The scramble to airlift tens of thousands of foreign nationals and Afghan allies from Kabul entered a frantic new stage today - with military chiefs admitting they can only continue as long as the Taliban allows it.
As desperate British and US citizens, and allies who helped the West's forces over the past 20 years, try to flee reprisals, armed guards from the regime have surrounded the airport, and seized control of all access points.
Underlining the abject humiliation of the West, the Taliban's political chief Mullah Baradar today arrived in Kandahar province after 20 years of exile as the group held its first press conference, confirming their grip on power and insisting it would respect women's rights - but women's rights but 'within Islamic law'.
Although the atmosphere is far less chaotic inside the perimeter than the extraordinary scenes yesterday - when several people plummeted to their deaths after clinging to departing planes and another was crushed to death in landing gear - witnesses on the ground revealed that there is still carnage outside.
Streams of people, some clutching immigration documents, have been queuing under the guns of armed Taliban as Apache helicopters buzzed through the air. Former Royal Marine commando Paul 'Pen' Farthing, who runs an animal sanctuary in Kabul, warned that they were being told to come to the airport but left at the mercy of crowds and Taliban forces who have it under siege.
The clearly distraught veteran, who said he had been separated from his wife, said British military needed to go outside the perimeter and 'rescue some of the people they have been sent to get'. 'People are going to die,' he insisted.
At least 12 military flights took off from Kabul Airport today, including three UK planes as the Ministry of Defence aims to ferry up to 7,000 Britons and Afghan allies out of the country. Most are heading to other stable parts of the Middle East, where the passengers catch charter flights back to Britain. A British student who took a holiday to Afghanistan before being trapped by the Taliban takeover today shared a video from inside a military plane as he landed in Dubai after being evacuated to safety.
Some 370 UK embassy staff and British nationals were flown out by the RAF on Sunday and yesterday, adding to the 289 Afghan nationals transported last week.
A further 350 Britons and Afghans should be taken out of the country in the next 24 hours - but the pace will need to be stepped up dramatically if those at highest risk are to get to safety.
In the longer term, the UK could give refuge to tens of thousands of Afghans in total after the Taliban takeover as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab vowed the UK Government's response to the collapse will be 'big-hearted'.
It comes after pandemonium yesterday as thousands of desperate people rushed the runway and clung to the wheels of departing US jets - with one horrifying video appearing to show how one man was crushed to death in the landing gear of a C-17 transport plane.
The footage, which emerged today, shows what appears to be a man's legs protruding from the side of the jet and failing against the side of the aircraft. A US official later confirmed that human remain were found in the landing gear of a jet, which made an emergency landing after declaring a mid-air state of emergency.
There are at least 56,000 people who need evacuating from Afghanistan - including some 22,000 flying on US special immigrant visas, 4,000 British nationals, 10,000 refugees that Germany has said it will accept, and 20,000 bound for Canada. In reality, that number is likely to be far higher once diplomatic staff from dozens of countries which had relations with Afghanistan's former government are taken into account.
The US said it may issue up 80,000 special immigrant visas to those who helped with combat operations and are likely to face revenge attacks from the Taliban, while 7,500 troops currently guarding the airport - including 6,000 Americans and smaller numbers of British, Turkish and Australians - will also need to leave.
At least 6,000 people have already managed to flee the country on evacuation flights that began on Sunday, with a dozen departing today - most of them flying to neighbouring Middle Eastern countries before continuing their journeys west. Spain, France and India confirmed their diplomatic staff were evacuated today.
Russia and Indonesia said their embassies will be partially evacuated, with the EU mission has said staff including its ambassador Andreas Von Brandt is still in the country and will need to leave.
Boris Johnson hopes to convene a meeting of G7 world leaders at the 'earliest opportunity' as he looks to co-ordinate the international response, as Mr Raab said the UK would have to work with 'challenging' partners on how to deal with the Taliban.
During the Taliban's rule in 1996 to 2001, women could not work and punishments such as public stoning, whipping and hanging were administered.
