The Latest: More Afghan evacuees arrive in Albania

TIRANA, Albania– The Albanian government said 154 Afghans evacuated from their country on Saturday, fearing the Taliban arrived on two charter flights. A government spokesman confirmed the arrivals, organized by a U.S. nonprofit organization, without giving more details.

The Afghans were taken from Tirana’s international airport to a student housing area to stay for a couple of weeks before moving to hotels in other cities. The first Group of 121 Afghans, which came a day earlier, has been housed at a tourist resort near Tirana.

The Afghans are first taken to military tents for COVID-19 tests, medical and psychological assistance, and processing of their identification data. The government has said that as many as 4,000 Afghans may stay at least a year in Albania while proceeding with special visas for final settlement in the U.S.

MORE ON AFGHANISTAN:

— U.S. presses on with evacuations despite fears of more attacks

— Taliban success in Afghanistan seen as a boost for extremists

— Couple hopeful for children’s future after escape from Kabul

— Explainer: How dangerous is Afghanistan’s Islamic State?

— U.S. soldier loses 1 Afghan translator; fights to save another

— Deadliest days for U.S. troops in Afghanistan

— Biden left with difficult choices after the deadly Kabul attacks

— Afghanistan’s top high school graduate fears for her future

— Find more A.P. coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/afghanistan

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

PARIS —

France ended evacuation operations on Friday, and its team at the makeshift French Embassy at Kabul’s airport pulled up stakes. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defense Minister Florence Parly announced that evacuations drew close, with nearly 3,000 transferred out of Afghanistan.

“The team at France’s embassy in Kabul reached Abu Dhabi before returning to France,” the statement said, suggesting that Ambassador David Martinon was returning home, too. A French base in Abu Dhabi has been the transit point for French evacuees before heading to Paris.

On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron said that the ambassador and other diplomatic staff would leave Kabul “in the next few days” aboard one of the last French flights out. He said the ambassador would maintain his posting, but “for security reasons, he will be operating from Paris” for the time being.

The statement by the ministers said that France would continue its work of sheltering Afghans who are threatened, “including after Aug. 31.” “We are continuing with our efforts with Taliban officials to guarantee they will in no way hinder the departure of those who wish to leave after Aug. 31,” the statement said.

WASHINGTON —

The suicide bomber who killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members at the Kabul airport carried about 25 pounds of explosives loaded with shrapnel.

The massive amount of explosives and a spray of shrapnel created such a large blast that it killed U.S. troops inside the airport gate and troops and Afghans outside, said the official, who spoke anonymously to discuss preliminary assessments of the bombing.

A more routine suicide bomber often carries five to 10 pounds of explosives. According to officials, the bomber got to within several yards of the Kabul airport gate, where Afghans were crowned as part of the ongoing chaotic evacuation from Afghanistan.

ISTANBUL –

Turkey has pulled out all its civilians and military from Afghanistan except for a few technicians, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday while appearing to criticize the manner of the U.S. withdrawal.

“We transported our citizens to our country. Currently, we have a small number of technical elements. Apart from this, we have withdrawn all our teams,” Erdogan told a news conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

“Countries that say they are the strongest in the world should leave the places they enter much more carefully,” he said. “Leaving these countries by handing them over to terrorist organizations is expensive.”

In an apparent reference to the Taliban and the Islamic State group, Erdogan said there was a conflict “between terrorist organizations” in Afghanistan, and “it is unthinkable that Turkey or any other country will profit from their conflict.”

The prospect of Turkey operating Hamid Karzai International Airport after withdrawing foreign troops was first raised in June. Still, it seemed to have passed when the Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15. Earlier Friday, Erdogan said Turkey was talking with the Taliban about providing technical support to keep the airport running after NATO forces leave.

UNITED NATIONS —

The U.N. Security Council has added its voice to the outpouring of denunciations of the suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. The council called the attack deplorable and said in a statement on Friday that deliberately targeting civilians and people helping them evacuate “is especially abhorrent.”

The Islamic State suicide bomber struck amid a crowd of people trying to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban overran the country earlier this month. The attack killed well over 100 Afghans and 13 members of the U.S. military.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the attack in remarks to reporters Thursday. Security concerns prompted the U.N. to relocate some personnel from Afghanistan to the Kazakh capital of Almaty in recent days.

