International community should play positive role in political transition

Beijing has urged the international community to restrain from adding pressure to the Afghanistan situation.

Whether the global community can play a constructive role is one of the key factors behind the political settlement of the Afghanistan issue, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in talks with the foreign ministers of Britain and Turkey.

Countries should encourage and guide Afghanistan "in a positive direction" instead of exerting excessive pressure on it, Wang said in a phone conversation with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday.

The political transition by the Taliban and other political forces in the country is still advancing amid hope, mistrust and concern voiced by a number of countries upon its potential political landscape and way of its governance.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to mistrust of the Afghan Taliban, saying on Thursday that "nothing stays unchanged", and "we need to not only listen to what they say, but also look at what they do".

"The global community should pay adequate respect" to Afghanistan's independence, sovereignty and the will of its people, engage in more dialogue and offer more guidance, Wang said in the phone talk.

He urged countries to "refrain from a predetermined mindset and exceeding one's duties to meddle in others' affairs", and not turn the Central Asia country into an arena of geopolitical games.

Raab agreed that the international community should sum up its experience and lessons of the Afghan issue.

The UK secretary said that the war-torn nation should not become an epicenter of terrorism once again, and the international community should cooperate on the issue of Afghan refugees.

The international community should encourage and support all the parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan to work together in solidarity during the process to "open a new chapter in the history of Afghanistan", Wang Yi said in another phone talk with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday.

Wang hailed the Taliban's pledge to not allow anybody to threaten other countries from Afghan territory, urging the Taliban to draw a line for all terror groups.

Cavusoglu echoed Wang's view on the Afghanistan issue, saying that Beijing's position respects the choice of the Afghan people and also encourages the Taliban to act in a responsible manner.

"Facts show that Beijing has no selfish interests over the Afghanistan issue, and it has an earnest hope the country can secure peace and stability," said Yang Cheng, a professor at Shanghai International Studies University and executive president of the Shanghai Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies.

What China seeks is not only to respect the choice of the Afghan people, but also the Taliban honoring its commitment to an open, inclusive government, a steady political transition, a crackdown on terror and other crimes and a safe homeland for its people, he noted.

"These propositions are of great significance and show Beijing's great consistency in policy," Yang said.

Sports not political issue

In his talk with Raab, State Councilor Wang has criticized some political figures' attempts to politicize sports and call for boycotting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

This is "a serious violation of the Olympic Charter and the athletes' rights and interests", Wang said.

The new Olympic motto, which reads "Faster, Higher, Stronger－Together", epitomizes the right direction for the Olympic cause, he said, adding that China welcomes British athletes' better performances in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Raab agreed that sports should not be politicized, saying that the British Olympic Committee will make an independent decision on the participation of British athletes in the Beijing Winter Olympics.

EU foreign chief calls out failures, while Biden looks to keep troops back for evacuations

The European Union's foreign policy chief branded developments in Afghanistan "a catastrophe" on Thursday, and he pointed to a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's rapid return to power.

Addressing the European Parliament, Josep Borrell said about 100 EU employees and 400 Afghans working with the EU and their families had been evacuated, but that 300 more Afghans were still trying to leave.

He stressed Europe's "moral duty" to rescue as many Afghans as possible who had worked for the EU in Afghanistan, but said it would not be possible to get them all out.

"Let me speak clearly and bluntly, this is a catastrophe," Borrell said. "It is a catastrophe for the Afghan people, for the Western values and credibility, and for the developing of international relations."

Borrell further criticized US President Joe Biden for underplaying the commitment to nation-building in Afghanistan.

"President Biden said the other day that it has never been the purpose, state building was not the purpose. Well, this is arguable," he said.

"Twenty years on, you can say that we may have succeeded in the first tack of our mission, but failed in the second," the Spanish politician said as EU lawmakers heaped on criticism of the West's lack of commitment to Afghanistan.

Borrell also criticized intelligence agencies for failing to anticipate the collapse of the Afghan force in almost days instead of months. "Where (was) our intelligence in order to have a clear look at what was going to happen? Nobody was expecting it. I don't even (think) the Taliban were expecting it," he said.

Western countries have been scrambling to airlift to safety their citizens and Afghan staff and their families since the Taliban took control of the capital Kabul on Sunday. Thousands of people have desperately tried to get past Taliban roadblocks and US troops to reach Kabul's airport.

Deadline extended?

On Wednesday, Biden said US troops may stay in Afghanistan past an Aug 31 deadline to evacuate citizens, as the Pentagon said the US military does not currently have the ability to reach people beyond the airport.

