Afghanistan live news unclear how many will be left behind after evacuation says UK foreign secretary

Afghanistan’s only boarding school for girls has temporarily relocated to Rwanda, its co-founder has said, just days after a video of her burning class records to avoid Taliban recriminations was widely shared on social media.

Shabana Basij-Rasikh, who escaped Kabul with 250 students and staff, urged the world to “not avert your eyes” from the millions of girls left behind.

“See those girls, and in doing so you will hold those holding power over them to account,” said Basij-Rasikh in a tweet, as she vowed to return to Afghanistan.

In this week’s Guardian Weekly, as critics round on President Joe Biden’s abrupt handling of the US pullout from Kabul in particular, our world affairs editor Julian Borger asks whether the fall of Kabul signals the end of the long era of American interventionism â€" and if so, what will take its place?

Then, Guardian correspondents Jason Burke and Emma Graham-Harrison â€" both of whom have reported extensively from Afghanistan â€" examine what the takeover signifies for Islamist extremism around the world, and how far the Afghan Taliban’s claims to be a more tolerant ruling force than before can be taken at face value.

A former Royal Marine who has been campaigning to have dozens of people and hundreds of animals at his sanctuary evacuated from Afghanistan has been offered a glimmer of hope after the defence secretary said UK officials would help.

Paul Farthing, known as Pen, had already been given authorisation to get his people out but continued working with supporters to secure safe passage for 140 dogs and 60 cats they were caring for at the Nowzad shelter he founded in Kabul after serving with the British army in Afghanistan.

As thousands flee Afghanistan, some refugees want to go back, AFP reports.

From trucks stuffed with carpets, bedding, clothes and even goats, around 200 Afghan refugees look beyond the horizon toward Spin Boldak in their country’s south, waiting to return home from Pakistan.

Dreading another period of harsh rule after the Taliban’s rapid takeover following the US troop withdrawal, thousands have been desperately trying to flee Afghanistan, with chaotic images emerging from the Kabul airport.

But some families want to repatriate to their homeland, saying the Taliban will bring stability to the war-torn nation.

“We emigrated from Afghanistan during bombing and hardships, when Muslims were in trouble, now, praise be to Allah, the situation is normal, so we are returning to Afghanistan,” Molavi Shaib told AFP while waiting at the border.

Divided by a 10-foot-deep trench filled with barbed wire, the mountainous boundary separating Spin Boldak from Chaman in Pakistan’s southwest sees thousands crossing the trade route every day.

As scores try to escape Taliban rule, Pakistan has ramped up security at the border, making the process more stringent.

Muhammad Nabi said:

People want to return but they are not allowed to cross, we request the Pakistani government to allow us to cross the border because there’s no war, and peace has been established.

We have our household with women and kids waiting - we want them to cross the border.

Pakistan has housed over two million Afghan refugees since the first wave of war broke out in Afghanistan over 40 years ago, with numbers fluctuating based on the conflict’s intensity, but the country has said it is not in a position to take in any more.

Displaced Afghans have long complained about feeling unwelcome with little access to employment and citizenship rights.

Many have become pawns in a diplomatic blame-game between the countries, which have accused each other of aiding militant groups. Islamabad has long been seen as protecting the Taliban and could be one of the few governments with close ties to the new regime in Kabul.

With dust blowing over their belongings and children squeezed in between the furniture, dozens of trucks are parked in Chaman’s barren fields, as returnees complete document checks and wait for their crossing to be approved.

On the back of one truck, a teenage boy holds a baby, surrounded by a hodgepodge of household goods including a bucket, a bed and a bicycle. Another boy sits next to him on a yellow cushion while a white goat can be seen milling about between them.

The returnees say they will have better lives in Afghanistan.

Wali Ur Rahman told AFP:

I am returning to Ghazni, now peace has been established and we are happy that we are returning back to our home. It’s much better to go back and settle there.

His words are a jarring contrast to the images from Kabul airport where people have clung to the exterior of planes and at least one person has fallen to their death off a departing jet.

