Image source, PA Media

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called a Cobra meeting later on Sunday to discuss the worsening situation in Afghanistan.

Cobra is an emergency response committee, involving ministers, civil servants and others personnel relevant to the subject under discussion.

Parliament will be recalled from its summer recess on 18 August, the House of Commons have confirmed.

The Taliban have ordered their fighters to enter parts of Kabul to prevent looting, their spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said, according to Afghan TV network Tolo. The BBC has not independently confirmed his statement.

Because security forces had left parts of the city and their checkpoints, Taliban forces were going in to prevent chaos and looting, he added.

In the statement, external, the Taliban called on the people not to be afraid of their militants.

Footage posted online by a pro-Taliban news agency appears to show inmates being freed from the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul - the largest prison in Afghanistan.

Earlier on Sunday, Taliban forces overran the military prison at the former Bagram US air base.

Taliban and extremist fighters, including those belonging to the Islamic State, were among the 5,000 inmates being held at the Bagram prison.

Image source, Getty Images

President Ashraf Ghani has left the country, reports say, quoting Afghan officials.

It comes as Taliban reached the outskirts of Kabul.

Vice-president Amrullah Saleh is also reported to have fled.

Mr Ghani has come under increasing pressure to resign as major cities around Afghanistan have fallen to Taliban militants over the course of 10 days.

Ashitha Nagesh
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Omar* is in Kabul with his wife and children. He worked as a wartime interpreter for US and allied forces for five years - but now, he says, the US "has turned its back" on him.

"The president of the United States said, 'As you stood with us, we will stand with you'. So right now, where are they?"

Omar applied for a US visa in 2016, but was rejected for what the US embassy called a "lack of faithful and valuable service".

Now, Omar believes the Taliban's punishment will be worse for translators, despite a spokesman saying there will be "no revenge".

"There's no mercy for the linguists," he says. "The Taliban has said before, interpreters were the eyes and ears of the Americans - so the punishment will be different for us.

"As an interpreter I saved many American lives. So, they've really left me behind. Now I'm about to be killed, as is my family."

*Names have been changed

Image source, Getty Images

Helicopters have been seen landing and taking off from the US embassy in Kabul, as the evacuation of US personnel from Afghanistan gains speed.

As the Black Hawk and Chinook helicopters depart towards Kabul's international airport, some of them are dropping flares to deter Taliban rocket attacks.

According to NBC News reporter Richard Engel, the embassy will close as soon as all US personnel are transferred out, following intense negotiations with the Taliban for safe passage.

On Friday, embassy staff received the order to begin destroying sensitive documents, as well as items "which could be misused in propaganda efforts,” US media reported.

A core group of US diplomats who will are expected to remain in the country after the withdrawal will remain at the airport for an unspecified amount of time, a US official told the New York Times.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just spoken on CNN, where he was asked by host Jake Tapper: "How did President Biden get this so wrong?"

The network then played a clip from Biden, speaking last month, calling a total Taliban victory "extremely unlikely".

“First, let’s put this context,” said Mr Blinken: "As we’ve discussed before, we were in Afghanistan for one over-riding purpose - to deal with the folks that attacked us on 9/11.

He says that the US achieved its goals of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice and diminishing the capabilities of the Al Qaeda terror group.

“On the terms that we went to Afghanistan in the first place, we’ve succeeded in achieving our objectives,” says Blinken.

"The idea that the status quo could have been maintained by keeping our forces there, I think is simply wrong," he continues.

He says that Taliban attacks on the US would have ramped up after 1 May, and "the offensive... to retake these provincial capitals would have commenced" regardless of the US military presence.

He stressed: “We’re going to keep in place in the region the capacity to see if [there is] any emergence of a terrorist threat, and to be able to deal with it.”

Malala Yousafzai says she is "deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates" as the Taliban takes control in Afghanistan.

The women's rights and education activist urged global powers to call for "an immediate ceasefire" and to protect refugees and civilians.

There is concern that under Taliban rule, women's rights could deteriorate in Afghanistan. When the militants previously ruled the country, girls over the age of 12 did not receive an education and women could not leave their house without a face covering and a male relative chaperoning them.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent

The BBC's Lyse Doucet spoke to Newshour from a commercial flight bound for Kabul.

"I am in a civilian aircraft, a commercial flight that has been circling Kabul for about an hour now - seeing, from the windows, the majestic Hindu Kush mountains which are very much part of the story of Afghanistan.

Today’s story is one that almost no one would have expected 20 years ago when the US-led engagement started in Afghanistan.

This flight that I’m on is meant to take out some 400 people, including 100 children, but we’re told that there’s a broken military aircraft on the runway and that’s preventing us from landing.

We’re not sure whether that’s really the case. Is it because aircraft are taking out Afghan officials in these last hours? Is it because of other flights, connected to the massive US and British airlift of both their remaining nationals, as well as other Afghans who are at risk? We’re not sure.