"If there's American citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out," Biden told ABC News in an interview conducted on a day many US lawmakers pressed him to extend the deadline that he had set for a final pullout.

Biden has come under fierce criticism for his handling of the withdrawal, which in recent days has been dominated by scenes of chaos in and around Kabul's airport, with people desperately trying to get out of the country.

Biden defended his decisions, saying problems were inevitable in ending the 20-year US stay that followed the invasion.

"The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens," he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at the Pentagon that Washington was not satisfied with how many people were being evacuated.

John Kirby, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said on Wednesday that over the latest 24-hour period, about 2,000 people, including 325 US citizens, had left aboard 18 flights by US Air Force C-17 transport planes.

Allies critical

In Europe, officials have chafed at the rapid US withdrawal.

"Now this is a harsh lesson for all of us," British Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, told Parliament.

"We can set out a vision, clearly articulate it, for reinvigorating our European NATO partners to make sure that we are not dependent on a single ally, on the decision of a single leader, but that we can work together with Japan and Australia, with France and Germany, with partners large and small, and make sure that we hold the line together."

On Thursday the Taliban urged crowds of Afghans waiting outside the airport to return home, saying they did not want to hurt anyone, a day after the group's fighters fired at protesters, killing three, Reuters reported.

In his speech, Borrell addressed concerns that a fresh wave of Afghan migrants might reach Europe, in a replay of the 2015 migrant crisis, when large numbers of people trekked across the continent, many fleeing conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

"Don't call them migrants, they are exiled people, people who are fleeing to save their lives", said Borrell, rejecting comparisons with Syria as Afghanistan is much farther away.

Borrell said he was in touch with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who will host a virtual crisis meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers on Friday to discuss Afghanistan.

NATO wrapped up military operations in Afghanistan this summer after almost two decades following a US decision to withdraw.

Agencies and Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.

Britain's foreign minister, Dominic Raab, is facing demands to resign following reports he declined to phone his counterpart in Afghanistan last week to get help with the evacuation of interpreters from Kabul who had worked for the British military.

Opposition parties in the United Kingdom have called for Raab to quit and expressed fury after The Daily Mail reported he was urged by senior aides on Friday to make a crucial call to Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar, but chose to delegate it to a junior minister.

A call from junior minister Zac Goldsmith was initially rejected by Atmar, because he was not his direct counterpart, according to the report. It said vital time was lost before the Taliban movement seized control of Kabul on Sunday.

News agencies are reporting that many Afghan translators who worked with British troops are trapped in the capital, unable to safely reach the airport with the Taliban now in control of the city.

The airport is the only route out of the country and the chaotic situation appears to be worsening daily.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer tweeted: "Who wouldn't make a phone call if they were told it could save somebody's life?"

Labour's shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds described Raab's behavior as "utterly shameful" and a "dereliction of duty", while Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said Raab had "shamed Britain".

In a statement, Moran, the party's foreign affairs spokesperson, said Raab's lack of action made him "one of the worst" foreign secretaries ever.

"Right now, there are interpreters across Afghanistan who are surrounded by the Taliban and fearing the worst," she said.

"All the foreign secretary had to do was leave the beach and pick up the phone. He did not," Moran added: "He has shamed Britain and is no longer fit to represent our country."

However, Defense Minister Ben Wallace defended his Cabinet colleague's actions.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today program the Afghan government was "melting away quicker than ice "late last week.

"A phone call to an Afghan minister at that moment in time would have not made a blind bit of difference," he claimed.

Wallace said "the only thing that mattered" was whether Kabul airport would continue to allow people to get out.

The row erupted as the United Kingdom government announced a new resettlement program that commits to receive up to 20,000 Afghan refugees during the next few years, including 5,000 this year.

The European Union's foreign policy chief labeled developments in Afghanistan as "a catastrophe and a nightmare" on Thursday. Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's return to power there, Reuters reported.

UNITED NATIONS -- UN humanitarians said Thursday that the relief crisis in Afghanistan is deteriorating rapidly, with 12.2 million people acutely food insecure.

While thousands of people are reported fleeing, or attempting to flee, through Kabul airport, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 735,000 people returned to the country this year from Iran, Pakistan and other countries and are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Another 550,000 people became internally displaced since January.

"Humanitarian needs are expected to deteriorate further in the second half of the year due to drought," it said, adding that the majority of the 12.2 million people acutely food insecure will be further affected by drought.

The humanitarians said severe acute malnutrition increased by 16 percent, impacting 900,000 people and moderate acute malnutrition increased by 11 percent, hitting 3.1 million children.

