Image source, Reuters

The US has said it expects Afghans with special visas not to be barred from travelling to Kabul airport.

"Our expectation is that they will be able to reach the airport," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a briefing to reporters.

She added that the US was in contact with at-risk Afghans about when to go for flights.

Earlier we reported that Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid suggested Afghans would not be allowed into the airport because of security concerns.

However, there has been confusion about whether this meant Afghans with full travel documents would be unable to leave the country.

The US has evacuated more than 4,000 American passport-holders, as well as their families, during the Kabul airlift evacuation, according to a senior US state department official.

The official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said that there was an initial delay in the reporting due to the effort to get people out of Kabul as quickly as possible.

"We expect that number to continue to grow in the coming days," the official added.

Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump has been criticising President Biden for bringing Afghan citizens to the US alongside the American evacuees.

"Biden surrendered Afghanistan to terrorists and left thousands of Americans for dead by pulling out the Military before our citizens," he said in a statement, adding that "only 4,000" Americans had been evacuated.

“You can be sure the Taliban, who are now in complete control, didn’t allow the best and brightest to board these evacuation flights,” he said.

He went on to claim without giving evidence that “many thousands of terrorists have been airlifted out of Afghanistan and into neighbourhoods around the world”.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has just put out this statement following Joe Biden's meeting with G7 leaders earlier today.

"The President conveyed that our mission in Kabul will end based on the achievement of our objectives," it begins.

Biden, she says, also "confirmed we are currently on pace to finish by August 31".

He provided world leaders with an "update on progress in evacuating Americans who want to come home, third-country nationals, and Afghans who were our allies during the war."

Psaki says the president made clear that "with each day of operations on the ground, we have added risk to our troops", including security threats from an Islamic State affiliate, and that finishing the mission by 31 August "depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport".

She concludes that Biden has asked US diplomats and military generals to establish "contingency plans to adjust the timeline should that become necessary".

If you've been wondering what became of the Biden speech we mentioned earlier, the answer is a delay of more than four hours.

The US president had originally been scheduled to speak about the final stages of the evacuation from Afghanistan at 1700 BST (midday local time).

We're now expecting him at 2130 BST (16:30 local time), the White House says.

So far there's been no explanation for the delay.

A group of Afghan students offered scholarships by the British government have been cleared to come to the UK, according to reports.

Last week the Chevening scholars had been told that they would not be able to take up their places because the embassy in Kabul was unable to process their visas.

The decision caused an outcry and was criticised by two former Conservative cabinet ministers.

It is not clear whether all of the Chevening scholars - of whom there are believed to be 35, almost half of them women - have arrived in the UK.

However, several have already tweeted their arrival.

Chevening scholarships enable promising students around the world to pursue masters degrees in the UK.

Image source, Getty Images

As we reported earlier, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman has strongly criticised the US as the Afghanistan withdrawal continues.

The criticism - namely on what China called Washington's "selfish" foreign policy approach - is part of a wider racheting up of anti-US rhetoric.

China's foreign Minister Wang Yi said last week that the "hasty" US pullout had caused a "serious negative impact", while some hawkish government figures and state media have gone one step further.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian has repeatedly compared the situation to the fall of Saigon, external, while his colleague Hua Chunying called the US "destructive".

"The whole point of this propaganda is to increase public pressure on governments that have close cooperation with US, and weaken that relationship," Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science with the National University of Singapore, tells the BBC.

Read more here - How Afghanistan rattled Asia and emboldened China

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter

Amazon boxes are overflowing in a storage room used by Texas Refugee Services in Austin, as Texans donate household items for the Afghan refugees evacuated from Kabul.

Water filters, saucepans, rugs - so many items are arriving that the agency has had to take the Amazon wish list of donations for refugees off their website.

“We’ve been overwhelmed in the best possible way,” said Lauren Ramirez, resettlement supervisor for Texas Refugee Services.

Twenty-five Afghan refugees have arrived since early August, some with only a few hours' notice.

