Taliban seals off Kabul airport as NATO evacuations conclude

Demonstrators from the ‘Save Afghan Lives’ protest hold up signs as they march to the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Pic/AFP

The Taliban on Saturday sealed off Kabul airport in order to prevent large crowds from leaving the war-torn country as final NATO evacuation flights left Afghanistan. New layers of checkpoints sprang up on roads leading to the airport, some manned by uniformed Taliban fighters with Humvees and night-vision goggles captured from Afghan security forces, reported Euronews.

The massive US-led airlift wound down ahead of an August 31 deadline of the Taliban. Britain too began bringing its troops home from Afghanistan, as a Royal Air Force plane carrying soldiers landed at the RAF Brize Norton airbase northwest of London. The troops are part of a contingent of 1,000 that has been based in Kabul to help run the airlift, reported Euronews.

Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Air Force Voyager at RAF Brize Norton, west of London. Pic/AFP

Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised on Friday to "shift heaven and earth" to get more people from Afghanistan to Britain by other means, though no concrete details have been offered. Italy's final evacuation flight of refugees from Afghanistan also landed at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport. The Italian Air Force C-130J with 58 Afghan citizens aboard arrived Saturday morning, some 17 hours after it departed from the Kabul airport and after a planned stopover, reported Euronews. Thousands of Afghan nationals are camped outside the perimeter of the airport in desperate attempts to escape on the last flights out after the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban.

Taliban limits bank withdrawals to $200

The Taliban have imposed limits on bank withdrawals in Afghanistan, a media report said on Sunday. In an official directive, the central bank of Afghanistan, De Afghanistan Bank, has ordered all private and international banks to limit withdrawal to their individual customers to $200 which equals AFS2,000 per week, said the Khaama News report. The directive reads that the decision is made after financial difficulties arose in Afghanistan and will be temporary.

2 scribes, athletes killed in explosion

Two journalists, including a female TV anchor and two athletes, were killed in a deadly explosion at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Citing an independent Afghan media group Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), Xinhua reported on Sunday that Ali Reza Ahmadi, a reporter for Raha News Agency and Najma Sadeqi, former presenter at Jahan-e-Sihat TV channel were killed in the airport attack.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever