Live Updates: Taliban Takeover Caused by Failure of Afghan Political, Military Leadership, NATO Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the Afghan resistance, is still in Afghanistan, Iranian news agency Fars reported on Saturday, citing a source.

According to the source, rumors about Massoud leaving the Central Asian country for Turkey or any other place are false. The resistance leader is said to be in a safe place and in contact with the Panjshir Valley.

The source added that despite the Taliban (terrorist group, banned in Russia) controlling about 70% of the province, its valleys are still in the hands of the resistance.

Panjshir was the only Afghan province to resist the Taliban before it was subdued on Monday. The resistance forces have since vowed to retreat into guerrilla warfare, while Massoud called on Afghans to rebel against the Taliban, and accused unidentified "foreign forces" of supporting the radical movement. Several anti-Pakistan protests took place in Afghanistan and abroad following his call.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) company has refuted earlier reports about resuming flights to Kabul, Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported on Saturday, citing PIA spokesman Abdul Hafiz.

Earlier in the day, Pakistani broadcaster Bol News reported that the airline would resume passenger flights to Kabul at the beginning of the next week.

Hafiz said that the airline was willing to resume flights to the Afghan capital but no decision had been made so far, mentioning that the PIA only asked with Afghan officials about resuming chartered flights.

On Thursday, Mutlaq al-Qahtani, the special Qatari envoy to Afghanistan, said that specialists restored equipment in the Kabul airport damaged during the withdrawal of the foreign troops. On the same day, the first international commercial flight arrived in Kabul from Doha.

NATO should adopt a more objective and self-critical view regarding the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan instead of putting all the blame on the Afghan authorities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, the NATO chief blamed "a collapse of the political and military leadership" for the radical movement seizing the country. Speaking at a joint press conference after meeting with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Lavrov responded by advising Russia's NATO partners to refrain from laying the blame for what has transpired at someone's door.

"And, of course, the NATO members should probably assess the situation more adequately and more objectively, more self-critically," Lavrov said.

The Taliban (terrorist group, outlawed in Russia) completed its conquest of Afghanistan after seizing Kabul on August 15 and ousting the US-backed authorities.

Strategic alliance between the United States and NATO remains solid, and Washington is eager to strengthen it, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Saturday.
"We saw NATO come in to Afghanistan in a major way as one of allies, and that alliance remains strong. Our goal is to continue to strengthen that," Austin said.
Asked about allies’ disappointment in the way the war in Afghanistan ended abruptly while many people who hoped to leave were still in Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said that the US will work to evacuate those individuals and continues its "efforts to help the people who helped us."
Austin expressed hope that more people will be able to leave Afghanistan in near future.
"We are working hard to make sure that happens," he said.
He also thanked the government of Qatar for its support in evacuation process.

The state-run Pakistan International Airlines company will resume passenger flights to Kabul at the beginning of next week, Bol News broadcaster reported on Saturday.

The Afghan civil aviation authority reportedly permitted Pakistan International Airlines to conduct commercial flights to the country. The company will use Airbus A320 aircraft.

On Thursday, Mutlaq al-Qahtani, the special Qatari envoy to Afghanistan, said that specialists restored equipment in the Kabul airport damaged during the withdrawal of the foreign troops. On the same day, the first international commercial flight arrived in Kabul from Doha.

Following the Taliban takeover of the Afghan capital last month, a number of countries began evacuating their citizens, diplomatic missions, as well as Afghan collaborators from Kabul. Foreign forces were under pressure to meet the 31 August deadline to complete the operation, as the Taliban refused to provide any extra time.

The seizure of Afghanistan by the Taliban Islamist movement was caused by the collapse of the Afghan political and military leadership, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

“What we saw was a collapse of the political and military leadership, and that triggered the collapse of the whole defense against the Taliban,” Stoltenberg told The New York Times newspaper.

The NATO chief stressed that a lot of analysis would be conducted to study whether the withdrawal of the US and its allies from Afghanistan had triggered the collapse of the Afghan government.

“My main focus is how we can preserve the gains made in the fight against terrorism and how you get people out of Afghanistan,” he added.

The Taliban entered Kabul on August 15, ending a weeks-long offensive and resulting in the collapse of the US-backed government.

Internationally recognized Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resigned and left the country for the United Arab Emirates. The seizure of power has forced thousands of Afghans to seek escape from the country for fear of reprisals from the militants.