On Friday, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said about 3,000 Afghan nationals and 200 international staffers are continuing their work for the U.N. inside Afghanistan. The World body is continuing to provide humanitarian aid.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden’s national security team has told the president that another terror attack is “likely” in Kabul and that “maximum force protection” measures are being taken at the airport in the Afghan capital.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not detail the assessment Biden received from his team one day after a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. servicemembers and scores of Afghans outside the airport.

Psaki says the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule “will be the most dangerous period to date.” Biden has said that he intends to complete the evacuation by his Tuesday deadline.

ROME —

Italy’s final Air Force flight out of Kabul has 58 Afghan civilians aboard, including many children. Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini said the evacuees, who departed from Kabul airport early on Friday evening on a C-130, would arrive in Rome on Saturday morning. The evacuation brought 5,011 people Italy could airlift to safety out of Kabul. All but 121 of them are Afghan citizens. The minister said that number “is far higher than initially estimated.”

Three previous flights arrived in Rome on Friday or were expected to touch down in Italy later in the evening. Italy’s consul in Afghanistan, who had directed evacuation logistics at Kabul airport, and an Italian diplomat in charge of the NATO countries’ evacuations also took Italy’s last flight out.

“Today ends the 20-year commitment of the Italian armed forces in Afghanistan,” said Gen. Luciano Portolano, the interforce commander of the evacuation mission. Italy’s military contingent, based in western Herat province, was one of the West’s larger forces in the country following the U.S.-led invasion in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. In the evacuation effort, Italy’s air force flew 87 flights over 15 days. About 228 Afghan citizens were flown to Italy in June after Italy closed down the Herat base.

LONDON —

The U.K. says two British citizens and the child of another Briton were among those killed in the suicide bomb attack at Kabul’s airport. It was unclear if the British victims were dual nationals and Afghan citizens.

According to a preliminary count, the government says two other Britons were wounded in the attack, which killed 169 Afghans and 13 American troops. A final count of those killed as they queued, hoping to get an evacuation flight, might take time amid confusion, with many bodies dismembered or not yet identified.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the Britons killed “were innocent people, and it is a tragedy that as they sought to bring their loved ones to safety in the U.K., they were murdered by cowardly terrorists.” Britain evacuated almost 14,000 U.K. citizens and Afghans from Kabul in an airlift in its final hours Friday.

BUCHAREST, Romania —

Romania’s foreign ministry says it has evacuated five Afghan citizens from Kabul with the support of international partners. Friday’s statement said the Afghans include a student with a scholarship in Romania and two journalists with their family members. It did not specify which international partners helped evacuate the Afghans, who the ministry said are “safe outside Afghan territory.”

Romanian authorities have said they are making “sustained efforts” to evacuate Afghan citizens, such as those who worked with Romanian troops and journalists, students, human rights activists, judges, and their families. “These steps are taking place in an extremely complex, volatile, and unpredictable security context,” the ministry said.

Romanian officials last week said that several Afghan citizens had been earmarked for evacuation to Romania. Still, none could make it safely to Kabul airport the previous week when Romania’s military launched three evacuation flights. So far, 49 Romanians have been evacuated from Afghanistan, 17 on Romanian flights, and the rest with international partners. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu said that nine Romanians remain in Afghanistan but do not want to be evacuated.

BERLIN —

German authorities are preparing for dozens of people wounded in Thursday’s Kabul airport attack to arrive at the U.S. Air Base Ramstein. The head of the Kaiserslautern regional authority said on Friday that about 30-40 men, women, and children were expected, in some cases, severe injuries. They will be transported to nearby hospitals.

Ralf Lesmeister said it wasn’t clear whether they were civilians or soldiers or their nationalities. He noted the U.S. military operates a sizeable medical facility nearby at Landstuhl. Rescue services and surrounding hospitals have been alerted to receive the wounded.