A below-average wheat harvest is expected, and the livestock yield is forecast to be weak due to poor pastures and feed availability, OCHA said. Conflict and drought reduced agricultural activities by 28 percent, adding to market vulnerability.

Food prices continue at elevated levels. Conflict-related movement restrictions further inflated the price of staples, it said. The cost of wheat, rice, sugar and cooking oil increased by more than 50 percent compared with pre-COVID-19 prices, with monthly increases in 2021 of between 1 percent and 4 percent.

The UN humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan remains just 37 percent funded, OCHA said. The need for emergency shelter and relief items is particularly urgent due to the surge in displacements, but donors only delivered 4 percent of the funds needed.

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi respectively on Thursday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.

Putin and Macron noted the importance of ensuring the safety of civilians and addressing pressing humanitarian challenges, the Kremlin said in a press release.

They expressed willingness to help establish peace and stability in Afghanistan through cooperation, including efforts within the framework of the United Nations Security Council and the Group of 20.

During the talks between Putin and Draghi, both sides underlined the significance of preventing a humanitarian catastrophe and ensuring the safety of the Afghan people.

Putin and Draghi stressed the need to further counter the spread of terrorist ideology and deal with the drug threat emanating from the territory of Afghanistan.

The leaders called for consolidating international efforts to help establish peace and stability in the Central Asian country.

LONDON - The Group of Seven (G7) on Thursday sought to secure close cooperation in personnel evacuation and the resettlement of refugees as chaos continues at the Kabul airport amid the hasty withdrawal of the US-led military troops in Afghanistan and the Taliban's swift takeover of the Asian country.

The foreign ministers of G7, including Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, as well as the high representative of the European Union, met online Thursday and "spoke about the gravity of the situation and the significant loss of life and internal displacement in Afghanistan over recent days", according to a statement issued by British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in his capacity as the chair of the meeting.

"G7 Ministers support the statement of the UN Security Council on Aug 16, and affirmed our commitment in particular to the urgent need for the cessation of violence, respect for human rights including for women, children and minorities, inclusive negotiations about the future of Afghanistan," it said.

Following the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan over the weekend, scenes of chaotic evacuation at the Kabul airport and desperate Afghans who fell from the sky after clinging to planes taking off shocked the world.

Thousands of the nationals and local support staff of the United States and its allies are still left stranded in Afghanistan, waiting to be evacuated.

The latest development came as the rift between Washington and its European allies seemed to have widened over the Afghan crisis.

On Tuesday, French daily Le Monde said "Europeans were trapped in hasty American withdrawal". British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace said last Friday that the US decision to pull its military forces out of Afghanistan was a "mistake".

The G7 will continue efforts to evacuate vulnerable persons from Kabul airport and call on all parties to facilitate that, the ministers concurred during Thursday's meeting, which set the stage for a virtual meeting of G7 leaders on the Afghan situation early next week.

British Home Office has introduced a "bespoke" resettlement plan, promising to take in up to 20,000 Afghans "in the long-term," with some 5,000 being in the first year. The plan was considered far from enough to deal with the Afghan crisis by British lawmakers who met for an emergency parliament session on Wednesday.

An official told Reuters that the current intelligence assessment was that the Taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 American armored vehicles and up to 40 aircraft, potentially including UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, and military drones.

The Taliban met on Wednesday with former Afghan president Hamid Karzai as the group is seeking to form a new government in the war-torn country, with the international community calling for more talks and peace and stability in Afghanistan.

The meeting between the Taliban and the former Afghan leader came after Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left the country following the Taliban's takeover of most parts of Afghanistan, including the capital city of Kabul, on Sunday.

Karzai, who was the nation's president from 2001 to 2014, has been leading efforts to ensure a peaceful transfer of power in Afghanistan, according to media reports.

On Thursday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on his Twitter account a picture of a flag and coat of arms, and announced the "declaration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the country's independence from British rule".

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Thursday that China has been maintaining communication and contact with the Afghan Taliban on the basis of respecting the sovereignty of the country and the will of various factions.

"We encourage and hope the Afghan Taliban can follow through its positive statements, unite with all parties and ethnic groups in Afghanistan, establish a broadly based, inclusive political framework that fits the national conditions and win public support through dialogue and consultation as soon as possible," Hua said.

China also hopes the Afghan Taliban will implement moderate and prudent domestic and foreign policies, curb terrorism and criminal acts, and ensure a smooth transition so that people can be free from war and enjoy lasting peace, she said.

