British Afghans, many with family still living in Afghanistan, say children are being forced to sleep on the streets with nowhere to turn after leaving their homes.

"Kids, they don't have water and food to eat," one mother told the BBC.

In the video above, others also talk about their fears as Afghanistan comes under Taliban rule.

Good morning to our readers in Asia, and welcome to another day of the BBC's coverage of the situation in Afghanistan. Here's what you need to know:

• Taliban leaders have been returning to Afghanistan from Qatar, where many of them were based while negotiating with the US over the withdrawal of international forces
• This includes co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who arrived to cheering crowds at the airport
• The Taliban, in their first press conference, said women could be actively involved in society "within the framework of Islamic law"

• The UK has said it will welcome up to 20,000 Afghan refugees over the coming years - with women and girls getting priority in the new scheme
• Just over 1,000 Americans were evacuated on Tuesday on 13 military flights, with nearly 2,000 Afghans relocated to the US

About 1,100 Americans were evacuated from Afghanistan on 13 US military flights on Tuesday, according to a White House official.

The official said more than 3,200 US nationals had been flown out of the country so far.

In addition, nearly 2,000 Afghans had been relocated to the US.

Joe Biden, who has been managing the unfolding crisis mainly from the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland, is facing growing criticism over what his opponents say is a "shambolic" withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan.

The president is expected to return to the White House shortly.

Image source, Reuters

The Taliban say under their rule women can study and work “within the framework of Islamic law" - but what that will mean in practice is not clear.

Will women be able to vote, or hold political office? Could they be judges or sports personalities? No answers so far.

When Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid was pushed to give more details, he palmed the answer off to the “new administration who will make the rules”.

He did, however, vaguely say women would be "needed" in the health, law, education and policing sectors. But to what capacity was again not made clear.

"I don’t believe what they’re saying," was the reaction of one woman in Kabul, who watched Mujahid speak on TV.

"It’s a ruse, and we’re being lured outside to be punished. I refuse to study or work under their laws," was the reaction from another woman, who was too afraid to leave home.

Despite major mistrust and scepticism from Afghan women, some have surprisingly welcomed the Taliban’s approach to women’s rights.

One woman told me: "If we’re able to work and get educated, that’s the definition of freedom for me, that’s my red line. That red line is not crossed by the Taliban yet.

"As long as my right to study and work is protected, I don’t mind wearing a hijab. I live in an Islamic country and I’m willing to accept the Islamic dress code as long as it’s not a burka, though, because that’s not an Islamic dress code”

The US state department is reported to have issued a notice to American nationals waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan.

The text of the email - according to US media - urges Americans to make their way to Kabul's airport, but without guaranteeing their security.

It says "an undefined number of US government-provided flights will begin soon".

Asked about the message, the state department confirmed to the BBC it was notifying citizens who have requested assistance.

Thousands of US citizens are believed to be stranded in Afghanistan, although the exact numbers are unclear.

Earlier on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan sidestepped media questions about whether the US would commit to evacuate every American citizen and Afghan ally stuck in the country.

Image source, EPA

In the last few weeks, Taliban fighters, armed with little more than AK-47s, have rolled through Afghanistan virtually unopposed.

BBC Newsnight has been told that one of the main reasons behind the Afghan National Army's collapse is that the true size of its fighting force was just a fraction of the official figure.

President Biden has repeatedly said an Afghan army numbering 300,000 men received hundreds of millions of dollars for equipment and training.

But two well-placed sources tell us the true number of troops was actually much lower - closer to 50,000.

An Afghani source with direct knowledge told Newsnight that in a meeting with former Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, newly appointed Defence Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi expressed alarm about the true figure of only 50,000 soldiers.

A second source, terrorism expert Dr Sajjan Gohel, also supported the 50,000 figure.

We’ve been unable to verify it - but if true, it would help to explain how the Taliban rolled into regional capitals, and finally Kabul, so easily.

We asked the White House if intelligence showing the Afghan army was only 50,000 strong was shown to the president.

A spokesman declined to answer.

The US says it is investigating the circumstances surrounding human remains that were found in the wheel well of one of its military transport planes that flew out of Kabul's airport this week.

Footage on social media showed scores of Afghans desperate to leave the capital rushing toward a C-17 aircraft and clinging to its side.

