The UK Ministry of Defence has shared video footage of a civilian charter flight from Kabul arriving in the UK.

The plane, carrying Afghans and British nationals who were based in Afghanistan, landed in the Midlands on Wednesday.

The UK has committed to take in up to 20,000 Afghan refugees over the next few years under a new resettlement scheme - including 5,000 this year.

About 2,000 Afghan former staff and their families have already come to the UK under the separate Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), according to the Home Office, with a target of 5,000 by the end of 2021.

In another clip from President Biden's interview with ABC News, he said that military force is not the answer to fears for the rights of women in Afghanistan.

"The idea that we're able to deal with the rights of women around the world by military force is not rational," he said.

"There are a lot of places where women are being subjugated. The way to deal with that is putting economic, diplomatic and international pressure on them to change their behaviour," Biden added.

Biden added that he had told advisers to get many women trying to leave Afghanistan through US evacuations out.

"As many as we can get out we should," he said.

Read more on this topic:

• Uncertain times ahead for Afghan women
• What does Sharia law mean for women in Afghanistan?

Image source, EPA

US President Joe Biden has said the 31st August withdrawal date "depends on where we are" and whether the US can ramp evacuation numbers up. , external

If it can ramp up the number of Americans evacuated to 5,000 or 7,000 a day, "they'll all be out," Biden said in an exclusive interview with ABC News,.

When asked if the commitment holds for Afghan allies too, Biden said: "The commitment holds to get everyone out that, in fact, we can get out and everyone that should come out".

"That's the objective, that's what we're going now, that's the path we're on and I think we'll get there".

Image source, EPA

A UN document says the Taliban are intensifying their hunt for people who worked for and collaborated with Nato and US forces.

The confidential paper was produced by the Norwegian Centre for Global Analyses, which provides the UN with intelligence information.

“The Taliban are arresting and/or threatening to kill or arrest family members of target individuals unless they surrender themselves to the Taliban,” the document, seen by the BBC said.

It said that those at particular risk were people with positions in the military, police and investigative units.

“The Taliban have been conducting advance mapping of individuals prior to take take-over of all major cities,” it said.

It added that the militants were screening for individuals while permitting some evacuation of foreign personnel from Kabul airport but the situation there remained “chaotic”.

According to the report, the Taliban are recruiting new informer networks to collaborate with the new regime.

The mother of a British soldier killed in fighting in Afghanistan has told the BBC that she fears her son's death was "in vain".

Hazel Hunt's son, Richard, was fatally wounded in an explosion in Helmand province in 2009.

"I put the flowers on his grave and I sat and talked to him, and I tell him what's been going on and everything. I said to him, all your sacrifices have just been in vain sweetheart. And I'm so sorry."

She was one of the many families affected by the Afghan war who spoke to the BBC about their anger at the swift resurgence of the Taliban.

Ben Parkinson was seriously injured in 2006 when a mine detonated under his vehicle in Afghanistan. He told the BBC that he now believed that the efforts of British forces in the country had "been for nothing".

"We haven't changed anything" he said. "What was the point."

Image source, @aryanasayeedofficial

Aryana Sayeed, one of Afghanistan's most famous pop stars, has shared photographs of herself escaping the country on social media.

Sayeed has 1.3 million Instagram followers and has for years received threats from people who believe her music, appearance and performances are an affront to Afghan culture.

The singer shared an image on Instagram confirming she was safe this week - sitting on the floor of an American military aircraft alongside other evacuees.

In the caption, she thanked well-wishers and shared her hope that the country would stop suffering violence like suicide attacks following the Taliban takeover.

"I am well and alive and after a couple of unforgettable nights, I have reached Doha, Qatar and am awaiting my eventual flight back home to Istanbul," she said in the caption, external.

She also thanked followers for their concern about her welfare and told them to "please stay safe" and "stay united"

Back in 2020, Sayeed spoke to the BBC about the threats she had faced - including from the Taliban.

Image source, Abasin Sarwan/EVN

National flag-waving Afghans have been seen protesting in several cities on Thursday, which marks the 102nd anniversary of Afghanistan's independence and falls at a time of great uncertainty and upheaval for the country.

One clip shared on social media appears to show a crowd in Kabul chanting "our flag, our identity" about the black, red and green tricolour national flag.

• Afghanistan's history: A timeline
• How Afghanistan won its freedom from Britain

The Reuters news agency, citing witnesses, reports that several people may have been killed at a similar protest on Thursday in Asadabad - either by gunfire or in stampedes the firing triggered.

The reports of casualties come a day after several deaths were also reported at flag-related demonstrations in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Videos on social media have shown some protesters appearing to remove and replace Taliban flags in places - pocket displays of defiance against the group's swift rise to power.

The UK's Ambassador in Afghanistan, Sir Laurie Bristow, has remained in Kabul to help the evacuation of remaining Britons and has also been personally processing visa applications at the airport.

He has been praised for putting his own evacuation plans on hold, with people including the leader of the UK's Labour party, Sir Keir Starmer thanking him for staying behind to help.

Sir Laurie, who only took up his position as Ambassador in June, said on Wednesday that his team was working on the basis that they have "days not weeks" to get British nationals and Afghan's who worked with the UK's armed forces to safety.

While several countries have already evacuated their embassy staff, Bristow joined the French and American Ambassadors, who have also remained at Kabul airport.

Image source, Supplied

News photographer Ramin Rahman has been recounting to the BBC his experience of escaping Afghanistan earlier this week on a packed plane.

Rahman had been working for western media in the country and feared for his life following the Taliban takeover.

"I just felt safe again, at least we are safe: we are in American land," he told the BBC's Newshour programme about managing to get to the airfield with the help of a German journalist.

He said it felt like there was "no air, no space" for those packed into the crammed flight - but said people were happy to escape the gunshots and unrest outside.

"The whole plane - they were clapping, they were cheering because we were just flying from a battlefield," he said.

• Striking image captures Kabul exodus

Image source, Reuters

Turkey is still prepared to protect Kabul airport under Taliban rule following the withdrawal of US troops, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

Turkey had offered to control and run the airport, which is key to allowing countries to retain a diplomatic presence in Afghanistan.

But the swift Taliban takeover has cast doubt on the plan, which was negotiated with US defence officials.

In a TV address on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey still maintained the intention to operate the airport.

"With the Taliban maintaining control over the country, a new picture appeared before us," he said.

"Now we are making our plans according to these new realities."

Erdogan said he was ready to hold talks with Taliban leaders.

"We are open to any co-operation. They [Taliban leaders] have been very sensitive towards relations with Turkey," Erdogan said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says the first 106 Afghans who've worked for the European Union for years have been airlifted out of Afghanistan. However, he said another 300 were still trying to reach the airport, "blocked on the streets of Kabul".

He told a virtual session of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee there was a moral duty to get them out in the face of the "disaster" unfolding in Afghanistan, and a situation near the airport that remained “very difficult to manage”.

Those who have been evacuated from Afghanistan are arriving in capitals around the world. They are predominantly Afghans who worked for foreign governments in Kabul.

Many are not only leaving behind their country, but in some cases their families as well.

This is just the beginning of what they say will be a long journey to start a new life in a foreign country.

Read more: Chaos at Kabul airport amid scramble to evacuate

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

The BBC's Radio 4 Today programme has been hearing from a woman whose teenage sister was able to flee from Afghanistan to Turkey.

The woman, who lives in London, cried as she said she felt powerless to help the 16-year-old.

"She's saying that as an Afghan woman, she'd rather die than be next to the Taliban," she said, translating her sister's words.

"Women and girls are their sex slaves and they can do anything to you and you're not allowed to complain. There's no way to have a choice.

"My sister is fighting for her life. It was unsafe for her before the Taliban and now it's extremely unsafe."

A former Afghan interpreter for the British Army has begged the UK government to evacuate him and his family from the country.

Ahmed - not his real name - says last week he was finally given permission to come to the UK under the the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - but the next morning, the Taliban had seized control of the capital, Kabul.

He says he, his wife and child have been left stuck in a "horrible" situation.

"Life has ended for us when Kabul collapsed, we are just left behind in a dark room," he tells the BBC.

Taliban figures have said "there will be no revenge" on the people of Afghanistan, but Ahmed says he does not believe them.

"Taliban are not trustable [sic] as you know….If they find me, there will be no mercy, I have done a lot of patrols, missions shoulder to shoulder with British Armies, as like a family, like a brother.

"It's a major threat for me if I go out, they know me. There will be no mercy and I will face death."

