So Taliban militants are now back in control of Afghanistan, almost two decades after they were ousted by a US-led coalition.

And thousands of people who worked with the foreign troops, diplomatic missions, aid organisations - or those who went to Afghanistan to set up businesses - are now choosing to leave the country, fearing reprisals by the new rulers.

The surge in numbers trying to leave comes on top of the 2.2 million Afghan refugees already in neighbouring countries and 3.5 million people forced to flee their homes within Afghanistan's borders.

So where are the new evacuees leaving from and heading to?

Welcome back. We are resuming our live coverage of events in Afghanistan. Please stay with us for all the latest on this dramatic and fast-changing story. Here's a quick recap on the key developments in the past 24 hours:

• A number of nations are warning there is a high threat of a terrorist attack at Kabul airport and are urging their citizens not to travel there

• The warning comes as people rush to leave the country before 31 August, the deadline set by President Joe Biden for a full withdrawal of US troops
• The US says more than 10,000 people are at the airport still waiting to be flown out

• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Taliban have agreed to allow Americans and "at-risk" Afghan nationals to leave after 31 August
• The Wall Street Journal reports that the CIA and US military are now conducting clandestine helicopter operations to evacuate Americans from the country. The US is trying to reach some 1,500 US nationals in the country.

Image source, Reuters

We're now suspending our live coverage of this dramatic and fast-changing story - thanks for staying with us.

Just a quick recap on the key developments in the past 24 hours before we go:

• Evacuations from Kabul have continued, with the total number of those airlifted - Afghans and foreign nationals - now at more than 82,000 since the Taliban takeover
• The US says more than 10,000 people - including up to 1,500 Americans - are still waiting to be flown out
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the Taliban have agreed to allow Americans and "at-risk" Afghan nationals to leave after 31 August, the date set by President Joe Biden for a full withdrawal of US troops
• The Wall Street Journal reports that the CIA and US military are now conducting clandestine helicopter operations to evacuate Americans
• Turkey has begun pulling its troops out of Afghanistan, apparently scrapping plans to help secure Kabul airport

You can still follow all the updates on this and other stories on the BBC News website.

Footage has emerged purportedly showing big crowds in the Afghan border town of Spin Boldak, hoping to cross into Pakistan.

Freelance journalist Natiq Malikzada says the situation there is far worse than at Kabul's airport - but there are no foreign reporters in the town to cover the crisis.

The BBC's Mark Urban says the video has not been verified, and it is not clear when it was filmed. The arch in the background does appear to be the Spin Boldak crossing in southern Afghanistan.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has been speaking to the media in Washington DC.

Asked about the number of people the US military are trying to get out before the 31 August deadline for military departure, Ms Psaki said the country had never put a cap on the number of individuals.

She said they were working every day "to get as many evacuated as we can" and had diverted extra resources to getting people vetted and processed in third countries providing temporary shelter to evacuees.

Ms Psaki said the US was working with "a range of countries" to ensure those fleeing had safe places to be and said she did not anticipate incidences where anyone who failed US checks could be deported back to Afghanistan.

Asked about the hundreds of Americans still thought to be in the country, the press secretary said it is suspected that many could be dual citizens who are "not yet ready to leave for a variety of reasons".

Image source, Reuters

More now from the US briefing with Secretary of State Tony Blinken.

Blinken said the Taliban have made a commitment to allow American citizens and at-risk Afghans to leave the country after 31 August evacuation deadline. He stressed that US efforts to help people who wanted to leave would not end on that date.

The secretary of state said that up to 1,000 US nationals - possibly more - could still be in Afghanistan and the administration was making exhaustive efforts to trace them.

Asked by a reporter why the US should do what the Taliban want, Blinken said the focus was on getting US citizens and others to safety.

"And for that purpose the Taliban, whether we like it or not, are largely in control of the country," he says, adding: "It's important to work with them to ensure the departure of all those that want to leave."

"As a practical matter, it advances our interests," to work with the Taliban to continue the evacuations, he argues.

Unicef, the UN agency which focuses on providing aid to children worldwide, is continuing to work across Afghanistan in spite of unfolding events.

Aid groups have raised concern over supply routes into the country due to disruption and mass evacuations at Kabul airport.

Unicef has warned that about 10 million children need assistance across the country and is committed to continuing to help despite the Taliban takover.

Mustapha Ben Messaoud, a Unicef Afghanistan worker, shared an image on Twitter of a young girl he met yesterday at a hospital in Kabul.

