Laura Bicker
BBC News, Seoul

Around 380 Afghans who worked for the South Korean government are being airlifted from Kabul in three military planes and are due to arrive at the main airport near Seoul in the next 24 hours.

The foreign ministry said they wouldn't be entering the country as refugees. Instead, they will be designated as "people of special merit".

The evacuees include the workers' families - about 100 of them are children. They'll go through the quarantine process as soon as they arrive at Incheon Airport and will be moved to government-owned housing south of Seoul.

The evacuees are medical professionals, vocational trainers, IT experts and interpreters who worked at South Korea’s embassy and on various humanitarian projects in Afghanistan.

South Korea rarely accepts refugees, unless they are from North Korea. It has led to some concern from residents in the region where the evacuees will be given a temporary home.

But the government has asked local people to "present a warm heart" to those who aided South Korea in Afghanistan.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said that "with hindsight", he wouldn't have gone on holiday to Crete, following criticism that he was away when the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

Raab says he was focused on the situation in Afghanistan, despite being away, and that "the whole world, including the Taliban, was caught unaware by the scale and the pace of the fall of Kabul".

Image source, Reuters

The World Bank has halted funding for projects in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country.

It cited concerns over how the Taliban's takeover would impact "the country's development prospects, especially for women".

The move comes just days after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suspended payments to Afghanistan.

The Biden administration has also frozen the assets of Afghanistan's central bank that are held in the US.

• What next for Afghanistan's economy?

Yogita Limaye
BBC India correspondent

People involved with evacuation efforts have told the BBC that some Afghan nationals who have tried going to the airport since the Taliban announcement have been stopped at checkpoints. It is not clear who they're being denied entry by.

Given the crowds thronging the airport, it has been tough all through the past week for people to get past its gates, but the situation has become even more difficult now.

The BBC has also learnt that some Afghans who were due to leave on Wednesday morning have abandoned their plans for now, fearing for their safety on the road to the airport, nervous after the Taliban said they didn't want Afghanistan's people to leave.

Evacuation flights are taking off every hour, but there are fears now that some planes might have to leave without the people they were meant to fly out.

The US has said it is in touch with at risk Afghans they plan to evacuate, but the situation on ground is uncertain and chaotic.

UN Chief António Guterres has pledged to remain in Afghanistan despite the political upheaval.

"We remain in the country and will continue to remain and do everything we can," Guterres sai.

A number of international charities, including Médecins Sans Frontières, have also said they plan to continue working in the country following the Taliban takeover.

Image source, Bilal Sarwary

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary saw the Taliban toppled in 2001 and his country reborn. But in the last two weeks the path of his homeland took a terrifying twist, one that put his own life in danger.

One of my former classmates is a member of the Taliban and we are the same age. Over the last 20 years, we have continued to talk despite the fact that he's adhering to a different ideology. But recently, I saw him at a wedding and I could see how his attitude had hardened and soured. I saw and felt how this conflict has really divided Afghans. When we met, we could barely converse.

How could I know that all these years later I would find him on the other side?

His story is also one of deep personal loss. His brother, father, and uncle were killed in a raid that was based on false intelligence and petty local rivalries. Separated as we are, I can't help but hope for a future of national reconciliation.

But that seems a distant possibility now. I covered the regional capitals falling to the Taliban in recent weeks, with massive surrenders where no one put up a fight. But I didn't think they could make it into Kabul and take over the city.

The night before it happened, officials I spoke to still thought they could hold it with the help of US air strikes. And there was talk of a peaceful transition of power into an inclusive government. But then [former president] Ghani left by helicopter and suddenly the Taliban were in the city. There was fear hanging in the air - people were very scared to see them back.

Then I was told that my life was in danger.

You can read Bilal's full account here.

As we've already reported, President Joe Biden says the US is "on pace" to meet the 31 August deadline for evacuations, despite previous calls from allies for an extension.

His comments came as US media reported that several hundred US troops had already left Afghanistan - although a US defence official quoted by CNN insisted that their departure "does not affect the mission".

The militants have opposed any extension to the evacuation deadline.

Biden said the airlift had to come to end soon because of an increasing threat from the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.

Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Washington

The staffers were punctual: they moved velvety ropes from a briefing room to the Roosevelt Room, and got ready for the president's speech at 12:00 (16:00 GMT).

They set up a sound system, and prepared the stage for an important moment: the president would speak about Afghanistan. But the president was late.

Several hours later, he appeared to say things were on track to end the US mission by 31 August.

His remarks were a bitter disappointment for many in Kabul, who say the mission is far from over, since it leaves them stranded.

