LONDON – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will convene a meeting of Group of Seven nations leaders on Tuesday for “urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan”.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Johnson said it is “vital that the international community work together to ensure safe evacuations, prevent a humanitarian crisis and support the Afghan people in achieving the gains of the past 20 years.”
The United Kingdom holds the presidency of this year’s G-7 nations, which also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
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MOSCOW – Russia’s president has criticized Western nations for trying to temporarily house Afghan refugees in Central Asian countries, and has raised security concerns for Russia.
At a meeting with senior officials of the United Russia Kremlin party on Sunday, Vladimir Putin criticized what he described as a “humiliating approach” by Western states.
The Russian president noted that there are no visa restrictions between Russia and its Central Asian allies and said Moscow does not “want militants (in Russia) to appear again under the guise of refugees.”
“We don’t want to repeat, not even in part, something we had in the 1990s and mid-2000s, when there were hostilities in the North Caucasus,” Putin said.
Thousands of people in Afghanistan have been looking for ways to leave the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul in a swift takeover, seeking to escape what they see as a return to a cruel fundamentalist government. Hundreds have targeted the nations of Central Asia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, which share a border with Afghanistan.
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MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CRISIS IN AFGHANISTAN:
– British military: 7 Afghans killed in chaos at Kabul airport
– China is worried and expects the US to leave Afghanistan
– Europe fears the Afghan refugee crisis after the acquisition of the Taliban
– AP PHOTOS: Two decades of war and daily life in Afghanistan
– Biden promises to evacuate all US and Afghan aid
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– Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan
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HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS MOST:
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon said Sunday it is formally seeking help for commercial air carriers to move evacuees from Afghanistan once they have left their country.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has activated the initial stage of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet program, ordering 18 aircraft: three from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; those of Hawaiian Airlines; and four from United Airlines.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the Department does not anticipate a significant impact on commercial flights resulting from this activation.
According to Kirby, these planes will not fly to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. They will be used to transport passengers from departure stations once they leave Kabul, allowing the U.S. military to focus on the evacuation part of Afghanistan.
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HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch army is sending additional troops to Kabul to reinforce 62 soldiers already in the Afghan capital to help secure evacuation efforts and protect the country’s consular team.
The ministry said on Sunday that additional forces are already on their way to Afghanistan. It was not said how many troops make up the new deployment.
Another company of sailors and another of paratroopers are also available for deployment.
Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag tweeted earlier Sunday that she had spoken with her British counterpart Dominic Raab about the cooperation of the two countries’ military forces in Kabul.
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LONDON – The British Ministry of Defense says the country’s armed forces have evacuated nearly 4,000 people from Afghanistan since 13 August.
While he did not provide further details, it is clear that most of those evacuated by British troops are Afghans who have helped Britain over the past 20 years.
In addition to more than 4,000 or so UK citizens, there are believed to be around 5,000 Afghan allies, such as translators and drivers, destined to sit on a plane. Since last Wednesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Britain had managed to oust more than 2,000 Afghans and some 300 British citizens.
“Our armed forces continue to work tirelessly at Kabul airport to ensure the safe evacuation of British citizens and Afghan civilians,” the ministry said in a statement on Twitter.
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KYIV, Ukraine – A Ukrainian military plane evacuated 83 more people from Kabul on Sunday, according to Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that the plane was carrying 31 Ukrainians back to Kiev, as well as “foreigners: Afghan women and children, human rights activists, journalists working with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today.
“They are safe in Kiev,” Kuleba said in a tweet. “We do not abandon our people and help others,” he said, adding that the Ukrainian authorities were working on “new evacuations.” Last week, a Ukrainian plane evacuated about 80 people from Kabul.
Thousands of people in Afghanistan have been looking for ways to leave the country after the Taliban took control of Kabul in a swift takeover, seeking to escape what they see as the return of a relentless fundamentalist rule.
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BERLIN – The U.S. military says an Afghan woman gave birth aboard the C-17 Air Force that flew from the Middle East to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. The base is used as a transit point for people evacuated from Afghanistan.
The Army Air Mobility Command tweeted that the mother began having complications during the flight on Saturday. He says, “The commander of the plane decided to go down in altitude to increase the air pressure on the plane, which helped stabilize and save the mother’s life.”
Upon arrival in Ramstein, American medical personnel boarded and delivered the boy to the cargo ship of the aircraft. “The girl and the mother were taken to a nearby medical center and are in good condition,” the army said.
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HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch government is donating 10 million euros to fund aid such as food, clean drinking water and medical supplies for Afghans.
The Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that the money will go to the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund which can be used by United Nations organizations and NGOs working in Afghanistan.
Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Minister Tom De Bruijn says “we want to support the Afghan people in these difficult circumstances.”
Meanwhile, the Dutch defense ministry said a plane it rented arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday with 160 passengers coming from Afghanistan. He did not reveal the nationalities of the evacuees.
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MADRID – The Spanish government says US President Joe Biden and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have agreed that Rota and Morón’s military bases in Spain used by US forces will temporarily house Afghans working for to the Americans and fear retaliation from the Taliban.
A Spanish plane carrying 64 people working in the United States landed on Saturday at the Spanish air base in Torrejón, near Madrid.
In addition, Spain has received another 230 evacuees from Kabul this week, most of them Afghans working for Spain and the European Union. Fifty-five of these evacuees have already traveled to other EU countries.
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LONDON – Tony Blair, the British prime minister who deployed troops to Afghanistan twenty years after the 9/11 attacks, says the US decision to leave has encouraged “all jihadist groups around the world” .
In a lengthy essay posted on his website late Saturday, Blair said the decision to withdraw troops was “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary.” He added that Britain has a “moral obligation” to remain until “all who need to be evacuated”.
He said the exit did not interest the West or Afghanistan, as the Taliban were reaffirming themselves in most of the country.
He also warned that the US decision to keep Britain in the dark about the withdrawal runs the risk of relegating the country to “the second division of world powers”.
Blair accused US President Joe Biden of making the decision on “a silly political slogan about ending the ‘wars forever’.”
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KABUL, Afghanistan – The British military says seven Afghan civilians have been killed in crowds near Kabul International Airport amid the chaos of those fleeing the Taliban’s capture of the country.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that “conditions on the ground remain extremely difficult, but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely as possible.”
The airport has been the focal point of thousands of people trying to flee the Taliban, which swept to Kabul a week ago after their lightning struck the country.
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ISLAMABAD – A spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines says the airline has suspended flights from Kabul and will not evacuate anyone at this time.
Abdullah Hafeez Khan said on Sunday that the airline has no agreement on the ground and does not have adequate facilities at Kabul International Airport to operate evacuation flights.
Khan said the suspension is temporary and that the airline will resume operations once the necessary arrangements are made there.
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NEW DELHI – An Indian official says an air force transport plane has left Kabul for New Delhi with 168 people on board.
Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, says the plane took off from Kabul on Sunday morning and that among the passengers are 107 Indian citizens. It did not give the nationalities of 61 more people evacuated from the Afghan capital.
Meanwhile, another group of 87 Indians who were evacuated from Kabul to Tajikistan on Saturday on an Indian Air Force plane is traveling to New Delhi on Sunday, according to Bagchi in a tweet. Two Nepalese nationals were also evacuated on this flight.
India began evacuating its citizens last Sunday after the Taliban swept towards Kabul.
The news agency Press Trust of India said about 400 Indians were believed to be stranded in Afghanistan. No official figures were available.
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