"Hope is why we #StayAndDeliver," he wrote alongside the image.

Tom Tugendhat, an Afghan war veteran and Conservative MP, has been talking about an Afghan friend's attempt to escape the country with his family.

The foreign affairs committee chairman shared a string of tweets on Wednesday evening that revealed his friend's son had been hospitalised after getting injured in a crush on their route to flee.

Mr Tugendhat has been vocal about events unfolding in Afghanistan. Last week he delivered an emotional speech in the House of Commons about his feelings of anger, grief and rage at what he described as the "abandonment" of Afghanistan.

Image source, Ministry of Defence

A little more now on the UK's operation to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

As we reported earlier, around 1,200 people had been evacuated by the UK in the last 12 hours, as of 18:00 BST on Wednesday,

The UK is rushing to evacuate British nationals, as well as Afghans who worked for the UK and other vulnerable individuals, out of Kabul airport.

A 31 August deadline is in place for foreign troops to leave the country.

US President Joe Biden rejected calls from UK PM Boris Johnson and other allies to delay his withdrawal date for the remaining American troops past August.

Read the full story here.

More now from the US secretary of state.

"While evacuating Americans is our top priority, we're also committed to getting as many Afghans out as we can before August 31," Tony Blinken says.

He says priority is being given to Afghans who have previously worked with the US government.

"It's hard to overstate the complexity and danger of this mission," the top US diplomat continued.

"We're taking every precaution, but this is very high risk," Blinken adds.

He says the US will continue trying to help Americans and Afghans leave after the US military departs on the 31 August deadline.

Efforts will be made "not just during the duration of our evacuation and relocation mission, but every day thereafter," says Blinken.

"This is about real people. Many scared. Many desperate," he adds, referring to reports of a child dying amid the chaos at the airport.

"Lives hang in balance during these critical days."

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Tony Blinken is giving a update on the situation on the ground in Afghanistan.

He begins by thanking diplomats, and notes that since 14 August more than 82,300 people have been safely flown out of Kabul.

"Only the US could organise and execute a mission of this scale and complexity," he says.

At least 4,500 US citizens have been evacuated since mid-August, says Blinken.

On 14 August, when the airlift began, there were approximately 6,000 Americans in Afghanistan wishing to leave, he says.

There are now around 500 to 1,000 Americans who are in constant communication with US diplomats "to determine if they still want to leave... and get instructions to them on how to do so."

Blinken adds that it is up to Americans to voluntarily enroll in a state department list when they visit Afghanistan, and also remove themselves from the list when they leave.

The programme is entirely voluntary, making it hard to determine the exact number of Americans in the country, he says.

As we've been reporting throughout the day, evacuations from Kabul's airport have continued, with more than 82,000 people already airlifted out since the Taliban takeover.

But many Afghans - as well as foreign nationals - are still desperately trying to leave the war-torn country.

Here are the latest pictures from around the world.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

The local time in Kabul is now just after 22:45. Here's the latest on the situation in Afghanistan:

• Around 10,000 people remain at Kabul airport awaiting evacuation, Pentagon officials say, warning that the figure could rise in the coming days
• 19,000 evacuees departed on Tuesday alone, US officials say, with planes taking off every 39 minutes
• Taliban forces outside the airport are brutally beating and shooting at people in the crowds, one woman who got on a departing flight told the BBC
• Many Afghans are finding it increasingly difficult to reach the airport even if they have permits to fly abroad
• President Biden has vowed to stick to his 31 August deadline to end all combat operations in Afghanistan

• Foreign officials say the threat from terrorists remains high at the airport, with specific concerns raised about the group known as ISIS-K

• US defence officials say they are aware of reports that at least one person with affiliation to the IS terror group was permitted to board one of the departing flights
• The presidents of China and Russia have spoken by phone and reportedly had "an in-depth exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan"
• Within the next hour, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken is expected to address the situation in Afghanistan. The White House and Pentagon press secretaries are also due to update reporters in the coming hours

Image source, Getty Images

Turkey has announced that it has started pulling its military out of Afghanistan.

More than 500 troops had been stationed in the country as part of a Nato force.

Previously there had been suggestions that Turkish troops might maintain a presence after the 31 August deadline for Western forces to withdraw in order to help run Kabul airport.

On Wednesday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said it was "important for Afghanistan to stabilise," reports AFP.

"Turkey will continue to be in close dialogue with all parties in Afghanistan in line with this goal," he added.

