Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary - who was evacuated from the country a few days ago - says that the explosion at Kabul airport occurred in a sewage canal where Afghan refugees were having their visa documents vetted.

He reports that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the crowd of people before a second attacker started opening fire.

The Turkish defence ministry says there were two explosions outside Kabul airport. There is no confirmation.

The number of casualties from the explosion at Kabul airport remains unclear. Western officials had asked large crowds gathered outside the gates to leave the area following warnings of an imminent - and unspecified - terrorist attack.

However, there have been few pictures from the airport grounds today and it remains unclear whether people had heeded the warnings.

A UK Ministry of Defence source said: “We don’t have any record of UK military casualties but it’s too early to know for sure.”

British troops have recently been based at Abbey Gate at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Details of the explosion at Kabul airport remain unclear. There have been some reports of gunfire on the ground.

The explosion has occurred at the Abbey gate entrance where British troops have been stationed in recent days. It was one of three gates that had been closed followings warnings of a terrorist threat.

A US official has told Reuters news agency the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.

The White House has confirmed that President Biden has been briefed on developments.

There has been an explosion outside Kabul airport, the Pentagon has confirmed.

It is not yet clear whether there have been casualties.

The Taliban's announcement that it will reimpose Sharia or Islamic law has millions of young Afghans concerned about their future.

These young people grew up with considerable freedom compared to their parents. But they fear that all of that could easily be reversed under the Taliban.

• What is Sharia law and what does it mean for women?

Hundreds of Afghan students and other refugees from the country live in India - and they are anxious about what the future holds for them and their families back home.

They tell the BBC's Anshul Verma about how helpless and frustrated they feel watching their country suffer from afar.

Efforts to evacuate people from Kabul airport will continue until the deadline of 31 August, the US says.

The Pentagon rejected suggestions that the US may be preparing to end evacuations by the weekend.

"Evacuation operations in Kabul will not be wrapping up in 36 hours," spokesman for the US Defense Department, John Kirby, said.

"We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission."

Canada and several European countries have said they have ended or are ending evacuations early.

Image source, Getty Images

One of the UK's largest home care providers has pledged to train and employ 500 refugees from Afghanistan as carers.

Over the next five years Cera aims to recruit, train and employ 500 refugees who come to the UK as part of its resettlement programme.

The start-up uses technology to bring people services such as social care, nursing and repeat prescriptions in their own home, carrying out more than 30,000 visits each day.

It will work with more than 160 local councils and the government to train new arrivals.

Ben Maruthappu, Cera co-founder and chief executive, said: "If we can play even a small role in helping those arriving from Afghanistan, that's an opportunity we're keen to grasp with both hands."

Gunshots have been fired in the direction of an Italian military plane taking off from Kabul airport.

It is not clear who fired the shots or why.

No damage has been reported following the incident, Reuters news agency says, citing military sources.

Image source, Reuters

Canada says it too has ended its operations to evacuate people from Kabul airport.

As we mentioned earlier, many European countries are bringing their operations to a close, with security deteriorating ahead of the 31 August deadline set by the US.

"We stayed in Afghanistan as long as we could," Canada's Gen Wayne Eyre told reporters today.

"We wish we could have stayed longer and rescued everyone," he added.

Belgium and Denmark have completed their last evacuation flights and Dutch flights are also coming to an end today.

France has said its last plane will leave tomorrow evening.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News, London

Image source, EPA

The Taliban are in control of Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years. But while they no longer have any military opposition, they now face an economy on the brink of collapse, which threatens to worsen an already devastating humanitarian crisis.

When the militant group seized power on 15 August, Afghanistan's internal banking system essentially fell apart.

The economy was already extremely fragile, heavily dependent on aid. A nation is considered aid-dependent when 10% or more of its GDP comes from foreign aid; in Afghanistan's case, about 40% of its GDP was international aid, according to the World Bank.

When it became clear that the Taliban would gain control of Kabul, Western powers, including the US and Germany, stopped sending foreign aid to the country. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also since halted payments.

• Read more: What will happen to Afghanistan's economy?

Image source, Getty Images

Omaid Sharifi, the founder of arts organisation ArtLords, fled Afghanistan with his family earlier this week, he has confirmed to the BBC.

Sharifi ran workshops in Kabul helping fellow artists to create murals and street art on the city's walls - often with messages of peace and anti-corruption. They were collectively nicknamed the "Banksy of Kabul" in reference to the elusive English-based street artist.

Sharifi told the BBC the children of Afghanistan have been let down.

"The whole world failed them, because we gave them hope. We thought that they could go to school, they could go to university, they could get elected, they could do whatever they choose to, but that is not the case."

Image source, Reuters

Roughly 13,400 people were airlifted out of Afghanistan on Wednesday, the White House has said.

It raises the total number of those evacuated by the U.S. and its coalition partners to about 95,700 since 14 August.

Meanwhile, more than 14,500 evacuees from Afghanistan have landed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the largest US Air Force facility outside of America.