The spokeswoman called on the international community to jointly encourage and support all factions and ethnic groups in Afghanistan to engage in solidarity and cooperation in order to open a new chapter in the country's history.

Hua added that she had "noticed that some people have been saying they don't trust the Afghan Taliban".

"I want to say that nothing stays unchanged. When understanding and handling problems, we should adopt a holistic, interconnected and developmental dialectical approach. We should look at both the past and the present. We need to not only listen to what they say, but also look at what they do. If we do not keep pace with the times, but stick to a fixed mindset and ignore the development of the situation, we will never reach a conclusion that is in line with reality," she said.

The spokeswoman said that the rapid evolution of the situation in Afghanistan also shows that there is a lack of objective judgment on the situation by the outside world as well as a failure to accurately understand the opinions of the Afghan people.

"Certain Western countries should particularly draw a lesson from this," Hua said.

On Wednesday, various countries called for restraint and peace in the war-torn country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, agreed, in a telephone call, on the importance of establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan.

"Much attention was paid to the events unfolding in Afghanistan. Willingness to contribute to the establishment of peace and stability in this country was expressed," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey welcomes the "moderate" statements made by the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.

KABUL - A Taliban member in charge of security outside Afghanistan's Kabul airport on Thursday announced to a crowd outside the airport that only people with traveling documents will be allowed access to the airport.

"A man who claims to be in charge of airport security told us that all people who do not have legal documents must leave the gate as soon as possible," Mohammad Jamil told Xinhua by phone.

Jamil, who has been waiting to access since early Wednesday has no passport just holding an Afghan identity card, said he rushed to the airport after hearing that foreign planes were airlifting people and evacuating any person who wanted to leave Kabul.

On Sunday night, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left the country, as the Taliban fighters entered the national capital and took control of Kabul.

On Sunday, the security forces failed to stop people entered the airport building and runways. On early Monday, the Taliban took control of the airport and agreed to provide safe passage for people who hold documents.

The U.S. forces started to evacuate diplomats and Afghans who worked for them early Sunday.

The evacuation flights continued as of Thursday morning and would continue before the end of August, according to sources.

US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that troops would remain in Afghanistan until all Americans who wanted to leave the country were evacuated.

In an interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC News, Biden said the aim still was for the US military to leave the war-torn country by Aug 31.

"If we don't, we'll determine at the time who's left," Biden said, before pausing.

"And?" Stephanopoulos asked. 

"And if there's American citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out," Biden said.

The president's remarks contrasted with what two top US military officials said earlier Wednesday.

"I don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at a joint news conference with Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. 

"How far do you extend into Kabul, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that?" Austin said.

The concern about Americans being stranded has risen amid reports that Taliban checkpoints have stopped some evacuees.

Milley said forces on the ground "have capability to do other things, if necessary", but said it would be a "policy decision".

In Europe, officials have chafed at the rapid US withdrawal.

"Now this is a harsh lesson for all of us," British Conservative lawmaker Tom Tugendhat, who is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Commons, told Parliament. 

"We can set out a vision, clearly articulate it, for reinvigorating our European NATO partners to make sure that we are not dependent on a single ally, on the decision of a single leader, but that we can work together with Japan and Australia, with France and Germany, with partners large and small, and make sure that we hold the line together." 

European Union High Representative Josep Borrell, a former Spanish politician who now leads the EU diplomatic corps, said to reporters Tuesday that "what has happened shows that Europe needs to develop this famous 'strategic autonomy' in order to be ready to face challenges that affect us eventually". 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on CNN's New Day on Wednesday that it "was actually politically impossible for European allies to continue in Afghanistan, given the fact that the United States has decided to end its military mission". 

Ian Bremmer, director of the Eurasia Group said, "Biden is president of the United States for the American people, but the level of indifference to allies and the average citizen outside the US is starting to really grate on many that have been there with the Americans for a very long time," reported CNN. 

"European leaders are questioning (the US), despite the successful EU summit and G7 meeting and all the rest of that, because many of them, if not all, wanted to stay," said David Petraeus, a retired general who commanded US forces in Afghanistan and served as CIA director, CNN reported.

Austin, a retired four-star Army general who commanded forces in Afghanistan, spoke at his first Pentagon news conference since the Taliban swept to power in Kabul on Sunday, capping a week in which the Islamic fundamentalist group captured all of the mountainous country's other major cities.

"We cannot afford to either not defend that airfield or not have an airfield that's secure, where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the airfield," Austin said, adding that talks with the Taliban were continuing to ensure safe passage for those evacuating.

