August 16, 2021, Afghanistan-Taliban news

There are approximately 2,500 US troops at the airport currently, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during an off-camera briefing on Monday.

Over the next 24 hours, the Department of Defense expects additional forces to arrive “from both the 82nd Airborne Division and battalions from a marine expeditionary unit,” Kirby said. Once those additional forces arrive, there will be about 3,000 US troops at the airport by tomorrow, he said.

The rough number, in the next two or three days once additional forces that have been authorized by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrive at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), will be about 6,000 US troops. 

“We will continue to expand our security presence as needed,” Kirby said.

Austin authorized a third battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division brigade combat team that was headed to Kuwait to head to HKIA airport instead. 

“They will flow in immediately and they will be there in coming days,” Kirby said.

There were two security incidents at the Hamid Karzai International Airport airfield “involving armed individuals shooting at US forces,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during an off-camera briefing on Monday.

Kirby reiterated that while the mission at HKIA airport is “not offensive,” US forces “have the inherent right of self-defense.

The Pentagon press secretary said that “there is no indication” that the two Afghans who were shot and killed during this incident at Hamid Karzai International Airport were Taliban.

Kirby said the incident occurred “within the last 24 hours.” 

Kirby also said there has been “some preliminary indications that there may have been one” US military member “wounded,” but Kirby said he could not confirm it yet. 

Farzana Kochai, who was serving as a member of the Afghan parliament, says she doesn't know what comes next – for both the structure of the new government and her freedoms as a woman in Afghanistan.

"There has been no clear announcement about the form of the government in the future – do have parliament in the future government or not?" she said.

Kochai said aside from her role in parliament, she is more concerned about being a woman. She said she can work in a different role, but many questions remain about if she will even have the freedom to do that.

"We are just trying to have a clue that are we allowed... would be women allowed to work and to have occupied job or not. This is a question that made us, and every woman and international community, concern more about Afghan woman," she said.

Kochai said as a politician, she thinks Western countries, and specifically the United States, left Afghanistan too quickly.

She said the scenes of crowds of people desperate to get out of the country, rushing the gates of the airport in Kabul and hanging on to US planes was caused by the international community's swift exit.

"This power transfer could be done in much better way, like political settlement based on something that could happen," Kochai said.

New satellite images from Maxar showed a crowd of people on the tarmac at Kabul International Airport earlier today.

"While one Turkish airliner prepares to takeoff from the airfield, security forces can be seen near one of the airport’s main runways attempting to prevent crowds of people from moving toward other aircraft and from blocking flight operations," Maxar said of the images. 

Satellite images near the airport shows significant crowds and a traffic jam.

Earlier today, video from on the ground at the airport showed people clinging to the fuselage of a US military aircraft as it taxied.

Here's a look at the satellite images from Maxar:

Afghan Ambassador to the United Nations Ghulam M. Isaczai said during Monday’s ongoing Security Council meeting that the UN must call for an end to violence in Afghanistan.

“There is no time for a blame game anymore. We have an opportunity to prevent further violence, prevent Afghanistan descending into civil war, and becoming a pariah state. Therefore the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General should use every means at its disposal to call for an immediate cessation of violence and respect for human rights and international humanitarian law,” Isaczai said.

The ambassador stressed on Monday that he was speaking on behalf of millions of people in Afghanistan “whose fate hangs in the balance, and are faced with an extremely uncertain future.”

Isaczai added that the UN should also call upon the Taliban to abide by humanitarian laws, call on Afghanistan’s border counties to open their borders to displaced civilians and humanitarian goods, and call for a transitional and representational government.

He also called upon the United Nations to “stress that the council and the United Nations will not recognize any administration that achieves power through force or any government that is not inclusive and representative of diversity of the country,” Isaczai said.

The leader of the opposition in the UK, Keir Starmer, has said the situation in Afghanistan is “shocking, and it’s tragic.” 

Starmer told journalists on Monday the world is seeing "the unravelling of 20 years of progress, and of huge sacrifice."

The labour leader criticized the response of Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying he needs to “to step up to the plate, show some leadership, and some urgency.” 

However, he acknowledged that the decision to leave the country “was not the government's decision alone.” 

Starmer said, “It's absolutely clear what the priorities have to be," focusing on the evacuation of EU nationals and eligible Afghans. 

He also stressed it is important to ensure there is a process in place “for the safety of those that are remaining there and the assertion of the human rights of everybody in Afghanistan," particularly for women and young girls. 

An Italian military flight carrying about 70 embassy staff and former Afghan employees who worked with Italian army has now landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, the Italian Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Monday.

The joint statement said the Air Force KC767 flight which departed on Sunday sought to evacuate and reunite embassy and former Afghan collaborators safely with their families after the Taliban took control of the presidential palace in Kabul.

The Defence Ministry said the operation will continue to be in force for “humanitarian evacuation” from Afghanistan in the “shortest possible time,” through an airlift secured by the Italian Air Force, the statement said. 

The evacuation was directed by the Italian Joint Operations Command with support of the Italian Red Cross and was part of an international airlift after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital.

On Monday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi thanked the armed forces for safely returning citizens back to Italy.  

He added Italy is working with other European partners for a solution to the crisis in Afghanistan, ensuring to protect human rights.

As chaos unfolds in Kabul, the White House says it has no calls between President Biden and his foreign counterparts regarding the collapse of government in Afghanistan to disclose. Although he participated in several virtual briefings with top staff Sunday, including his national security team, those aides say there are no calls with world leaders to summarize, as is common procedure at the White House. 

"I don’t have anything to read out," a National Security Council official told CNN when asked specifically if there were any calls with foreign leaders Sunday. 

While Biden apparently made no calls, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on the phone with his Australian, French, German and Norwegian counterparts about efforts to bring “citizens to safety and assist vulnerable Afghans," according to a State Department spokesperson. 

Coming up: President Biden is heading back to Washington and the White House said he will deliver remarks at 3:45 p.m. ET from the East Room.

President Biden will return to the White House this afternoon to address the nation about the crisis in Afghanistan, an official tells CNN.

Preparations are underway now at the White House for the planned speech, the official said. The White House confirmed Biden will deliver remarks at 3:45 p.m. ET from the East Room.

Biden is expected to remain in Washington and not return to Camp David today.