Image source, Reuters

Did an intelligence failure lead to the chaotic withdrawal of allied troops from Afghanistan? Dominic Grieve, the former chairman of the UK Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee, says that's a question that needs answering.

In an interview with Sky News, Grieve, a former Conservative MP and attorney general, called for the Intelligence and Security Committee to investigate.

"I think you only have to look at the scenes we are seeing today (at Kabul airport) - I can't imagine this was what was wished for or intended by either the US government or the UK government.

"I think if they had known this was going to happen, would the US withdrawal have proceeded in the way it did? The question is 'why was that miscalculation made?'"

He said the Intelligence and Security Committee was in a position to review that from the UK, and possibly the US, viewpoint.

While it might not be able to publish its findings, it did have the power to ask the intelligence services for it, he added.

"It must be an intelligence failure that one should end up with thousands of people crowding into an airport seeking to leave a country when it has been triggered by military decisions by the US as to how it was going to conduct its withdrawal."

Image source, EPA

A working mother from the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif has been telling the BBC that she is afraid for her life since the Taliban took over.

She said she and her family had to flee their home after Taliban fighters began going door to door looking for people, and says she has not walked the streets for over a week.

“The presence of women is very low in the city,” she said, relating one incident in which, a day after the Taliban entered Mazar-i-Sharif, a woman was beaten for not wearing socks and her husband told off.

She said her male colleagues had been told they can return to work on Sunday, “but I still don’t have any decision whether they are allowing women to go back to work or not”.

She remained doubtful that she would be ever be able to work again in Afghanistan, and mistrusted the Taliban’s promises to be more inclusive.

“For now I cannot trust them because they say something and do something else. I cannot trust them, as a woman,” she said.

“For now I cannot even leave my house. If situation gets better I will go somewhere else, out of the country I’m sure.”

She said her husband had told her that if her employer is able to get her a visa to another country, she must go – even if it means leaving him and her young children behind.

“I cannot stay in my homeland anymore,” she said.

Image source, EPA

When the Taliban last took control of Afghanistan, education for girls aged over 10 was essentially banned.

In the 20 years since they last held power, international charities and Western powers have invested in schools and teaching for all Afghans. Now, there are fears that once again girls will be denied education by the militant group.

BBC World News spoke to Sam Mort, who works for the UN's children agency Unicef in Afghanistan.

She said while the situation is "patchy", the group signed a work plan with the Taliban last December to expand access to education in their areas - including for girls.

"Unicef is expecting to move ahead with education for girls and we are ready to have those advocacy conversations and expand access," she said.

You can read more about uncertain times for Afghan women here

We reported earlier this week that among those attempting to access Kabul's airport to evacuate the country was an Uber driver from west London.

He told the BBC he had spent three days attempting to access a compound managed by Western forces - despite the fact he held a British passport.

More large crowds have been reported at the gates of Kabul airport today, with the US now telling its nationals to avoid travel to the airport due to "potential security threats".

The US is not the only country to raise concerns about the situation outside. Switzerland's foreign ministry said the situation around the airport had "deteriorated significantly in the last few hours", with large numbers of people outside, adding that it has stopped Swiss flights scheduled to leave the Kabul today.

The German government, meanwhile, has warned that the "security situation at the airport is still extremely dangerous and access to the airport is often not possible".

The exact details of what is happening at the airport remain unclear.

But Sky News' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay described the events at the airport as "the worst day by far".

Catherine Byaruhanga
Africa correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

As Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, Islamist groups waging insurgencies in Africa were quick to celebrate.

"God is great," a media outlet linked to Somalia's al-Shabab wrote in response to the takeover.

Elsewhere, the leader of al-Qaeda affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) used his first public message since 2019 to congratulate the Taliban.

"We are winning," Iyad Ag Ghaly said, drawing comparisons between the withdrawal of foreign troops in Afghanistan and France's decision to reduce its military presence in West Africa's Sahel region.

And it is not just Africa's Islamist fighters who have been seeing parallels with Afghanistan.

From Somalia in the east to Nigeria in the west, newspapers have published articles and citizens have taken to social media to share their concerns.

If a wake-up call was needed for African governments heavily reliant on foreign support in their fight against Islamist insurgents, then the Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan is likely to be it.

Click here to find out what the takeover means for Africa's insurgencies

Image source, EPA

Journalist Nadene Ghouri is part of a group of people helping Afghans get on an evacuation list to leave the country.

