Afghanistan-Taliban crisis LIVE news updates:
At least three people were killed and a dozen wounded after shots were fired at the protest against the removal of the Afghan flag by the Taliban in the eastern city of Jalalabad, reported Al Jazeera.
Amid efforts by the Taliban to set up a government, a Taliban commander and senior leader of the Haqqani Network militant group, Anas Haqqani, met former Afghan President Hamid Karzai for talks on Wednesday. According to Reuters, Karzai was accompanied by the old government’s main peace envoy, Abdullah Abdullah, in the meeting, said the Taliban official, who declined to be identified.
Meanwhile, at Kabul airport, the evacuation of diplomats and civilians from Afghanistan on military flights gathered momentum today. However, thousands of Afghans continue to race to the airport and borders to flee the country.
The United States said that the Taliban has agreed to allow “safe passage” from Afghanistan for civilians struggling to join a US-directed airlift after reports emerged of some civilians “being turned away or pushed back or even beaten” as they tried to reach the international airport.