Jeena Fazly, herself an Afghan refugee who now helps new arrivals settle, is finding she cannot watch the scenes of chaos in Afghanistan.

“I don’t blame people for being desperate to get out," says Jeena. "I’m in touch with family and friends and it’s just horrible.”

“I recently stopped watching the news because I couldn’t do my job. Not just because I’m an Afghan but because I’m a human being.”

Jeena is focused on how to help Afghan refugees fleeing the chaos in their country settle here.

There are plenty of jobs awaiting the incoming Afghans, says Azra Shah of Texas Refugee Services, who helps find employment for new arrivals.

“Demand is high, especially from hotels, who want people to do laundry, dishwashing and room cleaning. The hotels are calling us all the time.”

In this corner of Austin, the generosity of Americans is on full display, as citizens - both established and new - rush to welcome those Afghans who have helped Americans in the long war.

US President Joe Biden is expected to speak soon about the ongoing effort in Afghanistan to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans.

He's also bound to address the virtual G7 meeting earlier today, where he was urged to extend the US pullout deadline beyond 31 August - despite the Taliban warning of "consequences" if foreign forces don't leave by then.

Image source, EPA

Earlier we brought you UK PM Boris Johnson's reaction after a virtual meeting of the G7 - which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the US.

Here's a roundup of what other leaders said afterwards:

• The summit did not lead to an extension of the 31 August evacuations deadline, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, adding that intensive talks continued on whether a civilian-operated airport could be used after the deadline
• The leaders agreed to press the Taliban to allow people to leave Afghanistan after 31 August, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said
• Italy's PM Mario Draghi says G20 countries like Russia, China and India can help the G7 on Afghanistan. He adds that Italy will direct resources intended for the Afghan military to humanitarian aid
• The G7 made it a priority that the Taliban break all ties with terrorist groups and engage in the fight against terrorism, an official at French President Emmanuel Macron's office was quoted as saying by Reuters

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has blasted Boris Johnson following his failure to persuade Joe Biden to extend the presence of US troops at Kabul airport.

Speaking on BBC News, Lisa Nandy said that today was a “really, really shameful moment for the United Kingdom”.

Her comments came after Johnson held a virtual meeting of G7 leaders where he pushed for the US administration to be open to extending the 31 August deadline for foreign troops to leave Afghanistan.

A round-the-clock evacuation effort is taking place at the airport as Afghans and foreign nationals fleeing the new Taliban government.

Nandy said that Boris Johnson had “come out” of the G7 meeting “without any clear plan for how they are going to work together to exert pressure on the Taliban”.

The UK “cannot afford to continue retreating from the world like this”, she added.

Image source, EPA

Much of the world's focus has, understandably, been on events in Kabul in recent days, with thousands of fleeing Afghans still waiting to be evacuated from the airport there.

However, the rest of the country is also facing a humanitarian emergency, as the impact of a Taliban takeover is exacerbated by Covid, lack of food and water, and for many, the loss of their homes.

The executive director of the World Food Programme has urged political leaders to act fast, warning that millions of Afghans could soon face starvation.

"There’s a perfect storm coming," David Beasley told Reuters news agency. "The number of people marching towards starvation has spiked to now 14 million."

Unicef has also warned of the potential for "severe drought and consequent water scarcity" over the coming months.

Conservative US outlets have condemned Biden's reported decision to stick to the 31 August pullout deadline, after the Taliban threatened any foreign troops that remain after that date.

“Bullied by the Taliban,” reads the Fox News homepage.

“Biden surrenders,” says Breitbart News.

Meanwhile, British Conservative Party MP Tom Tugendhat has appeared on Fox News to question what Biden's decision will do to US foreign relations and the Nato alliance.

"The only question to ask [Biden] now is, what are you going to do next?

"What are you going to do to ensure that the alliance is understood to be what it is, which is one based on trust, based on values, and based on the belief that we all know that we're in this together?"

Tugendhat, the foreign affairs committee chairman who served in Afghanistan, gave an emotional speech last week to parliament, in which he condemned the British government's actions and Biden's comments about Afghan soldiers.