WASHINGTON —

The Pentagon says it has determined that the attack at the Kabul airport on Thursday involved only one location, not two, as previously reported. The Pentagon said one Islamic State suicide bomber struck at the Abbey Gate, where desperate Afghans were crowding to try and enter Kabul airport grounds, and U.S. troops were conducting security checks.

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, the deputy director for regional operations on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff, told reporters on Friday that there was no second explosion near the Baron Hotel near the airport. He said the bombing at the Abbey Gate was followed by direct gunfire from north of the gate — part of the military’s complex attack. Taylor said they have no more details on the identity of the shooters. Taylor attributed the incorrect initial U.S. report about a second explosion to confusion.

In its claim of responsibility late Thursday, I.S. said one of its fighters carried out the bombing and posted a purported photo of the bomber, posing with his explosives vest before the attack. The U.S. said 13 troops were killed in the deadliest day for American forces in Afghanistan since August 2011. Two officials said 169 Afghans died, but a final count might take time amid the confusion.

ROME —

Russia’s foreign minister says the priority after the evacuations from Afghanistan is to ensure security, especially with nations bordering the war-torn country.

Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Rome after meeting with Italy’s premier and foreign minister on Friday that Russia “wants to understand better our Western partners’ role for Russia” in Afghanistan.

Lavrov referred to Premier Mario Draghi’s determination to use Italy’s current presidency of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging-market nations to work closely with Russia and China on Afghanistan. Lavrov said he pressed Italy also to involve Iran and Pakistan in any such multi-national effort. Those two countries, which are not G-20 members, border Afghanistan.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio called Russia essential as countries scramble to forge new policy now that Taliban forces control Afghanistan.” Only coherent and shared global action will be effective toward the new authorities in Kabul,” Di Maio said. Lavrov said, “Russia is ready to respect the accords reached with the Taliban.” Draghi said he hopes to convene a special G-20 meeting in Afghanistan sometime in September.

AMMAN, Jordan —

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said Friday that the first Group of Afghan citizens flown to Jordan earlier this week had left the Arab kingdom for the United States.

The Foreign Ministry said 800 Afghan citizens departed at dawn Friday and that their passage through Jordan was according to the kingdom’s prearranged agreement with the United States. The agreement stipulates that Jordan would have a maximum of 2,500 Afghans pass through its territory on their way to the U.S.

The Foreign Ministry said the arrival and departure of this first Group of Afghans were completed in under a week. Afghans could continue to transit through Jordan to the United States until the end of Aug. It added that Afghan citizens that pass through Jordan for this “short transit period” have no status as refugees in the kingdom.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands —

The Dutch defense ministry says the country’s final Kabul evacuees landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. The church says that two flights that arrived in the Netherlands on Friday carried 187 passengers; all but two of them were Dutch nationals. The last Dutch evacuation flight left Kabul on Thursday when two suicide bombings killed over 100 people. No Dutch military or diplomatic personnel were harmed in the bombings.

ISLAMABAD —

The Pakistani military says the situation along the border with Afghanistan is normal. There have been no Afghan refugee crossings since the Taliban took control of the neighboring country earlier this month. Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar told a news conference on Friday that the corners remain open for trade and Afghans with valid travel documents. But it’s not a “free-for-all,” he said.

In the past two weeks, Pakistan had facilitated the evacuation of about 5,500 foreigners from Kabul and deployed additional troops along the border to ensure no illegal crossings. He said that the Taliban leadership had assured Pakistan they would not allow any militant group to use Afghan soil for attacks against Pakistan in the future.

GENEVA —

The U.N. refugee agency is gearing up for as many as half a million people or more to flee from Afghanistan in a “worst-case scenario” in the coming months. UNHCR says the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last week “remains uncertain and may evolve rapidly,” with up to 515,000 new refugees fleeing.

The agency said that would add to the 2.2 million Afghans registered as refugees abroad — nearly all in Pakistan and Iran. “The upsurge of violence across the country and the fall of the elected government may have a serious impact on civilians and cause further displacement,” the plan said.

The agency cited estimates that 558,000 people have been internally displaced within Afghanistan due to armed conflict this year alone – four in five of them women and children. “UNHCR estimates that the number of displaced will rise internally and across the border,” it said.