We’ve been diverted - heading back to Dubai - although we’ve been told the airport will be clearing for commercial flights.

It’s not clear how long [it will be] until the situation stabilises and it’s clear to all that it’s safe to land and safe for people to arrive in Kabul.

A spokesman for the Taliban has told the BBC's Yalda Hakim that "there will be no revenge" on the people of Afghanistan.

Suhail Shaheen called the presenter live on air and assured people in Afghanistan, particularly in the city of Kabul "that their properties, their lives are safe".

The US has been using military helicopters to transport officials and diplomats to the airport from their heavily fortified embassy compound in Kabul.

President Biden ordered the deployment of an additional 1,000 US troops to support the evacuation, in addition to the 3000 already deployed in recent days.

It's thought approximately 1,400 staff were working in the country, and US media report that a core group of diplomats who are set to remain in the country are also being moved to a new secure location.

Image source, AFP/Getty

The shadow foreign secretary is calling on the UK government to act, amid the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan.

Lisa Nandy says UK politicians have been "slow to respond" and says she wants to hear "an actual strategy from the government".

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat has also criticised the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab for not making any statement as the Taliban advanced across the country over the past week. Read more here.

This is how quickly the Taliban has moved - from holding pockets of power in early July - to taking over most of the country by mid-August:

Farzana Kochai, an MP in Kabul, says people in Kabul are frightened as the Taliban close in on the city.

"We are scared of what will happen," she told the BBC.

Image source, Getty Images

US officials say diplomats are being ferried by helicopter from the US embassy in the fortified Wazir Akbar Khan district to the international airport, Reuters reports.

The tarmac is busy with troops, contractors, diplomats and civilians, all trying to get out of the city, one US reporter says, external.

Those who are able to fly out are given special bracelets, showing their status as non-combatants, he adds.

Afghan forces have abandoned the field to Western forces, a pilot, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press.

Earlier, an Afghan flight loaded with troops who had surrendered to the Taliban landed at the airport, from Kandahar - despite shrapnel damage from a mortar attack, he added.

Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who lived in Afghanistan for four years, described the situation in the country as "heart-breaking" - and criticised the way the West pulled out the nation.

"We stripped them effectively of their combat power... and in doing so abandoned the Afghan people.

"This is the result. This is the decision President Biden and other Nato leaders have taken," says Mr Tugendhat.

Image source, Getty Images

A Taliban spokesman has vowed that the militants will respect the rights of women, and the press, as it prepares for a transition of power from Afghanistan's civilian government.

The rapid advance of the Taliban - which has taken over the entire country in just 10 days - has raised particular concerns about what it might mean for the nation's women.

When the Taliban previously controlled Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2002, the group practiced a version of Sharia law which included stoning for adultery, amputation of limbs for theft, and preventing girls from going to school beyond the age of 12.

Sunday's statements by the Taliban appear to be aimed at quelling global concern.

The spokesman said that women would be allowed to leave their houses alone and would continue to have access to education and work.

But this is at odds with reports emerging from other parts of the country which have fallen into Taliban control. In Kandahar, women working in a bank were told their jobs would now be carried out by a male relative; in other regions there have been reports of women not being allowed out alone and being forced to wear the burka.

The spokesman added that the media would be allowed to freely criticise but not indulge in "character assassination".

A US official has said there will be "no change" to US plans to complete its troop pull-out by mid-September, despite recent developments which have seen the Taliban breach the capital Kabul in just 10 days.

The unnamed official told the Reuters news agency that the US would only react if the Taliban interfered with their plans to evacuate embassy staff; the administration has previously warned of "a swift and strong US military response" if US personnel are put at risk by Taliban actions.

The latest statement is in line with recent comments made by President Joe Biden, who said he did not regret his move to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, even as the Taliban militants continued to make rapid advances across the country over the past week.

Mr Biden said the US was keeping the commitments it had made to Afghanistan, such as providing close air support, paying military salaries and supplying Afghan forces with food and equipment.

But he added: "They've got to fight for themselves."

The Taliban have made rapid territorial gains in Afghanistan the past few weeks, and there are increasing concerns about what this means for those under their rule.

BBC Afghanistan Correspondent Secunder Kermani was given rare access to newly captured Taliban territory in the north of the country – where militants are fighting with security forces in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif - previously an anti-Taliban stronghold.

BBC World News

A Taliban spokesman has told the BBC's Yalda Hakim "there will be no revenge" on the people of Afghanistan.

"We assure the people in Afghanistan, particularly in the city of Kabul, that their properties, their lives are safe - there will be no revenge on anyone," Suhail Shaheen told the BBC.

"We are the servants of the people and of this country."

"Our leadership have instructed our forces to remain at the gate of Kabul - not to enter the city. We are awaiting a peaceful transfer of power."

He also said all Afghans would have participation in the Islamic government - meaning Afghans who are not Taliban would also be included.