The Latest: Blinken says US working with Taliban on flights

DOHA, Qatar — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the State Department is moving with the Taliban to facilitate further charter flights from Kabul for radical seeking to permission Afghanistan aft the American subject and diplomatic departure.

Blinken was speaking connected Tuesday astatine a associated quality league with Qatar’s apical diplomats and defence officials. He said the U.S. has been successful interaction with the Taliban “in caller hours” to enactment retired arrangements for further charter flights from the Afghan capital.

Blinken said the Taliban person fixed assurances of harmless transition for each seeking to permission Afghanistan with due question documents. He said the United States would clasp the Taliban to that pledge.

Blinken said the United States believes determination are “somewhere astir 100” American citizens inactive successful Afghanistan who privation to leave. The State Department had antecedently enactment that estimation astatine betwixt 100 and 200.

Ad

Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are successful Qatar to convey the Gulf Arab authorities for its assistance with the transit of tens of thousands of radical evacuated from Afghanistan aft the Taliban took power of Kabul connected Aug. 15.

___

MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:

— Blinken and Austin to sojourn Gulf to code postwar stresses

— Taliban accidental they took Panjshir, past holdout Afghan province

— Over 24 hours successful Kabul, brutality, trauma, moments of grace

— US: Afghan evacuees who neglect archetypal screening Kosovo-bound

Ad

— Rescue groups: US tally misses hundreds near successful Afghanistan

___

— Find much AP sum astatine https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan

___

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

BOSTON — Over 2 decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars gathering databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal: Promote instrumentality and bid and authorities accountability and modernize a war-ravaged land.

But successful the Taliban’s lightning seizure of power, astir of that integer apparatus — including biometrics for verifying identities — seemingly fell into Taliban hands. Built with fewer data-protection safeguards, it risks becoming the high-tech jackboots of a surveillance state. As the Taliban get their governing feet, determination are worries it volition beryllium utilized for societal power and to punish perceived foes.

Ad

Putting specified information to enactment constructively — boosting education, empowering women, battling corruption — requires antiauthoritarian stability, and these systems were not architected for the imaginable of defeat.

“It is simply a unspeakable irony,” said Frank Pasquale, Brooklyn Law School student of surveillance technologies. “It’s a existent entity acquisition successful ‘The roadworthy to hellhole is paved with bully intentions.’”

Since Kabul fell Aug. 15, indications person emerged that authorities information whitethorn person been utilized successful Taliban efforts to place and intimidate Afghans who worked with the U.S. forces.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.