Najeeba Wazedafost, CEO of the Asia Pacific Refugee Network, in an online UNHCR news conference on Friday, warned of “coming darkness” in Afghanistan amid a “tragically intertwined series of crises.” The U.N. agency seeks nearly $300 million for its response plan for inter-agency requirements.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark —

Finnish officials said on Friday that the Nordic country’s evacuation efforts in Afghanistan ended a day earlier and that some people had been evacuated for humanitarian reasons.

Finland has managed to evacuate a total of 330 people, including about 150 Finnish citizens and people with staying permits in Finland, according to local broadcaster YLE. Another 80 people were E.U. delegates and NATO personnel.

Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said decisions were made to evacuate for humanitarian reasons and that some of those included minors and orphans. “Small children that were in danger of being trampled on by the masses were brought to safety,” Haavisto told a news conference. The Finnish Immigration Service said that about 80 people had sought asylum, some of them minors; YLE reported

MADRID —

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says his country will bring out Afghans left behind after Spain closed its evacuation operation on Friday. Sánchez noted that Spain evacuated over 2,200 people in the past ten days. He thanked civil servants, aid workers, and military members who “took out the highest quantity of men, women, and children in the shortest time possible.” “You make us proud,” Sánchez said at a televised press conference on Friday. “Mission accomplished.”

Sánchez said that 17 flights out of Kabul and Dubai in the past ten days had brought to a military base in the outskirts of Madrid a total of 2,206 people, including 1,671 Spaniards or Afghan nationals linked to Spain’s work in Afghanistan; 333 who worked for the E.U. and their relatives; 131 with the United States; 50 related to NATO’s operations and 21 on behalf of Portugal. The last few people were expected to land in Madrid later on Friday. The prime minister didn’t respond to questions by The Associated Press about how many were left behind but, without offering details, said that Spain will continue working on a new phase to bring them out.

Sánchez condemned the attack that killed scores at the Kabul airport on Thursday. Its consequence will be global security challenges, including migratory flows. “The Spanish government desires to work together within the European Union and NATO to solve them,” he said. He added that Spain had always expressed doubts about pulling out of Afghanistan by the former and current U.S. administrations.

ROME —

Italy’s foreign minister has confirmed that the last Italian military flight evacuating people from Afghanistan will depart from Kabul later on Friday. Luigi Di Maio said that among those aboard the departing C-130 Air Force aircraft would be the Italian consul, who had stayed in Kabul at the airport to oversee the evacuation of Italians and foreigners, and the top NATO diplomat, Stefano Pontecorvo, who is Italian.

Also aboard will be Italian Carabinieri paramilitary police and Italian soldiers who helped maintain security for evacuations carried out by Italy. “All the Italians who wanted to return to Italy have returned,” Di Maio said. The minister told reporters that some 4,900 Afghan citizens were evacuated to Italy.

MOSCOW —

Moscow has strongly condemned the bombings in Kabul and remains seriously concerned about the situation in Afghanistan, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“Unfortunately, pessimistic forecasts are being confirmed that terrorist groups and organizations that have settled there, the Islamic State first and foremost, and its derivatives, would take advantage of the chaos that has arisen in Afghanistan,” Peskov told a conference call with reporters Friday. It “adds to the tensions in Afghanistan” and remains the cause of the Kremlin’s “serious concern,” Peskov said.

STOCKHOLM —

Sweden says its evacuation from the Kabul airport “has been completed,” but not everyone got out. Foreign Minister Ann Linde said Friday that “we have not reached the ambition of evacuating even more” Swedes along with the civil society groups and former local employees of the Armed Forces.

“It didn’t work partly because the Taliban stopped Afghan citizens that we had managed to get to the airport,” she said. Linde hopes that at “a later stage,” Sweden will help several of the Armed Forces’ former local employees and Swedish citizens still in Afghanistan.

Linde said that “we have managed to evacuate more than 500 Swedes,” but also local hires and “some women’s activists and journalists and E.U. employees with families.” In total, Sweden has evacuated about 1,100 people.

