Afghanistan Taliban Live Updates: Taliban say UN promises aid after meeting with officials in Kabul

Afghanistan Live Updates: Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the Afghan opposition group resisting Taliban forces in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, said on Sunday he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting. 

Afghanistan Live News Updates: Senior Taliban officials met in Kabul on Sunday with the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who promised to maintain assistance for the Afghan people, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political office and other officials met Martin Griffiths as Afghanistan faces a potentially catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by severe drought and a collapsing economy.

Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the Afghan opposition group resisting Taliban forces in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul, said on Sunday he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting. Earlier, Taliban forces said they had fought their way into the provincial capital of Panjshir after securing the surrounding districts.

Afghanistan Live News Updates:

About 1,000 people, including dozens of Americans and Afghans holding visas for the United States or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for a fifth day on Sunday while awaiting Taliban clearance for flights out of the country, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper reported that the situation facing those hoping to leave from the international airport in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif mirrored that of thousands who were unable to board flights from Kabul after the Taliban took the capital before US troops withdrew.

The senior Republican on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, told Fox News Sunday that six airplanes were stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif airport with Americans and Afghan interpreters on board, unable to take off because they had not received clearance from the Taliban. He said the Taliban were holding passengers “hostage for demands,” but multiple reports disputed McCaul’s statement. (Reuters)

Who is Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, likely to be supreme leader of Afghanistan?

Weeks after swiftly seizing control of Afghanistan, the Taliban is soon set to unveil its newly-formed government, which is likely to be helmed by the militant group’s top spiritual leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada.

There is no clear indication of when the new government will be announced, but one thing is for certain — the country’s new leaders have their work cut out for them. Apart from the human rights crisis they have on their hands, with thousands of Afghans fleeing from the Taliban’s reign, the new government will also be severely strapped for cash as funds have been cut off by nearly all of the country’s major lenders, including the United States.

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