Image source, PA Media/MOD

Oxfordshire County Council in England says it has been "inundated" with donations for Afghan refugees arriving at RAF Brize Norton.

Care packs including toiletries, nappies, blankets, and cuddly toys have been handed to people on arrival.

The council has thanked "warm-hearted" residents of the county saying: "The generosity of Oxfordshire people to date means that no further donations are needed just now.

"Some of the items donated have already been distributed and gratefully received by arrivals at RAF Brize Norton from Afghanistan over recent days."

We've got the full story here.

BBC Monitoring

Image source, Andrew Renneisen/ Getty Images

Last night while defending his decision not to extend the presence of US troops at Kabul airport, President Biden warned of the threat posed to coalition troops by a group he referred to as ISIS-K.

This is the name under which the Islamic State group (IS) operates in Afghanistan, with the K standing for "Khorasan Province" (ISKP).

"Khorasan" refers to a historical region covering parts of modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. ISKP initially included Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, in May 2019, IS declared a separate new “Pakistan Province”.

ISKP was formed in January 2015 and is reportedly primarily made up of former members of the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban.

It is far more hard-line than the Afghan Taliban, and the two are sworn enemies. The group considers Taliban militants “apostates”, making their killing lawful under their interpretation of Islamic law.

IS condemned the 29 February 2020 peace agreement between the US and the Taliban in Afghanistan, vowing to continue to fight.

It also dismissed the recent Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, saying the US handed them the country as part of a secret deal.

ISKP suffered major military defeats in late 2019 and the capture of senior leaders in April 2020.

Since then, however, it has bounced back, claiming to have carried out scores of attacks in a surge of violence during peace talks between the Taliban and the government.

Since its establishment, ISKP has claimed regular deadly attacks across Afghanistan. It has been mostly active in the eastern province of Nangahar and in the capital Kabul, but it has claimed attacks in the provinces of Kunar, Jowzjan, Paktia, Kunduz and Herat.

The group has targeted Afghan security forces, Afghan politicians and ministries, the Taliban, religious minorities, including Shia Muslims and Sikhs, US and Nato forces, and international agencies, including aid organisations.

It also claimed an attack in Iran in September 2018.

The US evacuated another 19,000 people from Afghanistan on Tuesday, according to the White House.

Karine Jean-Pierre, White House principal deputy press secretary tweeted, external: "From 3:00 AM EDT yesterday to 3:00 AM EDT today, a total of approximately 19,000 people were evacuated from Kabul."

She says since 14 August, the US has evacuated and facilitated approximately 82,300 people on US military and coalition flights.

That brings the total number of people to leave since the end of July to 87,900, she says.

Working women in Afghanistan must stay at home until proper systems are in place to ensure their safety, a Taliban spokesman has told reporters.

"It's a very temporary procedure," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The Taliban, which enforced a strict version of Islamic law when they ran Afghanistan before 2001, retook full control of the country 10 days ago.

But the UN has highlighted "credible" reports of abuses by the Taliban, notably restrictions on women. So what has the Taliban takeover meant for women in Afghanistan, and how has it affected their daily lives?

Image source, Reuters

Germany is prepared to talk to the Taliban to “safeguard” the gains of the past 20 years, but will not offer the militants any unconditional agreements, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

Addressing the German parliament on Wednesday, she said the government would continue evacuations for military and development staff who worked with Germany “for as long as necessary”, while also supporting UN bodies in providing humanitarian aid to people in Afghanistan and those who have fled to neighbouring countries.

She said that German forces had evacuated more than 4,600 people so far - the largest foreign airlift in the country's history - and said Germany would work "in the remaining days to continue to help those who helped us, to offer protection".

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden said there would be no extension to the 31 August deadline for the American withdrawal from Afghanistan. France has already indicated it will end its evacuations from Thursday.

"This new reality is a bitter reality but we must engage with it,” Mrs Merkel said of the Taliban takeover and the increased risk of terrorism.

"What we absolutely underestimated was how breathtakingly fast the Afghan troops would give up against the Taliban, or that such resistance would not even be attempted," she said.

Image source, Government of Mexico

Members of an Afghan all-girl robotics team have arrived in Mexico.

