Globalsecurity.org

The head of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party has called the withdrawal of Western troops from Afghanistan the "biggest NATO debacle" since the founding of the US-led military alliance.

Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has held talks with China's special representative for Afghanistan affairs Yue Xiaoyong in Tehran over the latest developments in the Central Asian nation in the wake of Taliban's takeover of the capital Kabul.

Russia has taken the United States to task over the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, saying the Taliban's takeover of the country stems from America's failure two decades after the invasion.

United States allies are reacting mutely to the Taliban's victory march into the Afghan capital city of Kabul 20 years after a US-led invasion removed the militants from power, expressing concerns for civilians caught in the violence but falling short of pointing to the catastrophic failure of the longest war in US history.

Kabul International Airport has been overwhelmed with scenes of disorder and confusion as panicked Afghan residents and foreign nationals hoping to find seats on the last flights leaving the country have dashed to the airport, with reports of several deaths after US troops were said to have fired in the air to disperse a desperate crowd of thousands.

Not long after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees the country to safety, the Taliban militant group tops its exponential advances in the country by running into the presidential palace in the capital Kabul.

China stands poised to take part in post-war reconstruction in Afghanistan after U.S. troops ended a 20-year occupation, leaving the capital Kabul to be taken over by the Taliban, state media reported on Monday.

Despite past assurances made by the Biden administration that the Taliban would not take full control of Afghanistan, the militant group did just that over the weekend as reports detailed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled the country. Amid the worsening chaotic scenes, the US has maintained that it will indeed continue with its troop pullout.

The situation in Afghanistan has sharply deteriorated in recent weeks with the Taliban* advance. The Taliban is reportedly in control of all border crossings and also the capital city Kabul. Afraid of persecution from the movement, thousands of Afghans have rushed to Kabul airport, the only remaining way to leave the country, blocking the airstrip.

Two aircraft, Embraer 314 of the Afghan Air Force and MiG-29 of the Uzbek Air Force, collided in the air on Sunday in Uzbekistan, the pilots ejected and survived, the press service of the Uzbek Prosecutor General's Office said on Monday.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's decision to abandon Afghanistan over the weekend shocked everyone, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told the UN Security Council on Monday.

All countries should be willing to receive Afghan refugees and refrain from any deportations, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

The Biden administration will not permit the Taliban* movement to gain any access to the financial reserves of the collapsed Afghan government that are held in the United States, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Monday.

China is in touch with the Taliban* and other political forces over the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday.

According to the emergency services, two pilots from the aircraft survived the fall and were admitted to a hospital in the city of Termez.

Statement by Ambassador James Kariuki at the Security Council briefing on Afghanistan

As desperate Afghans were trying to escape the Taliban and board planes, during chaotic scenes at Kabul airport on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for international unity on Afghanistan, in a briefing to an emergency session of the Security Council.

Hundreds of boys and girls have been killed or injured over the past two years amid the deteriorating political and security situation in Afghanistan, according to the latest UN report on Children and Armed Conflict, which was issued on Monday, a day after the Taliban consolidated control over the country.

U.S. President Joe Biden is defending his decision to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan despite the quickly unfolding calamity there, vowing not to pass on the problem to a fifth U.S. president.

U.S. President Joe Biden said he stands "squarely" behind his decision to withdraw U.S. military forces from Afghanistan in his first public comments since the Taliban took full control of the South Asian country.