Afghanistan news – live: Taliban founder set for government talks, as Biden says lives may be lost in airlift

Speaking at the White House on Friday, president Joe Biden said that lives may be lost in the Kabul airlift evacuation.

The president said that the evacuation mission was “one of the biggest, most difficult airlifts in history”.

“Make no mistake,” he said, “this evacuation is dangerous. It involves risks to our armed forces and its being conducted under difficult circumstances.”

“I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or that it will be without risk of loss. But as commander in chief, I can assure you that I will mobilise every resource necessary.”

He added: “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home”. In responding to reporters’ questions, he also confirmed that the US military would make the “same commitment” to he 50-65,000 Afghan allies who were hoping to leave the country, although he said that the evacuation of US citizens was the priority.

One of the Taliban’s co-founders has arrived in Kabul for talks on setting up a new Afghan government, an official has said.

A senior Taliban official told AFP News Agency that Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar had arrived in the capital .

He said: “He will be in Kabul to meet with jihadi leaders and politicians for an inclusive government set-up”.

The US used three military helicopters to bring 169 Americans to the airport in Kabul from a building just 656 ft (200 metres) away, the Pentagon said on Friday.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said a decision was made to use the CH-47 helicopters on Thursday because the Americans were unable to get to the gate of the airport. They were picked up from the nearby Hotel Baron.

Mr Kirby said these were the 169 Americans rescued that President Joe Biden mentioned in his speech earlier on Friday.

It has also been reported to members of Congress by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that a number of Americans were allegedly beaten by Taliban members on their way to the airport.

Mr Kirby said: “We’re certainly mindful of these reports, and they’re deeply troubling, and we have communicated to the Taliban that that’s absolutely unacceptable, that we want free passage through their checkpoints for documented Americans.”

House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been criticised for not calling on the only black MP who served in Afghanistan to speak in emergency debate that took place on Wednesday, the i reports.

A group of socialist Labour MPs have written to Sir Lindsay about their “serious concern” over why he did not call on Clive Lewis to speak during the session.

The letter was signed by 15 MPs including Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Rebecca Long-Bailey.

A spokesperson for the Speaker told the i newspaper: “The Speaker was acutely aware of the very high number of members who wanted to speak in the House on Wednesday. Over 160 members wrote to request to catch the Speaker’s eye in the debate… it was regrettable that in the end over 80 members did not get the chance to make a contribution.

“The Speaker fully recognises and pays tribute to Clive Lewis MP’s service in Afghanistan. The Speaker’s office always does its best to enable members to speak and when a member has been unable to speak where possible they are given priority in future debates.”

MPs were recalled for the debate during summer recess, due to the urgency and severity of the situation in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s economic future under the Taliban looks bleak, according to the country’s former central banker.

Ajmal Ahmady, who left the central bank before fleeing Kabul on Sunday, told CNN: “Afghanistan unfortunately was already facing multiple crises.”

He referred to the coronavirus pandemic, conflict in the country, and droughts.

Mr Ahmady added: “Now on top of that there is going to be economic hardship. And for the people of Afghanistan, that is going to be very difficult to deal with.”

He said that the Taliban, which took over the country at rapid pace, will have trouble with drafting economic policy.

Mr Ahmady told the channel: “They haven’t made clear what their policy agenda is. It’s not clear who will be running the economic agenda for them.

“I think they’re going to face a lot of challenges, which they’re going to have to quickly seek to resolve.”

CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward had given an Afghan woman her scarf as a blanket before flying out of Kabul.

The news network’s chief international correspondent said Afghan evacuees were sleeping on the gravel at the airport while empty US Air Force C-17 aircraft were in the background during the “chilly night”.

She said: “The fourth bird we were supposed to get on just got pulled. Going to be a long night here, especially for those we are talking to who have been here since yesterday evening.

“A woman just asked me for a blanket so I gave her my scarf.”

Ms Ward also tweeted, in relation to people being left to sleep outside: “One Afghan acquaintance tells me “it’s an insult to human dignity… I don’t know why the Americans are doing this.”Graeme Massie reports

The evacuation process in Afghanistan continues to be “messy, haphazard and disjointed”, ITV’s John Irvine reported from Kabul tonight.

He said that before Afghans can reach Kabul airport, they have to go through a number of Taliban checkpoints.

Separate footage shared online shows tightly-packed crowds trying to reach the airport, while being hit by sticks by a member of the Taliban.

Colombia will temporarily host Afghans fleeing their country’s takeover by the Taliban while they await approval to enter the US, President Ivan Duque said today.

He did not specify how many Afghans would transit through Colombia –but Colombian and American media have reported that the number will be about 4,000.

Further details will be provided in the coming days, Mr Duque said in joint remarks with US ambassador Philip Goldberg.

The US will pay the cost of the Afghans’ stay in Colombia, Mr Goldberg said.

A journalist has shared a photo of her flight out of Afghanistan with hundreds of other people.

Clarissa Ward is a chief international correspondent reporting on the Taliban’s takeover of the country for CNN.

She posted the image to Twitter of the inside of the aircraft as it was preparing to taxi and take-off.

The number of countries to allow people evacuated from Afghanistan to transit through them has hit 12, the US has said.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the UK and Uzbekistan had already begun or will soon begin transiting Americans, or in some circumstances others, through their territories.

The US is racing to get people out ahead of a 31 August deadline when its forces are supposed to leave Afghanistan.

But officials said no evacuation flights left Kabul for nearly six hours on Friday because they had nowhere to go due to an overflow at Al Udeid air base in Qatar, already sheltering 8,000 Afghan evacuees. Those flights have now restarted.

More than 18,000 people have been flown out since the Taliban militants took the capital Kabul, according to Nato.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has spoken about the difficulty of evacuating people, saying it’s not an issue of having the planes but rather getting Afghans to the airport in Kabul and through the evacuation process.