At least two people are said to have perished when they fell from the plane as it gained altitude over Kabul.

In a statement, the US Air Force said one of its aircraft landed at Kabul's airport on Monday and was surrounded by hundreds of Afghan civilians.

"Faced with a rapidly deteriorating security situation around the aircraft, the C-17 crew decided to depart the airfield as quickly as possible," the statement said.

The plane was later diverted to an air base in Qatar.

"The aircraft is currently impounded to provide time to collect the remains and inspect the aircraft before it is returned to flying status," the US Air Force said.

Matt Zeller, a US veteran who fought in Afghanistan, has said America should "move heaven and earth" to save Afghans who worked with the US.

"These are our people," he told the BBC, adding that one of his Afghan interpreters had saved his life by shooting dead two Taliban fighters.

"Any Afghan we leave behind we are leaving to a modern-day version of the Nazis," he said.

Jon Sopel
BBC North America Editor

Image source, Getty Images

There's a quote in To Kill A Mockingbird where Jem is told by Miss Maudie that "things are never as bad as they seem." For Joe Biden, right now, things do look pretty dark.

The shambolic unravelling of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan comes from a yet to be written textbook of "how to lose at everything". Warnings hadn't been heeded, intelligence was clearly totally inadequate, planning was lamentable, execution woeful.

Many see what has unfolded on President Biden's watch in Afghanistan as a linear continuation of Donald Trump's America First policies - and, as some have joked cruelly, not as well organised.

That is potentially deeply damaging.

Read more of Jon Sopel's analysis here.

As we reported earlier, Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has returned to Afghanistan from Qatar.

His arrival from the Gulf kingdom - where he has spent months leading negotiations about the US troop withdrawal - marks a dramatic comeback.

Kandahar is the group's spiritual birthplace, and their most important base before they were ousted in a US-led military campaign 20 years ago.

Footage has emerged showing cheering crowds meeting Baradar as he was driven in a car from Kandahar's airport.

Thousands of Afghan refugees will be resettled in the UK after the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the UK government has promised.

Up to 20,000 Afghans will be offered a route to set up home in the UK in the coming years, the Home Office said.

In the first year, 5,000 refugees will be eligible to settle in the UK - on top of 5,000 Afghan interpreters and other staff who worked for the UK.

Women, girls and others in need will have priority in the new scheme.

Those most at risk of human rights abuses and dehumanising treatment by the Taliban will also be the focus of the new resettlement scheme.

Image source, PA

Here's the full statement from Downing Street confirming that Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to the US president earlier on.

"The leaders welcomed US and UK cooperation in recent days to help evacuate our nationals, current and former staff, and others from Afghanistan. They resolved to continue working closely together on this in the days and weeks ahead to allow as many people as possible to leave the country.

“The Prime Minister and President Biden agreed on the need for the global community to come together to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The Prime Minister outlined UK plans including increased humanitarian aid to the region and resettlement of refugees.

“The Prime Minister stressed the importance of not losing the gains made in Afghanistan over the last twenty years, of protecting ourselves against any emerging threat from terrorism and of continuing to support the people of Afghanistan.

“The Prime Minister and President looked forward to discussing this issue further at a virtual meeting of G7 leaders in the coming days.”

We're just learning that US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have spoken about the latest developments in Afghanistan.

Our North America Editor Jon Sopel has the details...

Image source, Reuters

It's been another day of fast-moving developments in Afghanistan. Here's the latest:

• Taliban leaders have been returning to the country from the Qatari capital, Doha, where senior officials have been based while negotiating with the US over the withdrawal of international forces
• In the first news conference given by the Taliban since they seized control of the country on Sunday, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said women would be able to be actively involved in society "under an Islamic framework"
• He also told reporters that the Taliban had "pardoned all those who have fought against us"
• Taliban militants have set up numerous checkpoints in the capital, Kabul, where fleeing Afghans have been trying to reach the main airport
• The US has been in contact with the Taliban to ensure "the safe passage of people to the airport", the White House said
• The EU has said that it too will "engage in dialogue" with the militants in order to extract hundreds of Afghan families after the Taliban "won the war"

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent

Image source, EPA

"All their rights within Islam" - that’s the phrase the Taliban have used countless times when it comes to the lives of Afghan women and girls.

