Today’s updates, Saturday 21 August, on the Taliban and Afghanistan: anti-refugee wall in Greece, the US and other countries are continuing the evacuation
Chaos remains in Kabul, where the US and the diplomatic authorities of other countries are continuing the evacuation of their fellow citizens and Afghans who they fear becoming the target of the new Taliban regime. Among them also the journalist Clarissa Ward. In Herat, the new Taliban administrators ban mixed classes in universities while he has arrived in the capital Abdul Ghani Baradar, referred to by many as the new government leader. Self yesterday American President Joe Biden had defined the evacuation in progress as one of the riskiest missions in history, today his Secretary of State gives the names of all the countries that are helping the evacuation operations and have offered hospitality to the Afghans.
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2.10 pm – The US Embassy to the Americans: “Don’t go to the airport”
The US embassy in Afghanistan advises American citizens to avoid going to the Kabul airport. The notice posted on the website warns of “potential security threats outside the gates” of the airport.
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02.02 pm – 169 Americans from the hotel in Kabul recovered by helicopters
The US military deployed three helicopters to evacuate the 169 Americans who failed to reach Kabul airport last night. In the first exit of the US army from the airport, the three Chinook transport vehicles left the airport to reach the nearby hotel Baron. Initially the 169 Americans were supposed to walk to the airport but crowds outside the facility made access difficult, causing concern among US officials.
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13.50 – Von der Leyen: “Bad blow for the international community”
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called what is happening in the country a “tragedy for the Afghans” and “also a bad blow for the international community”. He said this while visiting the hub in Spain for Afghans transferred from the country, then asking “all countries that participated in the mission in Afghanistan, European and non-European, to offer enough quotas for resettlement and safe routes, so that shelter can be guaranteed to those in need. We are ready to help the EU member states ».
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1.30 pm – Blinken: “Here are the 14 countries that offered transit to the evacuees from Kabul and the 12 that will host them”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that 14 countries, including Italy, have agreed to act as transit points for the evacuees while 12 have offered to host Afghans at least temporarily. The first group includes Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Uzbekistan. the second was Albania, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Qatar, Rwanda and Uganda.
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12.20 – Another flight landed in Fiumicino. The pilot: “Despair in people’s eyes”
A military aircraft from Kuwait has just landed at Fiumicino airport with 195 Afghans, transferred yesterday from Kabul thanks to another C130J plane. Another aircraft with 103 Afghans arrived yesterday evening, just before 11pm. “We have many children and many women on board: in their eyes we saw the desperation to leave their homes, their country but they certainly understand the opportunity that is provided by Italy to find a better future and a new beginning ». This is the testimony of a pilot engaged in the airlift from Afghanistan to Italy. In the last five days, Italy has evacuated about a thousand people.
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11.10 am – Mixed lessons forbidden at the University of Herat
The new Taliban administrators in the western province of Herat, the one defended by the Italians until last June, have banned the mixed classes of girls and boys in government and private universities on this territory. Several professors warned that because private universities cannot afford the cost of organizing separate courses, thousands of girls risk being unable to attend classes.
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11 am – “We do not detain foreigners, we question them”
“We are not detaining any foreign citizens; but we question some of them before they leave the country ”: this is what an official source of the Taliban said
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10.52 am – Thousands of people still “besiege” the Kabul airport
As in recent days, there are still thousands of people outside the entrances of Kabul airport, seen as the main safety gate for Afghans and foreign citizens who try to flee the country. A witness reported that gunshots continue to be fired almost incessantly outside the complex which remains the only part of the capital controlled by international troops. The speakers at the north entrance announced that the gate will be closed for two days, the witness added, while a second eyewitness said that outside the airport there are people from all walks of life: actors, TV personalities, young people, women. with babies or wheelchair users.
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9.40 am – Go to the top for the transition of power
Official talks will begin in Kabul on the transition from the old to the new regime. the Afghan site Tolonews reported it. In addition to the new leader, Mullah Baradar, former head of state Gulbuddin Hekmatyar should sit at the negotiating table. The talks will have to lead to the formation of the new government. Sources close to the Koranic students say that Baradar will form a government defined as “inclusive”.
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9.30 am – Wall in Greece to stop Afghan refugees
Greece erected a barrier equipped with a surveillance system along a 40-kilometer stretch of its border with Turkey to stop a possible wave of migrants from Afghanistan. The BBC reports it. “We cannot passively wait for the possible impact”, said yesterday the Minister of Citizens’ Protection, Michalis Chrisochoidis, during a visit to the Evros region: “Our borders will remain inviolable.”
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9.15 am – 1,500 people have already arrived in Italy
1,500 people have already been brought to Italy from Afghanistan by air force flights. Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini announced this. The last ones (80 men and 33 women, all of Afghan nationality) arrived this morning in Fiumicino.
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9 am – New fatwa: stop for mixed classes at the university
In public and private universities in Herat province in western Afghanistan, girls will no longer be allowed to attend mixed classes. The Taliban ordered it in their “first fatwa”, as reported by the “Khaama” news agency. At the end of a three-hour meeting between university professors, owners of private institutions and Taliban officials, the latter argued that there is no justification for continuing with the mixed classes and ordered their stop.
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8 am – The CNN correspondent leaves Kabul
CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward, one of the last representatives of the international media to remain in the capital occupied by the Taliban, left Kabul overnight. Clarissa Ward had been the protagonist in the last days of courageous reportage which documented the chaos in the airport area and the violence committed by the Taliban. He had also received explicit threats from the latter; the same journalist posted on twitter a photo taken inside the military plane that took her to Doha.
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August 21, 2021 (change August 21, 2021 | 14:11)
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