We are now pausing our live updates on the crisis engulfing Afghanistan. Thank you for joining us today. You can still keep up with the latest developments in our main news story.

In the meantime, here is a summary of today's headlines.

• The Pentagon says 17,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since it fell to the Taliban, including 2,500 US citizens
• The US embassy in Afghanistan has advised Americans not to travel to the airport in Kabul because of "potential security threats" at the gates
• Huge crowds are still massing at the gates and there are unverified reports of people being crushed
• Banks and government offices remain closed in Kabul and reports say people are running out of money and food
• More Taliban leaders have arrived in Kabul for talks on forming a new Afghan government
• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has reassured Afghan employees airlifted out of Kabul that the EU has not recognised the Taliban

Image source, US Air Force

Many of the Afghans being evacuated out by the US are being taken to the Ramstein military air base in Germany.

More than 100 arrived on Friday. Brigadier General Josh Olson said that those who are arrived on Friday were in “good condition. They look very exhausted. They look very tired.”

The evacuees will undergo a medical examination and a security assessment before being registered, he said.

Image source, US Air Force

The base expects to accommodate some 5,000 people in the coming days and weeks but could expand to shelter 10,000.

Ramstein, in south-west Germany, is the headquarters for the US Air Force in Europe and the base for more than 16,000 military, civilians and contractors.

We’ve just spoken to Nadene Ghouri, a volunteer who is trying to secure evacuation flights for Afghan nationals who are at risk, including lawyers, judges and journalists.

She tells the BBC that even when people have an official place on an evacuation flight, and are told to head to the airport, many are turned away by soldiers there.

“They saw Nato troops there, but Afghan Special Forces troops would not let them through,” Ghouri says, as she describes a “living hell” in trying to help those desperate to leave.

“They made it through the Taliban checkpoints only to be turned back by our own people.”

She said she had been told of crushes among the crowds outside the airport.

“We know of one family with three small children who have been turned away three days in a row.

“The mother has said Taliban fighters urinated on them and laughed at them.

“People are saying now they are giving up and saying they will flee to the mountains instead.”

Outlining broader problems with the evacuations, she said there appeared to be “no central coordination” - with no lists of those who would be at risk in the event of a Taliban takeover.

“The people outside the airport do not know what is going on inside and the people inside the airport do not know what is going on outside.

“We’ve been scrambling to get people onto evacuation lists - we managed that - and now there is the unimaginable cruelty of having people on the list that cannot get on the plane.

“The embassy knows they are there. I just cannot believe this is happening.”

Our Afghanistan Correspondent Secunder Kermani has been observing the atmosphere in Kabul on Saturday - the first day of the country's working week.

He says the presence of Taliban fighters seems to have visibly reduced - with the capital far quieter than usual.

As we reported earlier, banks and government offices remain closed - as local sources say people are running out of money and food in Kabul.

Meanwhile, security at the city's airport has deteriorated significantly, according to several Western governments.

The German government warned the situation there remained "extremely dangerous" while the US advised Americans not to travel to the airport due to "potential security threats".

Sky News reported as many as tens of thousands of people had crushed towards entry points at the airfield, as Taliban fighters "beat Afghans with canes".

Image source, Facebook

More senior Taliban leaders have arrived in Kabul from the Qatari capital, Doha, where they had been part of the negotiating team that met with US officials.

Prominent Afghan politician Abdullah Abdullah posted a picture on his Facebook page, external showing him greeting former Taliban ambassador to Saudi Arabia Shahabuddin Delawar, former Taliban interior minister Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, Abdul Salam Hanafi and others.

Other images showed the men holding talks with Hamid Karzai, who was president of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014 and who remained in Kabul when the Taliban took over.

The Facebook post said that "the current situation in the country, security of the people, inclusive political process, respect for national values, including the flag, were discussed at the meeting".

The Taliban have said they want to form an inclusive government, but many observers remain sceptical.

Mark Frerichs had been living and working in Kabul as a civil engineer for 10 years when he was kidnapped.

The US Navy veteran was lured to a meeting to discuss a potential project and taken against his will to Khost Province, a former national security official told the BBC. He was handed over to the Haqqani Network, one of the region's most powerful and feared militant groups.

Mr Frerichs is one of two remaining Americans thought to have been kidnapped by the Taliban during the US war in Afghanistan who is still unaccounted for.

His sister Charlene Cakora has spent the past week in the US capital Washington DC desperately trying to find a way to bring her brother home.

"We have been at war with the Taliban for 20 years. President (Joe) Biden declared the war over on 31 August," Mrs Cakora told the BBC.

"When a war ends, each side get to have their prisoners come home. That is all we are asking for Mark."

You can read more about Mark Frerichs here

Politicians and members of the public have gathered in a rain-soaked George Square in Glasgow to express their solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.

Speakers at the event included Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, Labour's Paul Sweeney and Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken.

The rally drew about 150 people despite the miserable weather.

In central London, demonstrators also took to the damp streets, holding placards saying Stop Killing Afghans and Ban the Taliban and waving the Afghan national flag.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Programme's country director in Afghanistan, has told the BBC that tens of thousands of people internally displaced by the conflict were adding to the country's worsening humanitarian crisis.

Speaking from Kabul, she said that with the country facing a severe drought and winter looming, household food stocks were already dwindling right across the country.

"Even at the beginning of the year we already had 14 million people in crisis of hunger and we expect the situation is going to escalate given that we are going into what we call the hunger season," she said.

"Given the extremely high needs right across the country we just have enough food to get us through September. We urgently need funding, $200m (£147m), and we need it now because we need to get food into the country before the winter starts... before areas are cut off by snow."

Following the Taliban's takeover of the country, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said this week that Afghanistan would no longer be able to access its resources. But McGroarty urged the international community to "repurpose" those funds to support the humanitarian effort.

The full interview can be heard on BBC Radio 4's PM programme at 17:00 BST.

The Pentagon says 2,500 American citizens have now been evacuated. Officials said that most Americans, with the right credentials, are being let through into the airport by Taliban militants.

A “small number” of Americans, and Afghans the US want to evacuate, have faced harassment and in some cases have been beaten on their way to the airport, the officials said.They added that the US was fighting against "time and space" to evacuate people from the country.Major General William Taylor said a total of 17,000 people had been flown out so far.

Image source, Reuters

Forces holding out against the Taliban in northern Afghanistan say they have taken three districts close to the Panjshir valley where remnants of government forces and other militia groups have gathered.

Defence Minister General Bismillah Mohammadi, who has vowed to resist the Taliban, said in a tweet, external that the districts of Deh Saleh, Bano and Pul-Hesar in the neighbouring province of Baghlan to the north of Panjshir had been taken.

Reuters news agency reported that it was not immediately clear what forces were involved but the incident adds to scattered indications of opposition to the Taliban who swept to power in a lightning campaign that saw them take all of Afghanistan's main cities in a week.

Local television station Tolo News quoted a local police commander who said Bano district in Baghlan was under the control of local militia forces and said there had been heavy casualties.

The Taliban have not commented on the incident - as senior leaders gathered in Kabul to begin mapping out an "inclusive government".

Former Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, son of former anti-Soviet Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, have vowed to resist the Taliban from Panjshir.

People close to Massoud say that more than 6,000 fighters, made up of remnants of army and special forces units as well as local militia groups, have gathered in the valley, Reuters said.

The US Department of Defense is giving a briefing to reporters about the situation in Afghanistan, focusing on the evacuation at Kabul airport.

Senior officials wouldn’t elaborate on why the US embassy has issued a warning to American citizens to stay away from the airport, but said it was a “prudent notification”.

They said there was no reported change on the “enemy” situation in and around the airport.Thousands of people are still gathered at the gates around the airport trying to get in, with reports of people getting crushed at some locations.

Chaotic scenes outside Kabul airport have been shared widely in recent days as thousands of Afghans seek to escape their country amid the Taliban takeover.

One such clip was of a family passing their baby over barbed wire to a US soldier on the airport perimeter.

On Friday, the US military confirmed that the baby has been returned to its family.

A spokesman for the US Marines, Major James Stenger, told the New York Times that medical staff treated the child before reuniting it with its father, and it is "safe at the airport".

"This is a true example of the professionalism of the Marines on site, who are making quick decisions in a dynamic situation in support of evacuation operations," he told the paper, external.

Image source, Reuters

Another change of weekend plans for US President Joe Biden. He'll no longer be going to Wilmington in Delaware on Saturday and will stay in Washington instead, the White House has said.

This is the second last-minute change to his plans. The 78-year-old had originally planned to fly straight to his own home after his speech on Friday, in which he vowed to bring home all Americans and the Afghans who helped them.

If you are just joining us, welcome. Here are today's key developments in the crisis gripping Afghanistan.

• The US embassy in Afghanistan has advised Americans not to travel to the airport in the capital Kabul because of "potential security threats" at the gates
• Large crowds are still massing at the gates and there are unverified reports of people being crushed
• The German government has also warned that the "security situation at the airport is still extremely dangerous"
• The Taliban's co-founder and head of its political wing, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is in Kabul for talks on forming a new Afghan government
• European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has reassured Afghan employees airlifted out of Kabul that the EU has not recognised the Taliban
• Flights out of Kabul resumed after evacuations were suspended overnight following major delays on Friday. Bahrain and the UAE are among countries allowing Afghans to transit

Image source, AFP

All week, the BBC has been bringing you voices from the ground in Afghanistan. Here, a university student speaks of her fears for the future after the Taliban takeover. The BBC has not named the woman - a member of the persecuted Hazara minority - out of concern for her safety.