Speaking to the BBC, she has described the cases she is dealing with, including an award-winning journalist hiding in a basement, and a female activist in a safe house.

She adds: "I've got another family of journalists, a mother who's about to give birth and then I had a really critical case that I did manage to get onto an evacuation flight this morning - his family have been arrested.

"Again they've been given a deadline to bring him to the Taliban, if they don't then the Taliban say there will be reprisals for his family. We managed to get him an evacuation flight. I've been WhatsApping him all morning.

"Heartbreakingly, he can't get into the airport."

We're resharing a video from earlier this week which reported the distress experienced by British veterans and families whose loved ones fought in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

Richard Hunt's mother Hazel says she attended her son's grave to convey the news - he died in 2009 after an explosion in Helmand province.

"I'm incredibly sad, and quite bitter and incredibly angry about," she admits.

Image source, Getty Images

The US embassy in Afghanistan has issued a security alert advising American citizens to avoid travelling to Kabul's airport.

In its advisory on its website, external, the embassy warned of "potential security threats outside the gates" of the airport.

"We are advising US citizens to avoid travelling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so," it said.

The embassy said any US citizens in Afghanistan who had not yet filled out a Repatriation Assistance Request form "should do so as soon as possible".

It added: "Do not call the US embassy in Kabul for details or updates about the flight. This form is the only way to communicate interest in flight options."

Witnesses say there is still chaos at the airport as crowds of people struggle to reach flights. The Taliban say they are not responsible for the situation and they blame Western powers for not having a better evacuation plan.

Image source, AFP

A prominent female Afghan politician has told the BBC that the Taliban must form an inclusive and representative government if the country is to progress.

Fawzia Koofi, who was Afghanistan's first female vice-president of parliament and part of the peace negotiations with the Taliban in Doha, said the militants had to behave differently from when they previously held power.

"I think [the] Taliban and the politicians in Afghanistan need to give people an assurance that they're not going to repeat the same behaviour and policy that they did when they were in power in terms of oppressing the population, and the government will be formed on inclusive basis and on the basis of a long-term democratic process," she said.

Taliban leaders have promised to form an inclusive government, although many remain sceptical. The group says experts from the former government are being brought in for crisis management.

Koofi, who has been a vocal supporter of women's rights, was shot and wounded in August last year. The Taliban denied any involvement in the attack.

She said at the time that she may have been targeted both because of her political stance, and in an effort "to spoil the peace talks".

Here are the main developments in Afghanistan, six days after the Taliban took control of the capital Kabul:

• Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of the Taliban, has arrived in Kabul to join talks on establishing a new government
• Meanwhile, people are becoming increasingly scared they may run out of money, as banks remain shut for the seventh day
• US flights out of Kabul airport have resumed after evacuations were suspended overnight following major delays on Friday. Bahrain and the UAE are among the countries allowing Afghans to transit, after Qatar said it had reached capacity

• US President Joe Biden has vowed to bring home all Americans and the Afghans who helped them, but has warned that the mass evacuation mission would be risky
• Greece has constructed a border fence on its border with Turkey, to prevent possible crossings by Afghans fleeing the Taliban

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has thanked countries that have assisted US efforts to evacuate Americans, Afghans and personnel from other countries.

Potential Afghan refugees not already cleared for resettlement in the US would be housed at facilities in the following countries:

• Albania
• Canada
• Colombia
• Costa Rica
• Chile
• Kosovo
• North Macedonia
• Mexico
• Poland
• Qatar
• Rwanda
• Uganda

And he said the following countries had offered to be used as transit points:

• The UK
• Bahrain
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Kazakhstan
• Kuwait
• Qatar
• Tajikistan
• Turkey
• Ukraine
• The United Arab Emirates
• Uzbekistan

Image source, PA Media

We've spoken to Ali - which isn't his real name - who worked for the British armed forces as an interpreter in 2011 and 2012.

He says he has yet to receive a response from the UK government after applying for its Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which aims to help 5,000 former Afghan staff move to the UK.

“In 2011-12, I worked for the British forces. I went on patrol with them, working shoulder-to-shoulder in dangerous places," Ali tells the BBC.

"I was hired by Her Majesty’s Government.

"About three months ago, I applied for ARAP (Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy) so that me, my wife and daughter can go to the UK, but I have heard nothing.

"I am not safe at all. Everybody knows that I was an interpreter for the British Army.

