The Latest: Italy evacuates staff, Afghan workers from Kabul

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KABUL – The latest connected Afghanistan:

MILAN - Italy's has evacuated 70 embassy unit and Afghan employees from the superior metropolis of Kabul. The level was scheduled to get successful Rome connected Monday. Video taken astatine Kabul’s planetary airdrome and released by the Italian Defense Ministry shows radical walking up a mobile staircase to committee the level successful darkness.

The evacuation is portion of Italy’s Operation Aquila Omnia (Eagle Ready for Anything) to rapidly evacuate Italian diplomatic staff, citizens and Afghan employees and household members.

Italy had 1 of the largest contingents successful Afghanistan earlier the pullout.

Italian writer Francesca Mannocchi, who was connected the plane, said that it was carrying 20 Afghan embassy employees and their families, including women and children. Prior to the Taliban advance, 228 Afghanis and their families had been transferred to Italy.

Officials declined to springiness fig of however galore remained, but Italian media reported implicit the play that immoderate 390 Afghan citizens and their household members were awaiting evacuation.

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The archetypal Czech evacuation formation has taken disconnected from Kabul’s planetary airdrome and landed successful Prague.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis said 46 radical were connected committee Monday’s flight.

They included Czech nationals, the Afghan staffers astatine the Czech embassy and Afghan interpreters who helped the Czech equipped forces during NATO missions unneurotic with their families.

Babis didn’t instantly supply much details. It’s not wide however galore specified flights volition follow.

Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek tweeted that fixed the deteriorating concern astatine Kabul’s airport, it was “a miracle” that the Czech formation managed to instrumentality off.

Local media reported that thousands of radical were gathered astatine the Kabul airdrome to permission the country.

In an earlier associated statement, the U.S. Pentagon and State Department said the American subject would instrumentality implicit air-traffic power astatine the airport.

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Saudi Arabia says it has evacuated each its diplomats from its embassy successful the Afghan capital, and New Zealand's authorities is sending a level to assistance its radical permission the country.

Saudi Arabia said each unit were evacuated from the embassy successful Kabul connected Sunday owed to the changing conditions connected the ground, joining different countries that person besides shuttered their embassies arsenic the Taliban beforehand connected the Afghan capital.

New Zealand’s authorities says its sending a C-130 Hercules subject transport level to Afghanistan to assistance with the evacuation of 53 New Zealanders and dozens of Afghanis and their contiguous families who helped New Zealand troops erstwhile they were stationed there.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said they had truthful acold identified 37 Afghanis who had helped, but the fig of evacuees would beryllium successful the hundreds erstwhile dependents and others were included.

Defense officials accidental they person planned for a monthlong ngo involving astatine slightest 40 subject unit tasked with servicing and protecting the plane. Ardern asked that the Taliban let radical to permission peaceably: “The full satellite is watching,” she said.

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WASHINGTON — Dozens of nations are calling connected each progressive successful events successful Afghanistan to respect and facilitate the departure of overseas nationals and Afghans who privation to permission the country.

More than 60 nations released a associated connection Sunday nighttime citing what they telephone “the deteriorating information situation” successful Afghanistan. The connection says that those successful powerfulness and authorization crossed the state “bear work — and accountability — for the extortion of quality beingness and property, and for the contiguous restoration of information and civilian order.”

The nations' connection besides says that roads, airports and borderline crossings indispensable stay open, and that calm indispensable beryllium maintained.

The connection concludes: “The Afghan radical merit to unrecorded successful safety, information and dignity. We successful the planetary assemblage basal acceptable to assistance them.”

The connection was distributed to U.S. media by the State Department.

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SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said it has “temporarily closed” its embassy successful Kabul and evacuated astir of its unit to an unspecified 3rd state successful the Middle East.

The ministry said a fewer diplomats, including Ambassador Choi Taeho, stay astatine a harmless determination successful Afghanistan to enactment the evacuation of a South Korean nationalist successful the state and that the Seoul authorities is intimately moving with the United States and different countries to guarantee their harmless evacuation.

Afghanistan has been connected South Korea’s question prohibition database since 2007. There were reportedly astir 5 South Koreans surviving successful Afghanistan earlier the Seoul authorities successful June called for each of them to permission the state wrong 10 days arsenic the United States and NATO proceeded with unit pullouts.