Austin said there were about 4,500 US troops at the airport, maintaining security to enable the State Department to run the evacuation operation. He said the State Department was dispatching more consular affairs officers to speed up evacuee processing.

"We're not close to where we want to be" in terms of the pace of the airlift, Austin said.

Stephanopoulos, in the interview, also asked Biden if the withdrawal could have been handled differently.

"You don't think this could have been handled — this exit could have been handled better in any way, no mistakes?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"No, I don't think it could have been handled in a way that, we're going to go back in hindsight and look — but the idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens," Biden responded.

"So for you, that was always priced into the decision?" Stephanopoulos said.

"Yes," Biden said before adding, "Now exactly what happened, I've not priced in."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was critical of how the withdrawal unfolded.

"There are up to 15,000 Americans stranded out in the country who presumably have to beg the Taliban to let them get to the airport," he said on Fox News on Tuesday. "Not to mention the interpreters who worked with us, and other Afghans who are in danger because they cooperated with us. All of this is the aftermath of the decision first to withdraw, and to withdraw in a precipitous and incompetent way."

John Kirby, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday that over 24 hours about 2,000 people, including 325 American citizens, had left aboard 18 flights by US Air Force C-17 transport planes.

The number of departing Air Force flights was likely to be similar in the next 24 hours, Kirby said.

"Military flights are arriving and departing consistently, and there is limited commercial flight operations, as well as some foreign-contracted flights that are coming and going," Kirby said.

Kirby said several hundred more American troops were expected to arrive at the airport by Thursday.

An Air Force unit arrived overnight that specializes in rapidly setting up and maintaining airfield operations, Kirby said. And he said Marines trained in evacuation support have continued to arrive and will assist in getting civilians onto flights.

Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, on Tuesday acknowledged reports that some civilians were meeting resistance — "being turned away or pushed back or even beaten" — as they tried to reach the Kabul airport. But he said "very large numbers" were reaching the airport and the problem of the others was being taken up with the Taliban.

A survey by Yahoo News of 1,649 US adults, conducted from Aug 16 to 18, found that while 50 percent of respondents said one month ago that they favored the decision to "withdraw all (US) combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of August",  40 percent now back that. Over the same period, opposition to Biden's plan to withdraw increased from 22 percent to 28 percent.

More Americans now disapprove of Biden on foreign policy (48 percent) than approve (36 percent). While most of the disapproval comes from Republicans, the disapproval of Biden's foreign policy increased by the same amount (seven points) among Democrats (to 18 percent) and Republicans (to 86 percent).

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

The heads of United Nations agencies in Afghanistan are calling on the international community to continue to provide financial aid to the war-torn country, where millions of people are suffering from food insecurity and also face challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing drought.

"There's an awful humanitarian crisis unfolding; the decision now to halt funding of any level to Afghanistan will have absolutely horrendous consequences," said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Program (WFP) country director in Afghanistan, who joined the UN's daily press briefing Wednesday to give an update on the situation in the country.

The Western-backed Afghanistan government fell under Taliban control on Sunday, two weeks before American troops are set to complete their withdrawal from the country.

The recent development marked the end of two decades of conflict that began after a US-led coalition drove the Taliban from power in 2001 for refusing to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who is considered the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks against the US.

The country is already suffering from years of conflicts. That, combined with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, recurring natural disasters including drought, and deepening poverty have taken a heavy toll on the population.

According to McGroarty, who briefed reporters via video from Kabul, 14 million Afghans are suffering from hunger, more than 2 million children in the country face malnutrition, and numerous others are having trouble seeking shelter and facing various health issues.

"The needs are enormous. To scale back on funding now would only add to the instability and the desperation. You saw the desperation at the airport. … I would urge the international community to rethink if they are considering reducing the funding. Now is the time to act in Afghanistan. Now is the time that the Afghan people need the international community to stand beside them," she added.

Her remarks came after numerous European countries, including Germany and Finland, announced that they have suspended development aid to the country after the Taliban returned to power.

The European Union, which in November had promised to donate 1.2 billion euros to Afghanistan over the next four years in long-term and emergency assistance, also confirmed its decision to halt funding.

The US on Sunday froze Afghan government reserves held in US bank accounts, which would block the Taliban from accessing nearly $9.5 billion in reserve assets, a sum that amounts to about a third of the country's yearly economic output.

Representatives from the UN agencies worry that cutting funds at this time would exacerbate the suffering.

According to the UN, even before the advance of the Taliban in recent weeks, some 18.4 million Afghans already require humanitarian assistance, while 390,000 people have been displaced because of the conflict.

