Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal today met the head of the Taliban’s political office Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai in Doha -- the first official contact between India and the Taliban.

The 148 Afghan students of Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chattogram, who were stranded in their country following the Taliban takeover, have been safely evacuated from Kabul in US military planes.

When Ezmarai Ahmadi returned home from work on Sunday (Aug 30) evening in Kabul, the usual gaggle of squealing children were waiting to greet him - his sons and daughters, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

Kabul airport is without air traffic control services now that the US military has withdrawn from Afghanistan, and US civil aircraft are barred from operating over the country unless given prior authorization, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday.

The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power.

A Taliban spokesman yesterday said a US drone strike targeting a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul on Sunday resulted in civilian casualties, and condemned the US for failing to inform the Islamist group before ordering the strike.

The Taliban has assured 100 countries that it will continue to allow foreigners and Afghans with foreign travel papers to leave the country “in a safe and orderly manner,” even after the US troop withdrawal ends today, the countries said in a statement Sunday.

Islamic State militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul’s rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for US forces to withdraw at the end of America’s longest war.

As evacuations from Kabul wind down in coming days, "a larger crisis is just beginning" in Afghanistan and for its 39 million people, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Monday, appealing for support.

US anti-missile defences intercepted as many as five rockets that were fired at Kabul's airport early on Monday morning, a US official said, as the United States rushed to complete its withdrawal from Afghanistan to end its longest war.

France, Britain and Germany are working on a United Nations proposal aimed at establishing a safe zone in Kabul to allow safe passage for people trying to leave Afghanistan, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

A huge explosion was reported near Kabul airport yesterday after a rocket had hit a neighbourhood, hours after US President Joe Biden warned of another terror attack. 

American forces launched a drone strike in Kabul on Sunday targeting a suicide bomber in a vehicle who was aiming to attack the airport, U.S. officials said, as the United States nears the end of its military presence in the city.

The 12 Bangladeshis and 160 female Afghan students who were evacuated from Afghanistan and went to Qatar on Saturday have been under quarantine at a US base in Doha.

Former officials and lecturers at Afghanistan universities have called on the Taliban to maintain and upgrade the country’s education system instead of creating a new one.

Two Malaysian militants believed to be fighting alongside the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), known as Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), have been detained by Taleban authorities.

US forces are in the final phase of leaving Kabul, ending two decades of involvement in Afghanistan, and just over 1,000 civilians at the airport remain to be flown out before troops withdraw, a Western security official said on Sunday.

 U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday promised further strikes against the Islamic State in Afghanistan in retaliation for a deadly bombing outside Kabul airport and warned that the situation on the ground continued to be "extremely dangerous."

Last year, the two men who ran the club were found guilty of several prostitution-related offences and for obstructing the course of justice.

The Taliban said on Saturday they would announce a new government for Afghanistan in the coming week and expected the economic turbulence and sharp currency falls that followed their take-over of the city two weeks ago to subside quickly.