"And it is not just me – I am speaking on behalf other interpreters. I have friends who are interpreters and the Taliban is looking for them."

He adds: "I have a question for the British prime minister: I have helped you and have worked like brothers with British forces, how can you do this to me? How can you put my baby in danger?”

We're starting to hear more about the problems being caused as banks and cash machines in Afghanistan stay closed for the seventh day in a row.

There's no cash inside the machines, no operational banks and no Western Union offices, which is where people from overseas would normally transfer money to. With these closed, it's now near impossible to send money into the country.

People say they are running out of funds and anxiety is growing across the capital and other cities.

Earlier, we heard from Pen Farthing, an ex-marine who now runs an animal rescue centre in Kabul, who says he can't pay his staff and people are running out of food.

Image source, Reuters

Angelina Jolie - actor, director, and a special envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - has joined Instagram to post about a letter she received from an Afghan girl.

The letter details the girl's fears about the Taliban takeover of her country. "Before Taliban came... we all had rights," she wrote. "[Now] we are imprisoned again."

"Right now, the people of Afghanistan are losing their ability to communicate on social media and to express themselves freely," Ms Jolie wrote in the post, external.

"So I’ve come on Instagram to share their stories and the voices of those across the globe who are fighting for their basic human rights."

She also wrote about visiting Afghanistan in 2001 to meet refugees who had fled Taliban rule, saying it is "sickening" to see people yet again displaced amid the uncertainty in the country.

"To spend so much time and money, to have blood shed and lives lost only to come to this, is a failure almost impossible to understand," she wrote.

The Taliban are currently on a media offensive to present themselves as a viable, legitimate government.

But Afghanistan, which had a flourishing media scene, has seen outlets shut down and journalists threatened and attacked in recent weeks.

In this video, BBC Monitoring takes a look at what Afghan people are seeing on their TV screens.

Image source, EPA

Now the hard part starts.

A movement widely condemned for its harsh rule in the 1990’s, recognised then by only three countries, knows it has to be different this time. But the overriding priority is to re-establish the Islamic Emirate.

Mullah Baradar’s arrival in Kabul, after consultations in the southern city of Kandahar, will add new momentum to this process.

There’s a promise of “inclusive” rule. But there’s never been any suggestion this is any more than an invitation to join an Islamic system dominated by the Taliban.

Political leaders like Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah are still in Kabul, still talking to Taliban leaders; their family photos posted on social media, even including women and girls, are also efforts to send a reassuring message. Karzai has even been to the Panjshir Valley, the last redoubt of the old order.

But the old order has crumbled; these efforts, while important, will only help what’s likely to be a contentious process to build a new one.

Image source, Getty Images

Usman*, who worked as an interpreter for the British armed forces, was sheltering with his wife and some neighbours when the Taliban came. He was woken in the early hours of the morning and told the group were nearby.

"They were searching door-to-door," he told the BBC. "Everyone panicked - then the news spread to every other house."

"A neighbour said they were searching for weapons, documents and government vehicles. They were trying to find out who had worked for Nato or the government."

"I put on my clothes and just jumped over a wall and ran away," Usman said. "I know that I am going to be killed. There is no other way."

Usman was told he was eligible for relocation to the UK in December, but after all his paperwork was processed he received a letter of rejection on Friday.

"We are not feeling safe," he said. "I'm really desperate."

Read the full story here

* Names have been changed

Image source, MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES

A Taliban leader wanted by the US and UN has been pictured in the Afghan capital Kabul, ahead of talks on forming a new government.

Khalil Haqqani, who is part of the hardline Haqqani network, was pictured among crowds in the Afghan capital on Friday, flanked by armed men dressed in military uniforms.

Photos showed Haqqani in a mosque addressing worshippers.

Earlier this week, Abdullah Abdullah - the head of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation - posted photos of a meeting, external with Haqqani and his Taliban delegation, as well as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Haqqani is one of the US's most wanted men, with a $5m (£3.6m) bounty on his head.

He is the brother of late Haqqani network leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, and the uncle of the Taliban’s deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani.

The Haqqani network is one of the region's most powerful and feared militant groups, and has been credited with some of the most violent attacks against Afghan forces and their Western allies in recent years.

Speaking to a New York Times photographer on Friday, Haqqani said the country was at peace and journalists and women would be safe.

“We have good intentions,” he said.