Caroline Van Buren, representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Afghanistan, who also spoke at the press conference, noted that the tens of thousands of Afghans have fled their homes in recent weeks.

"Currently, the overwhelming majority of displacement is taking place within Afghanistan itself. That's where humanitarian efforts also need to be focused," she said.

More than half a million people have been displaced within the country since the beginning of the year, and 80 percent of those forced to flee in the country are women and children, said Van Buren.

Hervé Ludovic De Lys, the UN's Children Fund (UNICEF) representative in Afghanistan, said the UN agencies are in daily contact with Taliban leaders in almost all provinces.

"And their message is clear, they want us to stay and continue our work in Afghanistan. We have been engaging constructively with the new leadership to preserve our operational presence across the country, and we are hopeful that we will scale up our work for women and children in the coming days," he said.

The UN agencies vowed to continue to stay in Afghanistan and deliver humanitarian aid for people in need in the country.

"This is really Afghanistan's 'hour of greatest need', and we urge the international community to stand by the Afghan people at this time," McGroarty said.

ANKARA - Turkey welcomes the "moderate" statements made by the Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

"We have already stated that we can receive the leaders of the Taliban. We maintain this attitude today. We also welcome the moderate statements made by the Taliban leaders," Erdogan said during a televised interview.

Turkey is open to cooperation for the peace of the Afghan people, the well-being of the Turkish compatriots living in Afghanistan, and protection of Turkey's interests, he said.

"We are making our plans in line with new realities in the field, continuing negotiations accordingly," Erdogan said.

Describing the Taliban as very sensitive towards relations with Turkey, Erdogan said, "We hope their sensitivity will continue."

Turkey has evacuated 552 people from Afghanistan, he added.

Since the US troops started to pull out of Afghanistan on May 1, the Taliban has been advancing quickly on the battlefield. During the past two weeks, the group has captured most of Afghanistan's territory.

After two decades trying to destroy the Taliban, Western powers face the wrenching decision of whether to deal with the Islamist group that has taken over Afghanistan.

The European Union will only cooperate with the Afghan government following the Taliban's return to power if it respects fundamental rights, including those of women, and prevents the use of Afghanistan's territory by terrorists, Josep Borrell, the bloc's foreign policy chief, said on Tuesday.

Borrell put it bluntly on Tuesday: "The Taliban have won the war, so we will have to talk with them."

Earlier he outlined the EU's stance in a statement after an emergency meeting of European Union foreign ministers to discuss the Taliban's quick seizure of the capital Kabul.

He said that to address "the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan", the EU would continue to provide assistance to the Afghan people.

Borrell called on all actors to allow safe and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to Afghans in need, including the large number of internally displaced persons.

"The EU calls on the Taliban to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law in all circumstances," he said.

"The EU will also support Afghanistan's neighbors in coping with negative spillovers, which are to be expected from an increasing flow of refugees and migrants."

Borrell said the EU's priority is to evacuate EU staff and Afghan helpers from Kabul.

Starting a dialogue soon was necessary to prevent a potential migration disaster and a humanitarian crisis, Borrell said.

Flow of migrants

The EU's economy commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said in an interview with an Italian newspaper on Tuesday that Europe must make efforts to ensure the flow of migrants is managed safely.

"I think that Europe will inevitably have to equip itself for humanitarian corridors and organized reception, also to avoid uncontrolled flows of illegal immigrants. Or, at least, the countries that are willing to do so, should," Gentiloni told il Messaggero.

The firmest rejection of recognition came from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the Taliban a "recognized terrorist organization" that has "taken over and replaced a duly elected democratic government by force".

US military chiefs and diplomats have spoken to the Taliban to ensure evacuations, with the State Department saying it is open to keeping a presence at the Kabul airport beyond the Aug 31 end of the 20-year US war if it is safe enough.

But the administration of US President Joe Biden said any long-term relationship with a future Afghan government would depend on respect for women's rights and the Taliban's rejection of extremists such as al-Qaida.

"It will be up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are and how they intend to proceed," Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, told reporters.

Britain on Tuesday announced plans to welcome up to 5,000 Afghans fleeing during the first year of a resettlement program that will prioritize women, girls and religious and other minorities.

Western powers have far less leverage with the Taliban in power rather than on the battlefield, Agence France-Presse said.

But the US still wields unrivaled influence with international lenders and can enforce rigorous sanctions, putting conditions on assistance needed to rebuild the war-battered country, it added.

Agencies, Xinhua and Jonathan Powell in London contributed to this story.

