Afghanistan crisis: Committee on price control to be established

The UK has said that it is "ready" to launch strikes at the ISIS-K terror network in Afghanistan after the Pentagon revealed that there are at least 2,000 fighters of the outfit in the war-torn country. “The UK stands united with our coalition partners in mourning those killed by Daesh's (ISIS) horrific attack at Kabul airport and in our unwavering collective resolve to combat Daesh networks by all means available, wherever they operate," Britain's Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz says his country is not prepared to take in more Afghans and will not back a Europe-wide system for distributing refugees from Afghanistan across the European Union. Asked about proposals for all EU countries to share the burden of taking in refugees, Kurz told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday that Austria had already taken in a "bigger than proportionate share'' of migrants since 2015.

Chairman, Pakistan Senate Defence Committee, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has disclosed that a strategic agreement has been reached between the Taliban and the Turkish government under which Turkish forces will take over the security of Kabul International Airport. In an exclusive interview with The Nation Senator Syed said, "US forces will be leaving by August 31, therefore to run Kabul Airport and manage its proper security, there has to be a well-trained multi-skilled team which performs this heavy task." He further said that the Turkish military has the capability to do this which is why they had negotiated these things with the Taliban.

Pakistan's foreign minister on Tuesday urged the international community to act to prevent an "economic collapse" in neighboring Afghanistan after the takeover of the country by the Taliban and the pullout of US forces. Shah Mahmood Qureshi says it's in the interest of peace and stability for the world to remain engaged and not abandon Afghanistan since more instability and further exodus of Afghans fleeing the Taliban rule were not in the interest of the nation.

The number of UK nationals left behind in Afghanistan is in the "low hundreds", British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Tuesday, after the two-decade Western military presence there ended. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed Britain's evacuation efforts as they ended over the weekend, noting it had airlifted over 15,000 people in the last two weeks.

As the final five U.S. military transport aircraft lifted off out of Afghanistan, they left behind up to 200 Americans and thousands of desperate Afghans who couldn't get out and now must rely on the Taliban to allow their departure. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said the U.S. will continue to try to get Americans and Afghans out of the country, and will work with Afghanistan's neighbors to secure their departure either over land or by charter flight once the Kabul airport reopens.

Taliban forces clashed with militia fighters in the Panjshir valley north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday night, losing eight killed, a representative of the main anti-Taliban opposition group said. Since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, the Panjshir has been the only province to hold out against the Taliban, although there has also been fighting in neighbouring Baghlan province between Taliban and local militia forces. Fahim Dashti, a spokesman for the National Resistance Forces, a group loyal to local leader Ahmad Massoud, said the fighting occurred on the western entrance to the valley where he Taliban attacked NRF positions.

As a former player in the Afghanistan women's national soccer team, Fanoos Basir saw no future for herself under Taliban rule. She fled, and is now in a reception centre for refugees in France, mourning the life she left behind. "We had lots of dreams for our country, for our future, for the future of women in Afghanistan," she said outside the reception centre, where she arrived after being evacuated from Kabul on a French-organised flight.