Many of those trying to get out of Afghanistan fear reprisals from the Taliban after working for foreign governments that fought the militants during the 20-year war.

But Nabi said he was confident the end of the conflict would bring a brighter future.

“We migrated here to Pakistan because of the ongoing war in Afghanistan, now peace has been established,” he said.

Dominic Raab said he is unclear how many people will be left behind in Afghanistan once British troops withdraw by 31 August.

The UK foreign secretary said the figure depends on “the window” left in terms of timing and how many people they manage to process over the next few days.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

It’s also how many want to come, as there are some finely balanced cases.

Raab also declined to comment on whether British troops would return to Afghanistan in the future.

I’m not going to speculate on that while we’re in the middle of withdrawals.

The United Kingdom retains the right to exercise self-defence in relation to our nationals in our country. We’re not getting into speculating about that.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said the government is working with former marine Paul Farthing and his animal charity to try to get him and his staff out of Afghanistan.

Farthing, known as Pen, has campaigned to have both his employees and the animals in their care evacuated in a plan he has dubbed Operation Ark.

On Monday, he announced that the UK government had granted visas for all his staff and their dependants â€" totalling 68 people â€" but the evacuation of the shelter’s animals has remained a sticking point.

In an update today, Raab told LBC:

We’re trying to do all we can for the staff, but in terms of the animals, and the question of whether they can be prioritised ahead of the other people that are trying to get out, I don’t have anything more to add to what the defence secretary, I think, rightly said in the last 24 hours.

The UK foreign secretary said “with hindsight” he would not have gone on holiday to Crete with the Taliban advancing on Kabul.

Dominic Raab told BBC Breakfast he was “caught unawares” by the speed of the Taliban’s advancement, but he said it was “nonsense” to say he was “lounging around on the beach all day”.

The cabinet minister was heavily criticised for the timing of his five-star holiday and for not returning to the UK when the situation in Afghanistan became clearer.

However, Raab said he was working while in Crete and that he did not go paddleboarding, as reported, because “the sea was actually closed”.

He told Sky News:

The stuff about me being lounging around on the beach all day is just nonsense. The stuff about me paddleboarding, nonsense, the sea was actually closed, it was a red notice.

I was focused on the Cobra meetings, the Foreign Office team, the director and the director general, and the international engagement.

Here’s the video of Joe Biden saying the US is “on pace” to finish its Afghanistan evacuation efforts by 31 August, despite pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops on the ground.

The US president cited a growing terrorist threat as a reason to continue its mass evacuation.

‘The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,’ he said

Uganda’s government says 51 people evacuated from Afghanistan have arrived in the East African country at the request of the United States.

Authorities said in a statement that the group, transported to Uganda in a chartered flight, arrived early today. That statement said they included men, women and children. No more details were given on the identities of the evacuees.

Ugandan officials said last week the country would shelter up to 2,000 people fleeing the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. They said the Afghans would be brought to Uganda in small groups in a temporary arrangement before they were relocated elsewhere.

Uganda has long been a security ally of the US.

Russia is preparing to evacuate more than 500 people on four military planes from Afghanistan â€" its first airlift operation since evacuations from Kabul began.

The Defence Ministry has said that it will airlift the nationals of Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine from Kabul.

Teams of medical workers will be present on each plane, the ministry said, should any of the evacuees require medical attention.

The evacuations will be carried out upon orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the ministry noted.

The UK Foreign Secretary has said Britain wants to “exercise the maximum moderating influence that it can” to prevent the Taliban from turning Afghanistan into a breeding ground for terror.

Dominic Raab said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to hold the G7 meeting on Tuesday was “incredibly important” but also the Government needed to “broaden that group of like-minded countries as well”.

He told Times Radio:

I’ve been speaking to China, Pakistan, India and we’ll be trying to convene meetings of the permanent members of the Security Council to agree the contours for the way forward.

In terms of the leaders, we will use all the leaders at our disposal. Sanctions potentially, access to the international financial institutions... If they (the Taliban) want aid going into Afghanistan, it won’t go through the Taliban, they’ll have to provide a permissive environment for NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and the UN.

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