Live updates: Taliban leaders return to Afghanistan as Western countries consider cutting aid
Top Taliban political leaders have returned to Afghanistan from Qatar.
A Taliban spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — a founder of the militant group who took part in the withdrawal negotiations with the US — flew into Kandahar on Tuesday afternoon from Qatar.
Here are the other key developments, find the latest updates below:
- Taliban co-founder Baradar is expected in Kabul on Wednesday or Thursday
- The UK has said it will take in 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan over the next five years.
- Taliban will be judged on their actions not their words, says UK PM Johnson
- UK opposition accuses Johnson's government of complacency on Afghanistan
- Taliban blow up a statue of Shiite militia leader
- UN's refugee agency calls on countries to stop sending back failed Afghan asylum seekers
- EU's foreign affairs chief says the blocwill have to speak to the Talibanto secure the evacuation of foreign nationals.
How has life changed in Kabul?
With the Taliban controlling Kabul, residents in the Afghan capital must now pass through a number of checkpoints to get around, including in the formally heavily secured green zone.
A local commander manning a checkpoint said that they were there to prevent looting and to secure embassies and property.
The Taliban has promised a new era of peace and security, saying they will forgive those who fought against them and grant women full rights under Islamic law, without elaborating.
But many Afghans are deeply sceptical of the group, especially those who remember its previous rule, when it imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
At that time, women were largely confined to their homes, television and music were banned, and suspected criminals were flogged, maimed or executed in public.
UK opposition leader accuses government of 'complacency'
Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, said Johnson's "judgement on Afghanistan has been appalling".
He said that as the deal between the US and the Taliban was struck in February 2020, "we've had 18 months to prepare and plan for the consequences of what followed" including the resettlement of refugees and securing international and regional pressure for the Taliban.
He said the government used to fail its seats on multiple platforms, including NATO, and the UN Security Council to prepare for what's unfolding now.
"It's been a failure of preparation," he said, adding: "the lack o planning is unforgivable."
He also described the government's decision to cut the development budget for Afghanistan was "short-sighted, smal-minded and a threat to security."
UK to 'double' humanitarian commitment to Afghanistan
The British leader also told parliamentarians that the country will be "doubling the amount of humanitarian and development assistance that we had previously committed to Afghanistan."
He said that overall the UK will deliver "half a billion pounds" (€586.6 million) of humanitarian funding t the Afghan people.
New Afghan regime must be judged by its actions, Johnson stresses
Johnson said that it would be "a mistake" for any country to recognise the new Afghan regime "prematurely or bilaterally".
The rest of the world "should work towards common positions" before recognising the new leadership.
"We will judge this regime based on the choices it makes, by its actions, rather than its words," he said.
Johnson speaks to British MPs about Afghanistan
The British PM confirmed that it is creating new "safe and legal routes" for Afghans people to relocate in the UK and that 5,000 should settle in the UK over the next twelve months.
The country's commitment will be "under review for future years with the potential of accomodating up to 20,000 over the long term," Johnson said.
Taliban blow up statue of Shiite militia leader
The statue depicted a militia leader killed by the Taliban in 1996, when the Islamic militants seized power from rival warlords.
Abdul Ali Mazari was a champion of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazara minority, Shiites who were persecuted under the Sunni Taliban’s earlier rule.
The statue stood in the central Bamyan province, where the Taliban infamously blew up two massive 1,500-year-old statues of Buddha carved into a mountain in 2001. The Taliban claimed the Buddhas violated Islam’s prohibition on idolatry.
France evacuates 216 people on second flight out of Kabul
A second French evacuation flight left Kabul overnight and landed in Abu Dhabi in the early morning, the French Foreign Ministry has just announced.
Onboard were 25 French nationals and "184 Afghans from civil society in need of protection," it added.
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