The Taliban have said there will be no retribution against opponents and promised to respect the rights of women, minorities and foreigners, but many Afghans are sceptical and fear old enemies and activists will be rounded up.
Royal Navy Vice Admiral Sir Ben Key, who is organising the RAF evacuation from Permanent Joint HQ in Northwood, told Sky News that people wanting to be evacuated would have to rely on the Taliban letting them through.
In a day of fast-moving developments:
- Taliban's deputy leader and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar arrived in Kandahar Tuesday after 20 years of exile - confirming regime's grip on power
- The Taliban held a press conference in which the group said they 'want to live peacefully' and insisted it would respect women's rights - but women's rights but 'within Islamic law'
- Joe Biden was condemned for the 'humiliating' retreat after Afghan forces capitulated with barely a fight;
- EU foreign ministers met in Brussels for emergency talks amid fears over a new European refugee crisis;
- Mr Johnson is pushing for a virtual G7 meeting to be arranged, raising the idea with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a call today and doing the same during talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday;
- Dominic Raab promised that Britain will take 'tens of thousands' of Afghans on a longer-term resettlement scheme while increasing foreign aid;
- Turkey said it welcomed 'positive messages' from the Taliban and diplomats will hold talks with the Islamists;
- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex issued a statement on the crisis, saying it had left them 'speechless'
- Meanwhile the Afghan vice president and the son of a dead legendary military commander rally anti-Taliban forces in last stronghold less than 100 miles from Kabul
- The Pentagon warned of a swift response to any attack carried out by the Taliban as mission to evacuate US staff and Afghan allies resumed
Taliban soldiers at the entrance of Afghanistan's international airport in Kabul today. UK military chiefs admit that the new regime now has total control of access to the airport
Former Royal Marine commando Paul 'Pen' Farthing, who runs an animal sanctuary in Kabul, warned that they were being told to come to the airport but left at the mercy of crowds and Taliban forces who have it under siege
People gather outside Kabul Airport today as the Taliban declared an 'amnesty' and urged women to join their government
Afghanis, some clutching migration documents, line up behind barbed wire and under the guns of Afghan security guards at Kabul's main airport today, one day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee the country
One of the lucky ones: Miles Routledge, 21, shared footage of him sitting alongside hundreds of other people fleeing the militant group as the aircraft touched down in the UAE
Evacuees on a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul on Sunday
'Much of that journey is for them to undertake,' he said.
'It is quite obvious that the Taliban now are the prevalent security providers across Afghanistan – that's a fact – so therefore it is much up to them and these individuals, as we call them forward, to make their own way to the vicinity of the airport.
'We then bring them into the airport and process them, bring them into the airport and bring them back into a place of repatriation.'
Sir Ben told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme the Taliban seemed 'acquiescent' about allowing people to reach the airport, saying: 'It is a statement of fact that they are now controlling all of the access points around the airport, so at a tactical level, around the gates, we are having to have a pragmatic engagement with the local Taliban commanders.
'And thus far – and recognise, please, that we are only a day and a half into this kind of new situation – they have seemed acquiescent and understanding of what we are trying to achieve.
'We don't take it for granted, and the local commanders continue to engage with them at the gate accesses to achieve what we want to achieve.'
Sir Ben said the numbers they were being asked to evacuate was between 6,000 and 7,000.
But he added: 'Those numbers are changing all the time as we understand the scale of the ask – people are coming forward making themselves known through the FCDO consular services or into us under the Arap programme.
'How long have we got to do it? We don't really know, so every day we are working as hard as we can to bring as many forward into this pipeline as we possibly can.
'Clearly there is a dynamic political situation running across the city.
'We make no assumptions about that other than we really can't afford to pause and wait.'
Footage showed racks of what appeared to be American and Soviet-made weaponry dumped alongside helmets, body armour and magazines full of ammunition in an arrivals area of the airport.
And Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan's deputy president, posted a defiant message from the Panjshir Valley - one of the few areas not conquered by the Taliban - where he is holed up with other anti-Taliban warlords.
And in a signal that Mr Johnson wants to draw together a broad coalition, Downing Street confirmed the UK wants the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) - which, as well as Britain, includes the US, China, France and Russia - to meet this week.
The gathering would extend even further than the G7 alliance of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US, with the Prime Minister keen for leading economies to act together on choosing how to broach relations with a Taliban-led state in Afghanistan.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said Mr Johnson and Mrs Merkel agreed that 'global co-operation was crucial'.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed the UK would have to work with 'challenging' partners on its approach to dealing with the Taliban following their capture of Kabul.
UK relations with Moscow have been strained in recent years, particularly since the Salisbury Novichok attack in 2018, while Beijing and London have been at loggerheads over China's growing technological influence amid security and spying fears.
Mr Raab, who admitted that the speed of Afghanistan's fall took the Government by surprise, told ITV's Good Morning Britain: 'We'll need a contact group I believe, of not just like-minded Western countries, but countries with direct influence even if we find it challenging dealing with them.
'The permanent members of the Security Council, including China and Russia, will need to be, I think, part of the solution, so it's not going to be easy.'
Mr Raab said he thought the international community must 'test' the Taliban's resolve to hold to promises previously made in their Doha agreement with the US, including ensuring terrorists do not take hold again in Afghanistan and leading a more 'inclusive' government.
'Now the Taliban have never kept a promise so far, but I think given that they have those set of undertakings, we must test it and make sure that there's a cost if they don't live up to those responsibilities,' he added.
'It is going to be exceptionally challenging, but that is already what we're looking to do and to try and galvanise some international action with that in mind.'
No 10 said the Prime Minister plans to use a G7 meeting to focus on ensuring Afghanistan does not once again become a source of international terrorist threats, as it did in the 1990s when it harboured al Qaida founder Osama bin Laden.
But politicians and defence experts warned that terrorists will be free to operate under the new administration in Kabul.
Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Jamie Stone said jailed terrorists were 'now freely roaming the streets of Afghanistan' after the Taliban's victory and predicted that backers of so-called Islamic State and al Qaida 'will begin plotting their revenge on countries such as Britain'.
Mr Stone is calling on ministers to publish the national security assessment it conducted before pulling British troops out of the central Asian country, pushing for a vote when Parliament is recalled on Wednesday if they refuse.
Emily Winterbotham, a specialist in terrorism at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said it was 'pointless' to demand that Afghanistan should be free of international terrorists.
'Let's not forget that al Qaida never really left the country whilst Isis already has a foothold,' she said. 'The focus right now needs to be on refugees and humanitarian assistance.'
US troops, backed by British SAS and Royal Marines special forces, are positioned at the 7.8-mile perimeter with snipers on rooftops, as well as machine gunners and armored cars on the runway. Meanwhile, truck-loads of Taliban fighters are outside the airport and manning the gates into the airport armed with AK-47s and rocket launchers
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid speaks at at his first news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan. The group said they 'want to live peacefully' after taking control of Afghanistan in a lighting conquest in little over a week, leading to human rights concerns in the country. 'There is a huge difference between us and the Taliban of 20 years ago, this has been an evolutionary process for us'
Military personnel board the RAF Airbus A400M at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Royal Navy Vice Admiral Sir Ben Key, who is organising the RAF evacuation from Permanent Joint HQ in Northwood, told Sky News that people wanting to be evacuated would have to rely on the Taliban letting them through at Kabul
A British soldier stands guard as British citizens and dual nationals residing in Afghanistan are loaded on to an evacuation flight at Kabul Airport in an undated photograph