Rival camps find rare consensus to press for answers as Biden ratings fall

WASHINGTON－Members of the US Congress, including many of President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats, said on Tuesday they were troubled by how the troop withdrawal was carried out in Afghanistan and have vowed to investigate what went wrong.

"The events of recent days have been the culmination of a series of mistakes made by Republican and Democratic administrations over the past 20 years," Senator Bob Menendez, Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement.

"We are now witnessing the horrifying result of many years of policy and intelligence failures."

Menendez said his committee would hold a hearing on US policy toward Afghanistan, with plans to look into the negotiations between the administration of Republican Donald Trump and the Taliban and execution of the troop withdrawal by the Biden administration.

Committee Republicans said they wanted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to testify, "to understand why the State Department was so ill prepared for the contingencies unfolding before us", according to a letter sent to Menendez.

"Updates from the State Department have been inconsistent, lacked important detail, and not be responsive to members and the American people," the Republicans wrote.

The date of the hearing was not immediately announced.

Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic Intelligence Committee chairman, had said on Monday he intended to work with other committees "to ask tough but necessary questions" about why the United States was not better prepared for the collapse of the Afghan government.

Republicans have continued their harsh criticism of Biden's policies.

"The security and humanitarian crisis now unfolding in Afghanistan could have been avoided if you had done any planning," Republicans on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee wrote in a letter to the White House on Tuesday.

The recent scenes of chaos in Kabul appear to have dented Biden's popularity.

His approval rating dropped by 7 percentage points, hitting its lowest level, after the Afghan government collapsed over the weekend, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The poll, conducted on Monday, found that 46 percent of respondents approved of Biden's performance in office, the lowest recorded in weekly polls that started when Biden entered the White House in January.

It is also down from the 53 percent who felt the same way in a similar Reuters/Ipsos poll that ran on Friday.

Biden's popularity dropped as the Taliban entered Kabul, wiping away two decades of US military presence that cost nearly $1 trillion.

However, a majority of both Republican and Democratic voters said the chaos was a sign that the US should leave.

Worse than predecessors

A separate Ipsos snap poll, also conducted on Monday, found that fewer than half of voters liked the way Biden has steered the US military and diplomatic effort in Afghanistan this year. The president, who just last month praised Afghan forces for being "as well-equipped as any in the world", was rated worse than the other three presidents who presided over the country's longest war.

The US and Western allies continued to evacuate diplomats and civilians on Tuesday, one day after Afghans crowded into Kabul's airport in a desperate attempt to flee.

About 44 percent of respondents said they thought Biden has done a "good job" in Afghanistan. In comparison, 51 percent praised the way his predecessors Trump and Barack Obama handled the war.

Approval of Biden's handling of Afghanistan is even lower than that of George W. Bush, the Republican president who ordered the Afghanistan invasion. About 47 percent of respondents felt that Bush did a good job in Afghanistan.

Forty percent of registered voters said in the Reuters/Ipsos poll that they would vote for a Democrat in next year's congressional elections, while 37 percent said they would back a Republican.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the US. It gathered responses from 947 adults, including 403 Democrats and 350 Republicans. The Ipsos online snap poll gathered responses from 1,000 people, including 443 Democrats and 247 Republicans.

Agencies - Xinhua

UNITED NATIONS - About 100 UN staff members are moving to Kazakhstan from Afghanistan "in light of the security and other constraints in Kabul and other parts of the country at the moment", a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.

"They will continue their work remotely," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Dujarric thanked the government of Kazakhstan for hosting a temporary remote office of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

"In light of the security and other constraints in Kabul and other parts of the country at the moment, it was decided to move a part of the UN staff out of the country," he said. "Personnel will return to Afghanistan as conditions permit."

The spokesman would not go into exact numbers or locations where international staff members were working, but told reporters at a regular briefing that all those relocating are international staff members, numbering about 100.

The most recent public tally of staff members from all UN agencies working in Afghanistan put the total at about 1,200, made up of about 800 Afghan nationals and 300 international staffers.

"The UN is committed to staying and delivering in support of the Afghan people in their hour of need," the spokesman said. "The majority of humanitarian personnel remain in Afghanistan, providing vital assistance to millions in need."

He explained that working remotely in Kazakhstan will provide close support to the UN family's continuing work on the ground in Afghanistan.

"This is a temporary measure intended to enable the UN to keep delivering assistance to the people of Afghanistan with the minimum of disruption while, at the same time, reducing risk to UN personnel," Dujarric said.

Russia commended the Taliban's initial assurances as a "positive signal" after its ambassador had a constructive meeting with Taliban representatives in Kabul on Tuesday.

