here to contribute.