Many founders of the original Taliban are still in leadership positions today as the militants take control of Afghanistan, while others are the sons of founders who have since died or were killed in action. After the deaths of former chief Mohammed Omar and his successor Akhtar Mohammad Mansour in less than 12 months, the leadership is held by Haibatullah Akhundzada. Dubbed 'Leader of the Faithful', the Taliban's Supreme Commander who has the final word on its political, religious and military policy. Despite being the now-obvious choice, there is speculation that Akhundzada may not become the front-facing leader of the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan - the full name of Afghanistan under the new Taliban rule. Under Akhundzada sits three deputies. In addition to Mullah Yaqoob, there is Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Sirajuddin Haqqani, with the three being described be one Western official as 'the just-about-OK, the bad and the very, very ugly'. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar - who arrived back in Afghanistan today after 20 years in exile - is perhaps the most well-known and senior. He was the co-founder of the Taliban along-side Mullah Omar - who bestowed the title 'brother' upon him as a sign of affection. Some have suggested he may take up a prime-ministerial role under the new regime. Sirajuddin Haqqani heads up his late-father's group - the Haqqani Network - a US-designated terror cell responsible for a number of brutal killing throughout Afghanistan, including a bombing that killed seven children. After a meteoric rise to power following his father's death, Mullah Yaqoob heads up the Taliban's military, and was likely responsible for the recent incursion that has seen Afghanistan fall under the group's control once more
The body of an Afghan man is trapped in the wheel arch of a C-17 transport plane that took off from Kabul Airport on Monday
The warnings come as Downing Street said Mr Johnson is planning to unveil a 'bespoke' resettlement scheme to allow fleeing Afghans to set up home in the UK shortly.
The Telegraph reported the concept could be similar to that used to take in Syrian refugees in 2015, which saw women with children, people with serious medical conditions and survivors of torture prioritised.
Mr Raab - who has faced criticism after reportedly being spotted on a beach in Crete on the day Kabul was seized by insurgents - said he was unable to confirm how many refugees would be coming to the UK from Afghanistan, but added it was 'right' to consider a bespoke process for Afghan nationals.
Around 900 armed forces are in Afghanistan helping to bring UK nationals home and secure the safety of selected Afghans.
Royal Navy Vice Admiral Sir Ben Key, in an interview with Sky News, said British armed forces 'can't afford to pause' as they work with US troops to help get about 6,000 people out of Afghanistan via Kabul.
Sir Ben also told BBC Radio 4's World At One programme the Taliban seemed 'acquiescent' about allowing people to reach the city's airport but stressed that Britain could not take that position for granted as repatriation efforts gather pace.
An Indian airforce plane evacuated over 170 people from Kabul on Tuesday, including India's ambassador to Afghanistan, a government official said, as diplomats and civilians scrambled to get out of the country after the Taliban seized the capital.
The flight landed in the western Indian city of Jamnagar for refuelling on the way to Delhi, Jamnagar collector Sourabh Pardhi told Reuters.
Speaking to reporters, Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon said that nearly 200 personnel of the Indian mission in Afghanistan had been evacuated within three days, alongside Indian civilians working in the country.
'You cannot imagine how great it is to be back home,' Tandon said. 'We are back home safely, securely, without any accidents or harm to any of our people.'
Tandon described the situation in Afghanistan as 'fluid', adding that a small number of Indian nationals remained in the country who authorities were attempting to bring back.
Politicians in both the UK and US have urged their government to be 'generous' with granting asylum to Afghans who helped in the war effort, but there are fears that thousands will be left behind amid the chaos.
The success of the operation now depends upon troops being able to keep the runway open, and on officials being able to locate all those who have been promised a ticket home and get them to the airport.
Some 6,000 American troops have now encircled the airport, using barbed wire and armoured vehicles to keep people off the runway, but so has the Taliban - which now controls 90 per cent of the country.
While Taliban diplomats have promised that the evacuation will be allowed to go ahead unhindered, it remains unclear if they will be willing to let their countrymen leave, having urged people at the airport to return home and promised an amnesty for government workers who go back to their jobs.
Early on Tuesday, French soldiers were pictured standing guard alongside a military plane evacuating diplomatic staff and their Afghan colleagues.