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WASHINGTON — A State Department authoritative says the American emblem is nary longer flying astatine the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul amid evacuations from Afghanistan’s capital. The authoritative tells The Associated Press that astir each embassy unit person been relocated to the city’s planetary airport.

The authoritative says the emblem itself is with embassy personnel, who are among thousands of Americans and others waiting for flights. The authoritative was not authorized to sermon the details publically and spoke connected information of anonymity

In a associated connection Sunday night, the State Department and the Pentagon accidental they are taking steps to unafraid the airdrome for harmless departures by mode of civilian and subject flights.

The connection says the U.S. information beingness volition person expanded to astir 6,000 troops implicit the adjacent 2 days and volition instrumentality implicit aerial postulation control.

Those leaving see American citizens who person been surviving successful Afghanistan, locally employed unit of the U.S. ngo successful Kabul and their families, and different peculiarly susceptible Afghan nationals.

Also portion of the departure program are thousands of Afghans eligible for U.S. peculiar migrant visas. Nearly 2,000 of those with peculiar visas person arrived successful the United States implicit the past 2 weeks.

— Matthew Lee.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and different apical U.S. officials person been stunned by the gait of the Taliban’s astir implicit takeover of Afghanistan, arsenic the planned withdrawal of American forces urgently became a ngo to guarantee a harmless evacuation.

The velocity of the Afghan government’s illness and the ensuing chaos posed the astir superior trial of Biden arsenic commandant successful chief, and helium was the taxable of withering disapproval from Republicans who said that helium had failed.

Biden campaigned arsenic a seasoned adept successful planetary relations and has spent months downplaying the imaginable of an ascendant Taliban portion arguing that Americans of each governmental persuasions person bushed of a 20-year war, a struggle that demonstrated the limits of wealth and subject mightiness to unit a Western-style ideology connected a nine not acceptable oregon consenting to clasp it.

By Sunday, though, starring figures successful the medication acknowledged they were caught disconnected defender with the utter velocity of the illness of Afghan information forces. The situation of that effort became wide aft reports of sporadic gunfire astatine the Kabul airdrome prompted Americans to structure arsenic they awaited flights to safety.

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UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is urging the Taliban and each different parties to workout “utmost restraint” successful bid to support the lives of Afghans and guarantee the transportation of humanitarian aid.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Sunday that “the United Nations remains determined to lend to a peaceful settlement, beforehand the quality rights of each Afghans, notably women and girls, and supply life-saving humanitarian assistance and captious enactment to civilians successful need.”

The U.N. humanitarian bureau said members of the humanitarian assemblage — some from the U.N. and non-governmental organizations — stay committed to helping the millions of Afghans needing assistance and are staying successful the state contempt the “highly complex” information environment.

The office, known arsenic OCHA, said successful a connection Sunday that much than 18.4 cardinal radical were already successful request of assistance earlier much than 550,000 radical were displaced by struggle this year, a fig that doubled since May.

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KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban spokesperson and negotiator tells The Associated Press that the militant radical is holding talks aimed astatine forming an “open, inclusive Islamic government” successful Afghanistan.

Suhail Shaheen spoke to the AP aft the Taliban overran astir of the state successful a substance of days and pushed into the capital, Kabul, arsenic the United States scrambled to retreat diplomats and different civilians.

Earlier, a Taliban authoritative said the radical would denote a caller authorities from the statesmanlike palace, but those plans look to beryllium connected hold.

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WASHINGTON — The United States is sending different 1,000 troops to Afghanistan, raising the U.S. deployment to astir 6,000.

A defence authoritative tells The Associated Press connected Sunday that 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne are going straight to Kabul alternatively of going to Kuwait arsenic a standby force. The defence authoritative spoke connected information of anonymity to sermon a deployment determination not yet announced by the Pentagon.

On Saturday, President Joe Biden authorized the U.S. unit deployment to emergence to astir 5,000 by adding astir 1,000. Since then, the Taliban person entered the superior of Kabul and Afghanistan's president has fled the country.

Helicopters person been evacuating unit from the U.S. Embassy, and respective different Western missions besides are preparing to propulsion their radical out.

— Robert Burns

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