Last night US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that despite the pace of the airlift, the State Department estimated that as many as 1,500 US citizens could still remain on the ground in Afghanistan.

An Afghan government official has warned that many citizens eligible to be transferred from the country under the US Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) scheme may be left behind.

Mariam Solaimankhil shared a tweet that suggested hundreds of people with the correct paperwork were unable to reach Kabul airport.

Image source, AFP

Qatar says it will offer coronavirus vaccinations to all evacuees from Afghanistan who are temporarily staying in the Gulf state.

The foreign ministry said Qatar, which hosts the largest US military base in the region, had already helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to its capital Doha, with many transiting on to other countries.

Qatar has agreed with the US to temporarily host 8,000 Afghan nationals, Reuters reports. The foreign ministry said it was accommodating a “large number” of mostly “students, families and journalists”.

“Those who do not immediately transit to other countries are being provided with a PCR test and Covid-19 vaccine, if requested,” the statement said.

The "overwhelming majority" of eligible people have now been evacuated from Afghanistan, the UK's prime minister has said.

Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to the Permanent Joint Headquarters in north London, where he met military personnel co-ordinating the evacuation effort, Boris Johnson said around 15,000 people had already been evacuated by British troops.

"In the time we have left, which may be - as I'm sure everybody can appreciate - quite short, we'll do everything we can to get everybody else," he said.

However, there are reports that nearly 2,000 people eligible for the UK government's relocation programme - the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - are still in Afghanistan.

Armed Forces minister James Heappey earlier said the actual number was "potentially half" of that but he admitted "there will be people who are in danger who won't be evacuated" before the 31 August deadline.

Johnson also told broadcasters "we have to be transparent about the risks" of terrorism at Kabul airport.

He told broadcasters: "We have to be realistic about what's going on, and you'll appreciate that there are Islamic State Khorasan province (IS-K) terrorists out there.

"I can't go into the details, clearly. But we have to be mindful of the security of our personnel, but also of the Afghan people who are trying to get out."

Image source, European Pressphoto Agency

If you're just joining us, here are some of the top stories out of Afghanistan so far today:

• Fears are growing among Western nations of an imminent attack on Kabul airport from the militant group ISIS-K, with UK Defence Minister James Heappey telling the BBC there was "now very, very credible reporting of an imminent attack"

• Huge crowds of people fleeing Taliban rule have built up at Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Gates at the Spin Boldak border crossing are open, and some people are making it through
• The Taliban's spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, has told the New York Times, external playing music in public will be banned, but women undertaking trips of less than three days will not have to be accompanied by a man
• The Afghan news channel Tolo says its reporter and cameraman were beaten by the Taliban while covering a story about the rise in unemployed people in the capital, Kabul
• And several European countries are to end their operations at Kabul airport

Image source, Getty Images

Once again, music will not be allowed under the new Taliban rule, the spokesman for the militant group has said.

Zabihullah Mujahid told the New York Times, external that “music is forbidden in Islam... but we’re hoping that we can persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them".

Under the Taliban in the 1990s, most music, television and cinema was strictly forbidden, and breaking the rules could get you into serious trouble.

• Who are the Taliban?

After the militants were removed from power, the country's music scene flourished - concerts and festivals took place and the Afghanistan National Institute of Music was launched and celebrated. It featured an all-female orchestra that performed nationally and abroad.

Mujahid also told the New York Times that concerns for women's safety were "baseless". He said women will not have to stay in the house or always cover their faces, and that the requirement that women be accompanied by a male guardian only applies to journeys of three days or longer. He also said women would eventually be able to return to their daily routines.

On Tuesday, Mujahid warned women to stay at home until proper systems are in place to ensure their protection, because some Taliban fighters have not been trained not to hurt or harass them.

“We are worried our forces who are new and have not been yet trained very well may mistreat women,” Mujahid said.

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary has told the BBC that the plane he was evacuated in was also transporting a popular female TV presenter and "Afghanistan's Banksy - an artist who was painting a lot of powerful messages, from anti-corruption to peace, on the streets of Kabul".

It's part of the so-called "brain drain" of Afghanistan, referring to the sudden departure of many educated and professional Afghans.

"Afghanistan is a country where educated people don’t grow on trees," Sarwary told BBC World News TV. "This was the 20 years of massive international investment as well as a commitment from Afghans, and now all of it is down the drain.”

Sarwary said the journey to Kabul airport with his wife, baby daughter and elderly parents was "the most painful journey" as they negotiated their way past Taliban checkpoints.

"I am the lucky one, and I am very grateful, because thousands of Afghans, including our friends, are still in hiding. They fear making the journey into the airport, past the Taliban."

Now in Doha, he said having to leave Afghanistan was "unbelievably heartbreaking".

"This is a city that I call home, a city that I loved, and I knew it inch by inch, but suddenly nowhere was safe."

Read more of Bilal Sarwary's story here.