In recent years, foreign envoys and Afghans have tried, without much success, to establish with Taliban leaders based in Doha exactly what that means.

I’ve heard references to women’s rights in conservative Arab societies including Saudi Arabia, or Qatar.

A founding member of the Taliban once blurted out that university classes would have to be segregated, areas partitioned, with obligatory head coverings.

More telling are recent reports from rural and urban areas that women journalists have been told to go home,and women in offices told their jobs would now go to men.

Restrictions may vary by region. It’s always been said that the rules in Kabul and other more open cities may be a bit different; women will now be testing the limits as a new order emerges.

Image source, EPA

US President Joe Biden has not spoken with other world leaders since the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, the White House says.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that other senior officials overseeing US operations, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, had "been engaged on a regular basis with foreign counterparts", but that the president had not.

Sullivan also acknowledged that the Taliban had seized "a fair amount" of US military equipment worth millions of dollars that had been supplied to Afghan security forces.

"We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defence materials has gone," he said, adding: "We don't have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us."

Image source, Getty Images

The BBC has spoken to a woman in Kabul who worked for the Afghan government for almost two years, until last week. Here she shares her story about her experience when the Taliban took the city.

Sunday was the most horrible day in my entire life.

I went to my office in the morning. The only woman I saw was a security guard at the gate. There were very few people there - it was not normal. The Taliban were at the gates of the city, people were scared, but I didn't believe the militants would be able to enter.

At around noon I left the office. I took my mobile phone charger and some personal documents. I went to the bank to withdraw some money as everyone was trying to take out as much money as they could. But the queue was very long. The situation was intense.

When I entered the bank, I noticed missed calls from my mother, sister and brother. It scared me, as something might have happened. I called my mother and she asked, in a very anxious way, where I was and what I was doing. She told me to hurry and run home as the Taliban were in the west of the city.

I was shocked, terrified, scared.

Read more here.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Defense One/Reuters

Uganda will take in 2,000 refugees who have fled Afghanistan following a request from the US government, officials have told the BBC.

The first group of 500 Afghans are expected to arrive at Entebbe Airport later today.

The new Afghan arrivals will be tested for Covid-19 before they are sent to isolation centres, Refugee Minister Esther Anyakun says. The US will be covering the costs.

Uganda has a long history of welcoming refugees - and is currently home to around 1.3 million people who have fled conflict or other disasters.

The East African nation has the largest number of refugees in any country in Africa - and the third largest in the world.

Read more here.

Image source, EPA

The US military is "rapidly scaling up operations" to help ensure the safe movement of troops, civilians and diplomats in and out of Kabul airport, commander Gen Kenneth McKenzie says.

"Currently, the airfield is secure and now open to civilian air traffic, external," he said in a statement.

Gen McKenzie also said he had warned Taliban leaders against interfering with the US operation in Afghanistan.

"[I] made it clear to them that any attack would be met with overwhelming force in the defence of our forces.

"The protection of US civilians and our partners is my highest priority and we will take all necessary action to ensure a safe and efficient withdrawal."

Yesterday, there were chaotic scenes of panic at Kabul airport as desperate residents tried to flee following the Taliban's seizure of the Afghan capital.

Georgina Rannard
BBC News

I’ve been speaking to a musician in Afghanistan who said he has destroyed his instruments now that the Taliban have taken power.

Playing musical instruments was banned when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan and in recent days, some people caught listening to music have been brutally punished by the group.

“Abdul” (names have been changed to protect identities) says that before the Taliban took power, he was free to play gigs and playing and teaching music was allowed.

“We were very optimistic about the future and could never predict that one day it'll all be over. It's like being free and then getting back to prison,” he explained.

When he was younger, he went to great lengths to buy his instruments and was self-taught – now he feels his future is lost.

People are scared that the Taliban have not changed and will beat women, musicians, artists and anyone who disagrees with them, he says.

“I destroyed my instruments because my family and friends say that back in Taliban's regime, they used to beat people if they found musical instruments in their houses.”

“I cannot play music anymore. I have to give up on what I always loved to do. I have to give up on my dreams that I carried since childhood.”

Music has now stopped being played in the country and TV and radio can only broadcast religious content, he explains, saying “in Afghanistan, music is dying”.