Backstage at the White House, the president's day, and the lead-up to his speech, were disorganised, unpredictable and chaotic.

For many, it captured the essence of his Afghanistan policy, one that they describe as disastrous.

As we've been reporting, the US says evacuation efforts to help people get out of Afghanistan are "on pace" to meet a 31 August deadline.

President Biden said the Taliban militants now in power were helping the evacuation effort.

The pace of evacuations from Kabul airport has been accelerating, with around 12,000 people leaving within just 12 hours on Tuesday, the White House has said.

About 6,400 people were evacuated on US military flights, while coalition flights carried the remaining numbers.

In total, the US has evacuated or helped to relocate 70,700 since 14 August.

However, most countries have acknowledged that it will not be possible to evacuate all those who are eligible for evacuation before the US withdraws from Kabul airport on 31 August, after President Joe Biden ruled out any extension to the US presence.

We're resuming our live coverage of the latest developments in Afghanistan. Here's what you need to know:

• US President Joe Biden has defended the plan to withdraw by 31 August, saying: "The sooner we finish the better"
• More than 70,000 people have been airlifted from Kabul since Taliban militants swept into power
• "Several hundred" of the nearly 6,000 US troops controlling Kabul international airport have already pulled out, the Pentagon says

• The World Bank has halted funding for projects in Afghanistan, citing concerns over how the Taliban's takeover would impact the country's development prospects, especially for women
• The World Health Organization has warned there were only enough medical supplies in Afghanistan to last a week. It says attempts to deliver medical supplies have been blocked due to restrictions at Kabul airport

Image source, PA Media

We've bringing our coverage to an end for now, thanks for following.

In the past hour we heard from President Biden, who defended his plans to pull-out of Afghanistan by 31 August, saying there was an added risk of attacks on US troops if they stayed longer. You can read our write up of his comments here.

Image source, Getty Images

Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary saw the Taliban toppled in 2001 and his country reborn.

But in his view, the US missed an opportunity to bring lasting peace.

And in the last two weeks the path of his homeland - and his own life - took a terrifying twist.

Read his thoughts about events of the last 20 years

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The World Bank has suspended aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of the country.

"We are deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the impact on the country’s development prospects, especially for women," a spokesperson said.

The bank is exploring ways to remain engaged and preserve "hard-won development gains" in the country, the spokesperson said.

The World Bank currently has more than two dozen development projects in Afghanistan and has provided $5.3 billion (£3.8 billion) since 2002, according to the bank's website.

After a delay of nearly five hours, President Biden has concluded his speech from the White House on the latest situation in Afghanistan.

He began his speech by touting a domestic infrastructure programme, before turning to the G7 meeting on Afghanistan held earlier today.

He took no questions, and mostly repeated a White House statement put out by his press secretary before he spoke.

In his remarks, he reiterated his commitment to sticking to his self-imposed 31 August pullout, and said that dangers to foreign troops will rise significantly if they stay longer.

Biden continues providing his update on the G7 meeting earlier today.

"In short, we all - all of us - agreed today that we're going to stand shoulder to shoulder with our current partners to meet the challenges in Afghanistan, as we've done for years," he says, thanking all US allies.

He added: "We are going to stay united. Locked at the hip in terms of what we are going to do."

Some US allies have been pushing for the US to extend its deadline on for withdrawing troops but Biden has been sticking to the 31 August.

"The Taliban have been taking steps to help get our people out," Biden says, adding that the international community will judge the Taliban by their actions.

"None of us are going to take the Taliban's word for it," he says, referring to terror threats emanating from the region.

Biden says he spoke to G7 leaders, as well as leader of Nato and the UN today.

He says: "I expressed my thanks for the solidarity we have seen."

He added that 70,700 people have been evacuated from Kabul since 14 August.

"We are currently on pace to finish by August 31," he says. "The sooner we finish the better," he said, adding that every additional day brings extra danger to US troops from terrorists in the region.

After a long delay, President Joe Biden is speaking now. We're expecting an update on the efforts to rescue evacuees.

A short time ago the White House said it was on target to complete efforts by the 31 August deadline, warning that keeping troops there longer put US troops at risk of attack from Islamic State militants.

US troops have started leaving Afghanistan, American media report, with evacuations due to end in a week.

"So far, the reduction does not affect the mission," a US defence official was quoted as saying by CNN. Thousands of troops are still at the airport helping efforts.

The official added that commanders on the ground would decide what personnel were no longer required in Afghanistan.

The White House has said it is "on pace" to complete its pull-out from Afghanistan by 31 August, with some allies calling for an extension.