Ahmed - who worked with British troops - says the Taliban used to target interpreters during fighting as they were the "eyes and ears" of the forces.

Asked what he would say to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson about his family's situation, he says: "I just want him to provide a pathway to safety for me and my family. And I beg him."

The UK's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said that Britain is unable to evacuate unaccompanied children from Afghanistan.

Mr Wallace was speaking after footage emerged of a child being passed over a wall to Western soldiers at Kabul airport.

We can't just take a minor on their own," Wallace told Sky News when asked about the video. "You will find as you see in the footage... the child was taken - that will be because the family will be taken as well."

Wallace said British soldiers at the airport were facing a difficult situation given the desperation of some Afghans to leave.

Image source, Reuters

It’s nearing midday in Kabul. Here are the main developments:

• Kabul, the capital, has been reported to be quiet as locals stay indoors. But the BBC’s Afghanistan correspondent heard a burst of gunfire this morning

• At least 12 people have died at Kabul Airport since Sunday, says a Taliban official cited by Reuters
• Evacuation flights are taking off around the clock, with the US and other nations flying out their citizens and at-risk Afghans
• But the Taliban is reportedly now blocking all Afghans – including those with visas – from getting to the tarmac. Taliban fighters control the roads and checkpoints around the airport
• US President Joe Biden says US troops may stay beyond the 31 August withdrawal deadline to make sure all American citizens safely get out

• The IMF has suspended Afghanistan’s access to aid payments, adding to Western donors' financial pressure on the Taliban
• The UK has doubled its humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and is urging allies to emulate its asylum programme of 20,000 refugee visas

Secunder Kermani, our Afghanistan correspondent, has been describing the atmosphere in Kabul.

He says there is still "absolute chaos" at the city's airport as Afghans continue to try and flee on evacuation flights, but elsewhere Kabul seems to be a great deal calmer than in recent days as businesses start to reopen.

Our correspondent says it's really hard to overstate just how large the Taliban presence is in the capital, with "heavily armed" fighters roaming the city on foot and in vehicles.

He says banks and government offices remain closed, with noticeably fewer women out in public.

He also heard a heavy burst of gunfire before speaking with BBC Breakfast, but said the source was unclear.

Vikas Pandey
BBC News

Image source, EPA

More shops have opened and people have started going out to buy essential items in Mazar-i-Sharif, which is one of Afghanistan's main commercial cities.

It's also a city that has a sizeable population of ethnic minorities like the Hazaras and Uzbeks - the groups the Taliban targeted when they were in power between 1996 and 1999.

However, this year they have promised that there will be no violence against any group. But the city's residents are not fully convinced.

Nasim Javid*, who has been telling us about the ground situation since Sunday, says everyone is pretending to be normal. "But nothing is normal. I can feel fear in my bones when I go out. The Taliban are everywhere," he says.

He says the Taliban have not entered people's houses yet and they trying to work with community leaders to reassure people about their safety. But the fear can be felt everywhere, he says, adding that women are hesitant to go out alone, and local TV stations have stopped airing music and films.

Read more:

• What is Sharia law?
• Uncertain times ahead for Afghan women

A total of 12 people have been killed in and around Kabul airport since Sunday, according to a Taliban official.

The official, who spoke anonymously to the Reuters news agency, said the deaths were caused by gunshots or stampedes.

He urged crowds at the gates to go home if they did not have the right to travel and said the Taliban "don't want to hurt" anyone at the airport.

There have been scenes of chaos reported as thousands try to leave the country.

Kabul's airport remains under US control but the surrounding roads are guarded by the Taliban. Witnesses have reported armed members of the group preventing people, including those with documents, from getting into the compound.

Frances Mao
BBC News

A young woman in Kabul has just told me about her situation. The student has been an outspoken participant in conferences. Today she’s staying indoors.

“[The Taliban] have asked everyone to get back to work- but people are afraid they don’t want to get out of their homes. We are all trying to stay home.

A lot of people have been beaten by Taliban at the airport and during demonstrations in Nangarhar[province] including journalists, and house searches continue despite the announcement of amnesty.

There’s so much disorder and uncertainty- their statement doesn’t match their action yet.”

She says she’s also heard reports from relatives that the Taliban is only allowing foreigners into the airport, and is keeping out Afghans approved to evacuate with the Americans.

“Now evacuation flights are going empty due to the restrictions they have imposed at the airport gate."