"I consider it a positive signal that the Taliban in Kabul are declaring and in practice showing their readiness to respect the opinion of others," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, adding that the group behaved in a "civilized manner".

"In particular, they said that they are ready to discuss a government in which not only they but other Afghan representatives will also participate."

In the city of Kaliningrad, Lavrov said Moscow wanted the formation of Kabul's new government to be an inclusive process.

"We support the beginning of an inclusive national dialogue with the participation of all of Afghanistan's political, ethnic and religious groups," he said in comments carried by state-run TV network Rossiya 24 after the meeting.

Russia's Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov met with Taliban officials on Tuesday to discuss security details for the Russian diplomatic mission in Kabul. The meeting was announced the day before by the Kremlin's special envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, who also said the Taliban has already started guarding the perimeter of the Russian embassy.

Kabulov said Moscow's long campaign to build ties with the Taliban is now appearing to be paying off.

"It's not for nothing that we've been establishing contacts with the Taliban movement for the last seven years," Kabulov said. "We saw that this force would in the end, if not completely come to power, would play a leading role in the future of Afghanistan in any case."

Moscow, which fought a decadelong war in Afghanistan that ended with the Soviet troops' withdrawal in 1989, has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator, reaching out to feuding Afghan factions and jockeying with the United States for influence in the country.

Though Russia designated the Taliban as a terrorist organization in 2003, the country has since hosted several rounds of talks between the two sides in Afghanistan's civil war, most recently in March. Russia is also seeking contact with the militants in an effort to avoid instability spilling over to neighboring former Soviet states.

Zhirnov talked about the meeting on Russian state television and stressed it was "dedicated exclusively to the security of the embassy". He also said it involved senior Taliban representatives in the city who were accepting the surrender of the remnants of the self-disbanded Afghan national security forces.

"The meeting was positive and constructive," Zhirnov said. "The Taliban representatives said the Taliban has the friendliest ... approach to Russia. They confirmed guarantees of security for the embassy."

DUBAI - Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani claimed on Wednesday night that he "was forced to leave Kabul and decided to leave my country in order to prevent bloodshed".

Ghani made the statement, addressing his compatriots in their native language Pashto, during a live Facebook broadcast from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ghani said, "If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul."

He also issued a rebuttal against his critics who said he left Afghanistan hastily, saying that "those who think that I fled should not judge if they don't know all the details".

Ghani has been bitterly criticised by former ministers for leaving the country suddenly as Taliban forces entered Kabul.

Ghani left his country on Sunday night after the Taliban took control of the presidential palace in Afghan capital Kabul. He said he left Kabul on the advice of his security officials.

On Wednesday, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that the country welcomed Ghani and his family "on humanitarian grounds".

LONDON -- British lawmakers on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson's handling of the situation in Afghanistan amid the Taliban takeover of the country.

Speaking at an emergency session of parliament, Johnson told the MPs the collapse of Afghanistan's government happened faster than expected, but denied his government "was unprepared or did not foresee this".

The parliament debate, recalled from its summer recess to discuss the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan, came as thousands of British nationals and local support staff are still left stranded in Afghanistan while scenes of chaotic evacuation in Kabul's airport shocked the world.

"There's been a major miscalculation of the resilience of the Afghan forces and staggering complacency from our government about the Taliban," said Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour party.

Starmer referred to the fact that the United States decided in February 2020 to withdraw its forces in Afghanistan, which afforded Britain 18 months to prepare for what would follow.

"The very problems we are confronting today in this debate were all known problems... and there has been a failure of preparation," he said.

"The lack of planning is unforgivable. The prime minister bears a heavy responsibility," he added.

Theresa May, the former prime minister, was also critical of his successor's handling of the Afghan situation.

"Was our understanding of the Afghan government so weak? Was our knowledge of the position on the ground so inadequate?" May asked. "Or did we just feel that we have to follow the United States and hope that, on a wing and a prayer, it would be all right on the night?"

Lawmakers also scrutinized the US decision to withdraw and Biden's criticism of Afghan forces' surrender.

Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative MP and chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee who himself served in Afghanistan, said he, like other veterans, felt "anger, grief, and rage".

"To see (Biden) call into question the courage of men I fought with, to claim that they ran, is shameful," he said.

The British government's resettlement plan for Afghan refugees, announced hours before Wednesday's parliament session, was also called into question during Wednesday's debate as lawmakers said the plan was far from enough to deal with the crisis.

According to the "bespoke" resettlement plan, Britain will take in up to 20,000 Afghans "in the long-term", with up to 5,000 being in the first year.