People were pictured forming orderly queues to board the aircraft, in stark contrast to the panicked and desperate scenes just hours earlier
Despite the airport runway being secured, witnesses reported gunshots coming from the area overnight. Streets elsewhere in Kabul appeared calm.
U.S. forces took charge of the airport, their only way to fly out of the country, on Sunday, as the militants were winding up a dramatic week of advances across the country with their takeover of the capital without a fight.
Flights were suspended flights for much of Monday, when at least five people were killed, witnesses said, although it was unclear whether they had been shot or crushed in a stampede.
Media reported two people fell to their deaths from the underside of a U.S. military aircraft after it took off, crashing to their deaths on roofs of homes near the airport. More video showed three bodies being retrieved from the streets.
Meanwhile Afghanistan 's vice president and the son of a dead military commander are rallying anti-Taliban forces in the last stronghold less than 100 miles from Kabul. Vice President Amrullah Saleh and Ahmad Massoud, the son of his former mentor and famed anti-Taliban fighter Ahmed Shah Massoud, are putting together a guerilla movement in the Panjshir Valley - the only region not controlled by the Taliban
The Panjshir Valley, 100 miles northeast of Kabul, is the last stronghold against the Taliban and has never been captured by the group
A French national sleeps on the floor at Kabul airport early on Tuesday as he waits with other diplomatic staff to board a flight out of Kabul airport as evacuations resume
David Martinon (centre left), the French ambassador to Afghanistan, waits with French and Afghan nationals to board a French military transport plane at the airport in Kabul
More horrifying footage from Kabul airport showed the bodies of two people falling from a departing aircraft, while more footage later showed people retrieving three bodies
C-17 jets were pictured taking off from Kabul on Monday followed by hundreds of desperate Afghanis, some of whom were clinging to the wheels on the same side of the plane that the footage was taken from
A Spanish Airbus transport plane was pictured taking off from Zaragoza airport on Tuesday bound for Kabul, where an unknown number of diplomatic staff are awaiting rescue
Spanish troops stand on the tarmac as they wait to help evacuate diplomatic staff and personnel from Kabul airport
Spanish troops are loaded on board an Airbus transport plane in Zaragoza, bound for Kabul airport where evacuation missions have resumed today
An Afghan boy is given food after arriving in Rome on board an evacuation flight out of Afghanistan
An Afghan girl crouches on the floor of Rome's Fiumicino airport after being evacuated from the country
Nepalese people evacuated from Afghanistan arrive via Kuwait at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu
A Nepalese man evacuated from Afghanistan waves as he arrives via Kuwait at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu
A U.S. official told Reuters U.S. troops had killed two gunmen who had appeared to have fired into the crowd at the airport.
Despite the scenes of panic and confusion in Kabul, U.S. President Joe Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces after 20 years of war - the nation's longest - that he described as costing more than $1 trillion.
But a video on Monday of hundreds of desperate Afghans trying to clamber onto a U.S. military plane as it was about to take-off could haunt the United States, just as a photograph in 1975 of people scrambling to get on a helicopter on the roof of a building in Saigon became emblematic of the humiliating withdrawal from Vietnam.
Biden insisted he had to decide between asking U.S. forces to fight endlessly in what he called Afghanistan's civil war or follow through on an agreement to withdraw negotiated by his predecessor, Republican Donald Trump.
'I stand squarely behind my decision,' Biden said. 'After 20 years I've learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces. That's why we're still there.'
Facing a barrage of criticism, from even his own diplomats, he blamed the Taliban's takeover on Afghan political leaders who fled and its army's unwillingness to fight.
The Taliban captured Afghanistan's biggest cities in days rather than the months predicted by U.S. intelligence, in many cases after demoralised government forces surrendered despite years of training and equipping by the United States and others.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the hasty pullout of U.S. troops had a 'serious negative impact, ' China's state broadcaster CCTV reported, adding that Wang pledged to work with Washington to promote stability.