Image source, MOD

The UK has warned the US decision to leave Afghanistan on 31 August will mean an end to evacuations from Kabul airport. It is calling for "safe passage" to continue after that date, but why can't the UK hold Kabul airport without the US?

The US is providing the bulk of the troops to keep the airport secure and is running many of its facilities - including air traffic control. It is also providing intelligence and surveillance for the operation - which would take significant time and resources to replace.

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, commander Joint Forces Command from 2013 until 2016, said carrying out evacuations without US support would be extremely difficult.

"We would have to be prepared to leave the airport, and fight the Taliban to go and get these people. I just don't see that as a credible proposition.

"And secondly, if the Taliban don't want our aeroplanes to use the airport, one mortar round, one missile, one burst of machine gun fire, and the evacuation is over."

On Wednesday, the BBC was told there were 2,000 people eligible for the UK government's Afghan relocation scheme still in Afghanistan.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

The Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan has told the BBC that the militant group have no plans to repeat their harsh rule, and already living up to their commitments.

"The life of the people right now is normal," said Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, who was the ambassador until the Taliban were ousted 20 years ago and has more recently been involved with peace talks.

"The education of women [has] started and women can go to work," he added.

Mr Zaeef said some Afghans have been using recent disturbances at Kabul airport as an excuse to leave the country without proper documentation.

He also hit out at coverage of the Taliban, which he said painted them in a bad light.

"This is a big conspiracy against the Taliban, giving this kind of idea to the people that the Taliban, they are terrible and they are against the people, they are against education," said Mr Zaeef.

"When I am contacting with the people in Kabul, the people there are happy," he added. "[The Taliban] are not taking any kind of revenge on the people, even the people who go to the [Kabul] airport, the Taliban are not preventing [them] from going to the airport the legal way."

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The UK government has said that it has evacuated 1,200 people from Afghanistan in the last 12 hours.

The operation was moving at a "significant pace," a source said.

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

At some time during the last few days, US intelligence picked up word that the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group was planning to carry out an attack on Kabul airport.

While the exact nature of the threat is not known, the possibility of a suicide bomber slipping into the crowds at the gates or a rocket attack on the runway would have catastrophic consequences on the already volatile situation there.

Islamic State Khorasan Province, as it calls itself, or ISIS-K, as the US president refers to it, has been operating in Afghanistan for more than six years.

It is smaller and weaker than its jihadist rivals al-Qaeda yet it has fought a number of clashes with US and Afghan security forces in the past, as well as with Taliban and al-Qaeda militants. It has also been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on Afghan civilians.

The group initially based itself in Nangahar province where President Trump in 2017 ordered them to be bombed with a massive 20,000lb (9,000kg) explosive weapon.

IS militants later boasted that the bomb missed them.

Today they are believed to have infiltrated the capital, Kabul, and are looking for opportunities to sow confusion and chaos.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

China has reiterated its offer to help in Afghanistan's peace and reconstruction process, following "smooth and effective" talks with a Taliban delegation, according to Chinese media.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said: "China respects the Afghan people's autonomy in deciding their future and destiny, supports putting the principle of 'Afghan-led and Afghan-owned' into practice, and is willing to continue to develop good-neighbourly, friendly and co-operative relations."

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that the "hasty" US pullout from Afghanistan had caused a "serious negative impact".

The Taliban takeover has risks for China's interests. Chinese companies have won multi-million dollar oil and copper mining contracts, external in Afghanistan.

BBC News

Image source, Reuters

A young Afghan woman has told the BBC that Taliban forces at Kabul airport are treating the crowds of waiting civilians "like animals".

Fatima (not her real name) is now on a flight out of Afghanistan. She recalled the extreme difficulties she and her family had faced in reaching the airport.

"Today after three days I finally got into the airport and I have my flight. It took us 18 hours to get through one of the gates and we were moved through several areas with a lot of restrictions.

"The airport is completely surrounded by Taliban forces and they're being as brutal as they can to the people. They're shooting at people, they're beating people," Fatima said.

She added: "I have mixed feelings. On the one hand I'm travelling to a safer country - anything right now is better than being in a country led by the Taliban. On the other, I'm leaving behind everything - my life, my work, my dreams, my hopes for the future. I really desperately want to one day come back to Kabul and see Kabul free of the Taliban and free of all restrictions."

Yesterday, a Taliban spokesperson told the BBC that Afghan citizens would only be allowed to enter the airport if they held valid visas.