August 17, 2021, Afghanistan-Taliban news

Pakistan’s recognition of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan will come in the form of a “regional decision” according to Pakistan’s minister of information Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday. 

Chaudhry was speaking at a news conference after a cabinet meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan. The cabinet meeting was held to appraise all members of the decisions of the National Security Council meeting held on Monday.

During the press briefing, Chaudhry also stressed that Pakistan will not make any decision on recognizing the Taliban regime “in isolation” and that the decision will be a “multilateral one” made “in consultation” with regional and international powers.

Chaudhry also stressed that Pakistan expects the Taliban to follow internationally recognized human rights.

He criticized Ashraf Ghani’s former Afghan government for pushing “only one major ethnic group” in Afghanistan and excluding other groups. 

Chaudhry further said Prime Minister Imran Khan also had a detailed discussion with his Turkish counterpart a day ago on the Afghanistan situation, while the US secretary of state had spoken to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the same topic.

There are approximately 5,000 to 10,000 Americans "near Kabul" in Afghanistan, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said during an interview with CNN’s John Berman on New Day. 

“We think there are certainly thousands of Americans. We don’t have an exact count. I would say somewhere best guess between 5 and 10,000 near Kabul,” Kirby said. 

Kirby said Americans in Kabul no longer need to shelter in place. The State Department put out a message “advising those Americans about how to queue up and get to the airport,” Kirby said.

“They can begin movement to the airport for processing flights out,” he added. 

Taliban co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has arrived in Afghanistan, Muhammad Naeem Wardak, the spokesperson for the Taliban’s political bureau, said Tuesday. 

A source with knowledge of Baradar’s movements confirmed to CNN earlier on Tuesday that he had departed from Doha, Qatar, for Afghanistan's Kandahar province. 

The deputy leader and co-founder of the Taliban movement hasn’t set foot in Afghanistan in 20 years. He currently heads the Taliban’s political bureau.

In 2010 he was arrested in neighboring Pakistan by the country’s security forces and released in 2018 when the US intensified efforts to leave Afghanistan.

Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said he had a positive and constructive meeting in Kabul with representatives of the Taliban on Tuesday.

"There will be no obstacles to the embassy's activities. There will be no deterioration in status compared to the previous government. All our needs will be met," he added.

The ambassador stressed that this meeting was of a purely technical nature. He said the Taliban representative asked not to disclose his name.

Right now the US does not have a plan to get Afghans in other parts of the country to the airport in Kabul to be evacuated – despite them having previously helped the United States.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said he knows the US has an "obligation" to help these people and their families but "right now our focus is on the airport itself and making sure it stays safe and secure."

"There is an awful lot that has to be done in that," he said.

Kirby said people in other parts of Afghanistan should apply for visas and consult with State Department officials to get themselves enrolled. He said, from there, the US will help them get out of Kabul, but he did not say if there was a plan to help them travel to the capital city.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed at a news conference today that US military commanders have had communication with the Taliban.

Asked by CNN's Barbara Starr to clarify if US military personnel are the ones talking to Taliban leaders, Kirby said, "Our commanders in the operation have had communication with Taliban leaders."

Kirby would not get into the details of “how those discussions are progressing,” but said US military leaders are interacting with the Taliban “multiple times a day,” at the airport. Kirby said he would “let the results speak for themselves,” referring to the relative stability that has been established at the airport, allowing military planes to fly in and out since yesterday.

In a follow-up question, Starr asked the Pentagon spokesman if it's the United States' 82nd airborne division that is in the command at the airport and the general is the one talking to the Taliban, Kirby said, "I'm not going to talk about specific conversations...or who is having what" interactions. 

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, said that US troops have not had "hostile interactions" with the Taliban during their departure operations.

"I want to reinforce that we are focused on the present mission. To facilitate the safe evacuation of US citizens, SIV's and Afghans at risk, to get them out of Afghanistan as quickly and as safely as possible. That mission has not changed," he continued.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby reiterated Taylor's comments later in the briefing, saying the US mission is "about the airport" and there has been " no hostile interactions with the Taliban on either our people or our operations."

Some more context: Violence erupted at the Kabul airport as US forces shot and killed two armed men who fired on them Monday, the Pentagon said, as the US resumed temporarily suspended operations at the airfield after clearing crowds off the runways.

Kirby said yesterday "there is no indication" that the two men killed by US troops were Taliban and added that while the mission at the airport is "not offensive," US forces "have the inherent right of self-defense."

CNN's Barbara Starr, Jason Hoffman and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting. 

Secretary of State Tony Blinken addressed how “wrenching” it is for US diplomats to watch what is unfolding in Afghanistan and assured them that the administration’s top priority is safely getting out the State Department team and Americans as well as doing everything possible to help Afghan partners, in a department-wide memo on Monday. 

Blinken lauded the work US diplomats have done in the country, despite the fact that their efforts may all be eroded as the Taliban take over control of the country.

“In that time, you did what American diplomats everywhere do: you carried out the mission and worked to advance our interests and values, all while building lasting relationships with the country and its people,” Blinken said.

He specifically thanked the US diplomats who remain in Afghanistan.

“Nobody is working harder on this than our team in Kabul. Under tremendous pressure, they’ve performed with professionalism, courage, and grace. We’ve asked so much of them, and they’ve consistently exceeded it,” he said. 

But US diplomats have grown increasingly frustrated by how the Biden administration handled the US withdrawal from the country. 

"Home. Angry," said one who just returned from Afghanistan.

Two other US diplomats who served in Afghanistan said the chaos could have been averted, or at least mitigated, if action had been taken sooner to get people out. While the Biden National Security Council has a lot of meetings, the diplomats said, it doesn't make many rapid decisions – and in this situation, they believe, valuable time was lost. 

Blinken said that even as the situation in Afghanistan unfolds, US diplomats are busy at work globally, and he thanked them for how they continue to carry out their work. 

US Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staffs, provided an update on the US military operations in Afghanistan right now.

Taylor said yesterday the US military footprint in Afghanistan "started at about roughly 2,500." By the end of today, there will be more than 4,000 troops on the ground in Kabul, he said.

He said the Hamid Karzai International Airport airport (HKIA) in Kabul remains "secure."

"It is currently open for military flight operations as well as limited commercial flight operations," he added.

Taylor said that throughout the night nine C-17 aircraft arrived in Kabul delivering equipment and approximately 1,000 troops. He said that flights out of Kabul "lifted approximately 700 to 800 passengers and we can confirm 165 of these passengers are American citizens, the rest are a mix of SIV [Special Immigrant Visa] applicants and third-country nationals." 

"Right now, we're looking at one aircraft per hour in and out of HKIA. It looks like 5,000 to 9,000 passengers departing per day," Taylor said.

He added that the US military has had "no hostile interactions" with the Taliban.