They were welcomed by the country's foreign minister

The team made headlines earlier this year after making affordable ventilators for coronavirus patients out of car parts. They previously won a special award at an international competition in the US.

Other members of the team have arrived in Qatar in recent days.

Covid-19 vaccinations fell by 80% in Afghanistan in the first week after the Taliban took over the country, according to Unicef.

The UN children's agency is warning that nearly two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine delivered to Afghanistan - about half of the total so far - expire in November.

In the week beginning 15 August, 30,500 people had been vaccinated in 23 of 34 provinces, whereas the previous week 134,600 people were inoculated in 30 provinces, according to figures provided by Unicef.

"The drop is understandable, as in situations of chaos, conflict and emergency, people will prioritise their safety and security first," a Unicef spokesperson told the Reuters news agency.

Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that only 1.2 million doses had been administered as of 20 August in Afghanistan, which has a population of 40 million.

Thousands of Afghan nationals have been evacuated in recent days - but the stream of refugees seems to be never-ending.

Here are some of the latest pictures from around the globe.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Banks in the Afghan capital have reopened for the first time since the Taliban takeover on 15 August - but many people are still having difficulty accessing their savings.

Kabul Bank has begun serving customers, but is not issuing large sums of money.

And although other banks are open, they say they have not been able to allow withdrawals due to a lack of cash from Afghanistan's central bank.

The closure of the banks has compounded other issues in Kabul in recent weeks: the price of basic foods has risen. Meanwhile, money transfer company Western Union - which allows people to receive money from abroad - suspended its services a week ago.

Image source, Reuters

More than 20 people, mainly Afghans, have been stranded on the Belarus border with Poland for over a week, as part of an apparent Belarusian attempt to push migrants into neighbouring EU countries. Now the Council of Europe and the UN refugee agency UNHCR have called on Poland to help them.

The Council of Europe says Poland should take immediate action to protect the group and UNHCR has appealed to Warsaw to allow them to seek asylum. Poland has already sent tents, blankets and beds but Belarus has refused the offer.

There has been a surge of Iraqis and Afghans heading via Belarus to the borders with Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says Belarus is trying to create a "pan-European migration crisis".

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says the issue is separate from Poland's operation to fly people out of Kabul airport. Poland has sent military planes to evacuate more than 750 Afghans, many of whom worked with the Polish embassy and military in recent years.

Here are some overhead photos from the last few days which show the chaos at Kabul airport as thousands try to flee Afghanistan.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

A demonstration in the Netherlands against the arrival of Afghan evacuees descended into chaos on Tuesday night, forcing police to intervene.

Local media said, external about 250 protesters gathered outside a reception centre at an army camp in Harskamp, a village east of Utrecht.

The protest was peaceful at first but tensions mounted after a group of young men ignored repeated calls to leave.

Some protesters sang nationalist songs, displayed hostile banners and set alight tyres in front of the reception centre.

Police officers with dogs were sent to break up the demonstration and chase protesters out of the area, but nobody was arrested.

About 800 refugees from Afghanistan will be accommodated at the Harskamp army camp. The first evacuees arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

The army camp is one of four emergency shelters for Afghan evacuees in the Netherlands.

Ed Thomas
BBC News

Despite thousands of people already being flown out of Kabul, the collapse of Afghanistan has caused chaos for many British citizens trying to return home.

Afghan families already settled in the UK are also desperate to help loved ones in limbo.

The BBC has been hearing the stories of those who have found safety in Manchester and those still trying to reach the UK.

Although Afghan athletes have been unable to take part in the Tokyo Paralympic games, their flag still appeared at the opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Two athletes, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli, had been set to represent Afghanistan in Para-taekwondo.

The pair were among thousands of people unable to leave the country after the Taliban seized power, but the International Paralympic Committee has since confirmed that they have been safely evacuated.

"Efforts have been made to remove them from Afghanistan. They are now in a safe place," said IPC spokesman Craig Spence.

"I'm not going to tell you where they are because this isn't about sport, this is about human life and keeping people safe. Obviously they've been through a very traumatic process, they're undergoing counselling and psychological help."

Khudadadi, 23, was set to be the first woman to represent Afghanistan at the Paralympics and had appealed for help to flee the country after the Taliban takeover.

Two members of the US Congress have faced criticism after making an unannounced trip to Kabul.

Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and Peter Meijer, a Republican, spent several hours at the city's airport on Tuesday amid the continuing evacuation effort.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that while it was "understandable" that members of Congress would want to visit the region, "the Departments of Defense and State have requested that Members not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger".

While she did not specifically refer to the two congressmen, she said that travel to the country "would unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission of safely and expeditiously evacuating Americans and Afghans at risk from Afghanistan".

Moulton said on Twitter that he and Meijer had travelled to make the case for extending the 31 August deadline for the US to withdraw from Afghanistan. He added that they had planned the trip to avoid any impact on the evacuations and on a plane that was not full "so that we didn't take a seat from someone else".

Image source, EPA

Almost 60% of Afghans who have been forced to leave their homes this year are children, the UN has said.

According to figures released by the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Afghanistan, more than 400,000 people have been registered as newly displaced since the start of May, as fighting intensified across the country.

In total, almost 550,000 Afghans have been displaced so far this year.

The Taliban's rapid advance across almost all of Afghanistan's provinces has put even further strain on the country, where 18 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

The UK foreign secretary says the government will work to get people out of Afghanistan "as fast as we can" before the US ends its rescue mission on 31 August.

Dominic Raab told the BBC in the last 24 hours 2,000 people were called forward and returned home and 9,000 had been evacuated since August 15.

"The US said the end of August and clearly the Taliban position is the same and the military planners are working out just how much time that they will need to withdraw," he said.

Pressed on reports that the last UK evacuation flight could be on Friday or Saturday, he says: "We will use every hour and day that we've got left.... it'll be days, not weeks, clearly."

Asked what happens to those people left behind he says: "We will continue to hold the Taliban to the assurances they've given us to allow safe passage."

He says if the Taliban want to avoid the collapse of the economy, they are going to need to live up to some of the assurances that they've made.

"The more coercive an approach they take, the more there will be an exodus of people heading for the door. In which case we will continue to live up to our commitments that we've made and will look at the regional third countries within which we would process those claims if people can get there."

France is set to end its evacuations from Kabul airport from Thursday after the US refused to extend a deadline of 31 August to withdraws its troops from Afghanistan.

The French Minister for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, warned on Wednesday that it was "very probable" that the French operations would end the following day.

Image source, Nowzad

The UK will help a former Royal Marine who set up an animal sanctuary in Afghanistan to get his staff, dogs and cats out of the country on a chartered plane.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says if Paul "Pen" Farthing arrives at Kabul airport with the animals, officials will "seek a slot for his plane".

Vet Dr Iain McGill told the BBC that a private flight funded by donations is on standby to rescue the group after the mission was "green-lit" by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

He says: "The important thing about this mission is that it’s a humanitarian mission. It is to rescue Pen Farthing, his 68 staff, and 130 other vulnerable Afghan people," McGill said.

"It will also rescue over 150 cats and dogs, many of them belonging to UK servicemen and women. The important thing is that every seat on that plane will be filled on the flight back to the UK."

Wallace previously rejected claims the UK government blocked the rescue flight.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

The Afghan ambassador to the UN has urged the international community to continue monitoring how the Taliban rule before offering any concessions to the group.

"At the heart of this is the issue of recognition - what leverage do we have at our disposal to pressure the Taliban," Ghulam Isaczai told the BBC, noting that the militants were "suffering from a deficit of trust".

"They have not really done their part in terms of reducing violence or having links to al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, so I think there have been far too many concessions given to the Taliban.

"I think it's time we step back and say, 'OK, we want to see progress on the ground, we want to see if the Taliban have really delivered and then we'll probably take it step by step'."

Isaczai, who was appointed by the elected Afghan government before the Taliban takeover, also warned of an "unfolding" humanitarian crisis.

"There are close to half a million or even more displaced population, most of them in cities, who are in need of urgent assistance. We have half the population - almost 18.4 million - who were already in need of food aid and other humanitarian assistance."

On the issue of evacuations from Kabul airport, the ambassador called for more people to be considered for relocation, and not just those who worked with the US and other militaries.

"Let's not forget there's a group of people who are also at risk: journalists, civil servants and the [Afghan] security forces. We should really be dealing with this in a fair way and not just evacuating those who have worked with foreign forces."