Everything, everything that I dreamed of, everything that I ever worked for - my dignity, my pride, even my existence as a girl, my life - they are all in danger. Who knows how long it would take them to come and search house-by-house and take girls - probably rape them. I may have to kill myself when they come to my home. I've been talking to my friends, this is what all of us, all of us, are planning to do. Death is better than being taken by them.

We are all scared and we are scared to our bones.

When I was studying I was dreaming about so many things, life plans and goals.

Now, I think I will have to leave the country, because I'm Hazara. They've attacked schools for Hazara girls before, killing hundreds. So they will surely kill us, probably rape us, kill us. As a girl and also as a minority, there is no space for me in my own country.

You can read more of her words here

Image source, US Air Force

Growing concerns are being raised over what will happen to evacuations from Kabul if the US does not extend its deadline for withdrawing troops

The end date for the withdrawal is 31 August - just 10 days away.

President Joe Biden this week said he would extend this if there were American citizens left., external

But with US forces running Kabul’s international airport, other countries are relying on them to get their citizens out too.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says several countries from the alliance have proposed that Kabul airport remain open for evacuations beyond 31 August to allow them to get more people out.

The BBC understands that the UK is one of these countries.

Our political correspondent Ione Wells says that while figures have varied, it is understood that there are thousands of UK citizens and Afghans eligible for resettlement still to be evacuated.

The BBC understands that football’s world governing body Fifa and the player’s union FifPro has written to a number of governments asking for help in evacuating women players from Afghanistan.

FifPro tweeted that the ambition is “to bring as many people to safety as possible”.

Sportswomen in Afghanistan have been particularly fearful since the Taliban takeover of the country, especially those in the football team.

As we mentioned in a previous post, both the former captain, Khalida Popal, and current captain Shabnam Mobarez – neither of whom are in the country – called on the international community to help their teammates this week.

Ms Popal, who has told the women to burn their national shirts and delete social media profiles, told the BBC she was scared “for all those women who are left alone without any protection and safety, who have been very vocal, who have been very active, who use football as a tool to empower and also as a means of activism, who stood up”.

Ms Mobarez said: “What I really want everybody to do is to actually help us get those players out. That's my priority. I really wish to see my teammates in safety.”

You can hear both interviews again here.

Image source, Reuters

Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission president, has said the body has not recognised the Taliban after their takeover of Afghanistan.

She also said the commission was not holding any talks with the militant group.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday after visiting a reception centre in Madrid for Afghan employees of EU bodies evacuated from Kabul, Ms von der Leyen said the commission will give funding to EU countries which take in Afghan refugees.

The issue is a divisive one in Europe. More than one million migrants came to the bloc in 2015 - mostly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria - while southern EU countries have long complained about taking in large numbers of migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean without sufficient help from other members.

Ms von der Leyen also said she would ask for a raise in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan this year. But this would be tied to respect for the rights of women and ethnic minorities, she clarified.

"We may well hear the Taliban's words but we will measure them above all by their deeds and actions," she said.

We have an update from Pen Farthing, an ex-Royal Marine and founder of a Kabul-based animal rescue charity.

He has told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire that 68 staff members and their families remain in Kabul - but that there is good news in that talks with the Foreign Office are now happening.

He said: "We’re going to go through this process now with the Foreign Office and hopefully our staff will be confirmed as able to come to the UK."

"Hopefully I’ve been told it shouldn’t take too long," he added. "So everyone can stop emailing the prime minister for now, I’m sure he’ll be quite relieved about that."

We reported earlier how Farthing was insisting he would not leave without his staff, despite receiving the offer of evacuation himself.

You can read more on these latest developments here.

Image source, AFP

For nearly two decades, D* has run a women's rights group in Afghanistan, teaching girls to read and providing women with shelter, counselling and training for jobs.

Last Sunday, when Afghanistan's capital Kabul fell to the Taliban, she and her teenage son packed up their lives in two suitcases and headed to the airport. They are still waiting for a flight.

D survived rocket attacks on her school during the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. During the civil war of the 1990s, she got married and moved from home to home as the conflict destroyed her country. She lost her job when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, but after they were ousted from power in 2001, she once more began to work for women's rights in the country.

"I have struggled all my life. I have never really enjoyed it. Even when you are working for women in Afghanistan, you are making enemies and becoming targets of many men," she told the BBC.

You can read more about her story here

*The BBC is not naming D for her safety