...mindless ferocity in a turban...Death Eaters.
The Afghan government collapsed over the weekend after President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, ex-president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. When Biden abandoned the country left with a helicopter, four cars, and part of the national treasury...
fled the country just before the Taliban took over Kabul without resistance. Dozens of governments across the globe asked to be allowed to repatriate their nationals, with some nations shutting down their embassies.
"We are calling on the relatives of our fellow Filipinos in Afghanistan ... get in touch with the Philippines Embassy so you can be repatriated," Presidential front man Harry Roque told BenarNews.
The Philippines government said it was repatriating about 130 Filipinos from Afghanistan, with 32 already evacuated to Doha, and a group of 19 Filipinos set to leave on Monday.
Members of the Taliban have been fighting to regain power since their ouster from Kabul after a U.S.-led offensive in 2001, prompted by the worst-ever terror attacks on American soil on Sept. 11 of that year.
Between Aug. 6 and 14, just weeks after the withdrawal of U.S. and international troops from the country, all major cities fell to the Taliban in quick succession.
Roque said the Filipino government had raised its alert for Afghanistan to the highest level, 4, which mandates repatriation but refused to answer whether the government would recognize the Taliban government.
"It is up for the Department of Foreign Affairs to address," Roque said.
Bangladesh’s foreign minister, A.K. Abdul Momen, told BenarNews that the government had asked the NGO BRAC, which has worked in 10 provinces of Afghanistan for the last 19 years, to evacuate all foreign staff last month.
Imran Ahmad, minister for expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment, told BenarNews that there were no Bangladeshi migrant workers in Afghanistan.
Shameran Abed, the executive director for BRAC International, said that three Bangladeshi staff were on their way home, while six were expected to return on Aug. 22.
Bangladesh has diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, but no resident mission in the country.
Meanwhile,
...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Big Shirley was still trying to snatch Nunzio bald-headed. She was already halfway there...
Indonesia said it would not be closing its embassy in Kabul even as news reports showed countries including Russia, China,
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
, and Pakistain rushing to close theirs.
"Indonesia is closely monitoring the rapid developments taking place in Afghanistan," a foreign ministry statement said.
There are 15 Indonesians in Afghanistan, including U.N. workers and those married to Afghans, and evacuation efforts were underway to evacuate them, as well as the staff of the Indonesian Embassy in Kabul, the ministry said.
"The Indonesian Embassy in Kabul will be run by essential staff while monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan," the statement said.
"Indonesia hopes that a political settlement that is Afghan-owned, Afghan-led can be achieved ... Indonesia continues to communicate with all parties in Afghanistan, including with U.N. and foreign representatives."
Originally a group of Islamic students tired of the civil war waged by warlords in the early 1990s, the Taliban took up arms and ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 under an extremely strict interpretation of Islam. Under their rule, women were banned from going to school or working, and al-Qaeda was able to establish a foothold in the country and plan the 9/11 attacks.
Swedish staff left the embassy as their Afghan colleagues worked. Then, they refused to answer calls from the Afghan staff and even blocked their official email accounts. Left the country. https://t.co/t1JqChlOnC
— Christian Christensen (@ChrChristensen) August 16, 2021
How India evacuated its embassy from Afghanistan
[OneIndia] The evacuation of the Indian embassy staff from Kabul was a "difficult and complicated" exercise as the diplomats were under observation by the Taliban
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...India completed the evacuation of its staff from Kabul, a day after the airport in the Afghan capital witnessed unprecedented scenes of desperate residents rushing into it while some people were even seen clinging to the side of a US military plane in an attempt to flee the country fearing the Taliban''s brutality.
India brought back over 190 people including the Indian ambassador and its staff members from its embassy in Kabul in two C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
While the first aircraft evacuated around 40 staffers on Monday, the second one brought back around 150 staffers including the Indian ambassador on Tuesday.
It is learnt that the people who were to return on the second aircraft on Monday could not board it due to the ground situation.
An overnight conversation between the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar may have helped in moving the Indian personnel to Kabul airport this morning.
India has brought back the Indian ambassador and all its staff members from its embassy in Kabul in two military transport aircraft in the wake of escalating tension and deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital after its takeover by the Taliban.