"There are many people around the world who are currently looking at us, looking at the UK, looking at Nato, looking at the US... and wondering what a commitment means," he told Fox.

"If you've spent $2 trillion, if you've lost, in your case, nearly two and a half thousand US soldiers... and you still pull out overnight... What does that leave as a legacy for others?"

WATCH: Tom Tugendhat on UK and Afghanistan: Anger, grief, rage

US troops are currently the largest presence at Hamid Karzai International Airport, with about 6,000 present.

There have been American jets patrolling the skies, as well as attack helicopters.

The UK has more than 1,000 troops at the airport, including the Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade.

Smaller contingents from Nato members including France, Germany and Turkey are also present.

Norway has also been playing a role, with a hospital at the airbase.

Nato says it has about 800 civilian contractors on the ground - most of them at the airport.

You can read more in our explainer here

Image source, PA Media

The Paralympics are finally under way in Tokyo, but there will be no Afghans taking part due to the collapse of the government and the return of the Taliban.

However, Afghanistan's flag was carried into the opening ceremony by a Games volunteer, as an act of solidarity after the country's two Paralympic athletes were forced to withdraw.

Taekwondo competitor Zakia Khudadadi and track athlete Hossain Rasouli were due to arrive in Japan earlier this month, but had to pull out.

Khudadadi, 23, had previously said she was "thrilled" by the prospect of being the first woman to compete at the Games for her country since Athens 2004, external, while 24-year-old Rasouli said the chance to feature in Tokyo was a "dream".

Another Afghan para-athlete, Nilofar Bayat, has been welcomed by a wheelchair basketball team in Bilbao after she and her husband fled to Spain.

The G7 powers have agreed a roadmap for the “way in which we are going to engage” with the Taliban, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Speaking after a virtual summit with other leaders of the industrialised nations, Johnson said the "number one condition we are setting" is that the group guarantee safe passage for those who want to leave the country.

Image source, EPA

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen has been holding a news conference on the situation in Afghanistan following the G7 meeting.

Most European Union staff based in Afghanistan, including Afghans, have been evacuated from Kabul airport, von der Leyen says.

She says the G7 leaders agreed it was their "moral duty" to help the Afghan people following the Taliban's return to power.

"The situation is indeed a tragedy for the Afghan people and it is a major setback for international community," she adds.

On the issue of migration, she says that women - particularly educated women and girls, journalists, human rights workers, teachers, judges and lawyers - are a priority.

"To protect these most vulnerable, it is clearly a matter for global cooperation and it has to be dealt as such from the start. These people should not fall into smugglers hands, they need safe pathways," she says.

Johnson continues by saying the G7 wants to help with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

He says the leaders have agreed to future engagement with the Taliban - but adds that Afghanistan "can't lurch back" into a breeding ground for terror, and girls have to be educated up to the age of 18.

G7 leaders made the point that they remain committed to those values and to Afghanistan, he says.

Johnson repeats that the "number one condition" the G7 is insisting on is safe passage for those who want to leave Afghanistan beyond 31 August.

"I hope there is now a different path forward and a better future," he says.

"I don't think anybody is going to believe that this is going to be easy."

We've got more from Boris Johnson, who says the UK has taken 9,000 people out of Kabul so far on 57 flights.

"We will go on right up until the last moment we can," he says, adding he is "confident" the UK can "get thousands more out".

"But the situation at the airport is not getting any better," Johnson says.

There have been "harrowing scenes for those trying to get out".

The prime minister says the G7 has agreed a “joint approach” to dealing with evacuation, but also a "roadmap" on the way to engage with the Taliban.

Following the G7 meeting, UK Prime Minister Johnson says: "The number one condition that we're insisting on is safe passage beyond the 31st, so beyond the initial phase for those who want to leave Afghanistan."

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is making a statement after the virtual meeting of G7 leaders.

He was expected to ask US President Joe Biden for a delay to the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan to allow for more flights out of the country. The existing deadline is 31 August.

President Biden addressed the leaders on the call for about seven minutes.

We'll bring you the latest here.