Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will run for vice president in next year’s elections, his party said yesterday, after months of speculation about whether he would seek to stay in power.

US President Joe Biden sent CIA Director William Burns to meet Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday in the highest level official encounter since the militant group took over the Afghan capital, a US official and a source familiar with government activity told Reuters on Tuesday.

Western forces at Kabul airport worked frantically on Tuesday to get people out of Afghanistan before an Aug. 31 deadline, as US President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift of thousands trying to flee.

The Taliban have appointed a new finance minister, an intelligence chief, and an acting interior minister in Afghanistan, the Pajhwok news agency reported on Tuesday.

The Taliban were in position near the Panjshir valley and had retaken three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week, a spokesman said on Monday, though there were no confirmed reports of further fighting.

A week after the Taliban’s lightning seizure of Kabul, growing numbers of people in the Afghan capital are facing a daily struggle to get by with their jobs gone, banks still shuttered and food prices soaring.

Afghanistan’s ethnic diversity has been at the centre of politics and conflict in the country for more than a century, and these divides are expected to play a role in the Taliban’s formation of a new government.

More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

The Taliban said yesterday they would not extend the August 31 deadline for Nato forces to leave Afghanistan, jeopardising hopes of extending the evacuation of thousands of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans.

India’s capital New Delhi opened its first “smog tower” yesterday aimed at reducing the air pollution blamed for thousands of premature deaths every year, but experts were sceptical.

Bangladesh has called for peace in Afghanistan, security of its people, and quick evacuation of foreigners who got stranded following Taliban’s takeover on August 15 after the US withdrew troops.

Iran restarted exports of gasoline and gasoil to Afghanistan a few days ago, following a request from the Taliban, Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union said on Monday.

More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

Bangladesh has called for peace in Afghanistan, security of its people, and quick evacuation of foreigners who got stranded following Taliban’s takeover on August 15 after the US withdrew troops.

As the Taleban advanced on the Afghan capital Kabul last week, one Chinese businessman’s account of doing business in the country made its rounds on Chinese social media.

A firefight broke out between unidentified gunmen, Western security forces and Afghan guards at the North Gate of Kabul airport on Monday, Germany's armed forces said, as thousands of Afghans and foreigners thronged the airport, seeking to flee Taliban rule.

The delay in resumption of flights between India and Bangladesh, under the bilateral air bubble agreement, has come as a big disappointment for leading hospitals and hospitality, tourism sectors in Kolkata and Chennai.

The Taliban on Sunday blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners from Kabul, one week after the hardline Islamist group returned to power in a rapid victory that stunned the world. 

The Taliban yesterday blamed the United States for the chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners from the capital, one week after the hardline Islamist group returned to power in a rapid victory that stunned the world.

Myanmar’s military government has arrested two more local journalists, army-owned television reported on Saturday, the latest among dozens of detentions in a sweeping crackdown on the media since a February 1 coup.