Blinken also spoke on Monday with counterparts in Pakistan, Russia, Britain, the European Union, Turkey and NATO about ensuring regional stability, the State Department said.
U.S. Charge d'Affaires Ross Wilson dismissed in a Twitter message what he called false reports that he had left the country, saying he and staff remained and were helping thousands of U.S. citizens and Afghans.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left the country on Sunday as the Islamist militants entered Kabul, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed.
The U.N. Security Council called for talks to create a new government in Afghanistan after Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of 'chilling' curbs on human rights and violations against women and girls.
Afghan nationals queue up at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman as they try to escape the country
An Afghan woman clad in a burqa walks past a Pakistani paramilitary soldier as she crosses the border at Chaman
Afghan people sit outside the French embassy in Kabul as they seek safe passage out of the country on Tuesday
Thousands of people who had earlier crowded Afghanistan's main airport in Kabul seeking a way out of the country began diverting to embassies on Tuesday, seeking a way out
Dozens of people gather outside the French embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, as they try to secure a route out of the country
Taliban fighters on a pick-up truck move around a market area of Kabul, as the militant group retakes control of the country
Civilians make their way around a market in Kabul - women with their heads covered and men wearing traditional dress - as the Taliban begins to reassert control over the country
Life begins to return to normal in parts of Kabul, while chaos still reigns in others as some locals return to their day jobs while others attempt to flee the country
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai said she was 'deeply concerned' and called for world leaders to take urgent action. She urged Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to open their country to refugees.
Former Afghan faction commander and prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said he would travel to Doha on Tuesday to meet a Taliban delegation, accompanied by former President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister and peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah, Al Jazeera TV reported.
Many Afghans fear the Taliban will return to past harsh practices. During their 1996-2001 rule, women could not work and punishments such as public stoning, whipping and hanging were administered.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Dunya News that the group would improve the security of Kabul and 'respect the rights of women and minorities as per Afghan norms and Islamic values'.
Shaheen added the new regime would ensure representation of all ethnicities and that the Taliban were keen to work with the international community to rebuild the country.
Shaheen said on Twitter that the group's fighters were under strict orders not to harm anyone.
'Life, property and honour of no one shall be harmed but must be protected by the mujahideen,' he said.
Meanwhile, America's hasty withdrawal was proving a PR coup for China which accused Washington of 'leaving an awful mess' behind the backs of its retreating soldiers.
Beijing has signalled its readiness to cooperate with the Taliban after the United States' withdrawal, which spurred a rapid advance by the Islamist hardliners across the country that saw them capture the capital Kabul on Sunday.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Tuesday said Washington had left 'an awful mess of unrest, division and broken families' in Afghanistan.
'America's strength and role is destruction, not construction,' Hua said at a regular press briefing.
China shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan.
Beijing has long-feared the neighbour could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in the sensitive border region of Xinjiang.
But a top-level Taliban delegation met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin last month, promising that Afghanistan would not be used as a base for militants.
In exchange, China offered economic support and investment for Afghanistan's reconstruction.
Hua on Monday said China was ready to continue 'friendly and cooperative' relations with Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
She urged the new Afghan regime on Tuesday to 'make a clean break with international forces' and 'prevent Afghanistan from becoming a gathering place for terrorists and extremists again'.
US soldiers worked through Monday evening to secure the airport runway which had been packed with thousands of Afghans fleeing the Taliban, forcing the crowds back before laying barbed wire
American armoured trucks and troops help to force back crowds at Kabul airport on Monday evening, after they blocked the runway and stopped evacuation flights from taking off
American troops lay barbed wire around the runway at Kabul airport so that military evacuation flights can resume
American troops stand guard as the sun sets at Kabul airport on Monday evening, having managed to secure the main runway from thousands of people fleeing the Taliban
Earlier on Monday, chaos had reigned at the airport as people rushed US transport planes trying to evacuate embassy staff - with three falling to their deaths after clinging to the outside of an aircraft as it took off (pictured)
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