BERLIN —

Germany believes about 300 citizens are still in Afghanistan after the country ended its evacuation flights from Kabul. Foreign Ministry spokesman Christofer Burger said Friday there are also some 10,000 Afghans who worked for German forces or for other reasons identified as entitled to evacuation. But it’s unclear how many of those might have found a way out other than on German flights.

Before ending its evacuation mission on Thursday, the German military flew 5,347 people out of Kabul, including over 4,000 Afghans and some 500 Germans. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that Germany is in direct contact with the remaining German citizens on ways to support an “organized departure” from Afghanistan.

He said officials are in talks with the Taliban and others on the possible future civilian use of Kabul Airport and will try to facilitate the departure of endangered Afghans. Germany plans to beef up staffing at its embassies in neighboring countries. Maas said he would travel to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan starting Sunday to discuss getting Afghans quickly and safely from their country’s border to German embassies. He said Germany would offer those countries support in dealing with the humanitarian fallout of events in Afghanistan.

BEIJING —-

China says it condemns the attacks on Kabul airport and is “ready to work with the international community to address the threat of terrorism and prevent Afghanistan from becoming a source of terrorism again.”

On Friday afternoon, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was Beijing’s first comment on the suicide bombings. Zhao said no Chinese were killed or injured in the Thursday attacks and that China had advised its citizens to “strengthen security precautions.”

“Meanwhile, we have requested the relevant parties to take measures to ensure the safety of Chinese personnel,” Zhao told reporters at the daily briefing. China has kept its embassy in Kabul open and recently hosted talks between the Taliban and its ambassador while piling on criticism of the U.S. over the chaotic scenes at Kabul airport.

Zhao also reiterated China’s concerns over what Beijing says is a threat to its security constituted by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, whose ability to mount anti-China operations has long been questioned. “The head of the Afghan Taliban has made it clear to China that he will never allow any forces to use Afghan territory to do things detrimental to China,” Zhao said.

“We hope that the relevant parties will take effective measures to ensure a smooth transition of the situation in Afghanistan and the personal safety of the Afghan people and foreign citizens there,” he said. Zhao has not mounted any large-scale evacuation of its citizens from the country or dispatched personnel to aid in maintaining security at the airport.

ISTANBUL –

The Taliban have asked Turkey to operate Kabul airport, but no decision has been made yet, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday. “The Taliban have requested for us to operate Kabul airport. We have not yet decided on this matter,” he told a news conference at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport before leaving for a trip to Bosnia.

Erdogan said a meeting with the Taliban lasted more than three hours at the Turkish Embassy in Kabul, without saying when the meeting occurred. “If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such meetings again.” He added: “We will decide the administration (in Afghanistan) is clear.”

The president added that the evacuation of Turkish troops from Kabul, which began on Wednesday, was ongoing. He condemned Thursday’s attacks. The prospect of Turkey operating Hamid Karzai International Airport after the withdrawal of NATO troops was first raised in June. Still, it seemed to have passed when the Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15.

TOKYO —

Japan said Friday it is pursuing efforts in Kabul to evacuate its citizens and local staff who worked for the Japanese embassy and development agencies, despite the deadly suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters Friday that Japan is concerned and closely watching developments.

“The situation is fluid and unpredictable, but we plan to continue our efforts to safely evacuate Japanese nationals and local staff,” he said. There may be little time left for evacuation. Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi told a governing party meeting on Thursday that operations would have to be finished mainly by Friday, given the deadline.

Japan sent four military and government aircraft to Kabul and a nearby country earlier this week to evacuate its citizens and selected Afghan people — local staff who worked at the Japanese embassy and development agencies, including Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA.

MADRID —

A U.S. military aircraft have flown around 400 people evacuated from Afghanistan to the navy base of Rota, in southern Spain — the first Group of up to 4,000 people expected there. The flight landed at 9:40 a.m. local time on Friday, the U.S. embassy in Spain said. U.S. officials, American and Spanish soldiers, Red Cross workers, and base volunteers are responsible for processing the arrivals.

The Rota navy base and the nearby air force base of Morón, both hosting a significant U.S. military presence, have been overhauled to welcome the evacuees during the past few days. Photos on the bases’ official social media sites showed a big warehouse converted into a canteen and a basketball court filled with dozens of makeshift beds. Soldiers were also photographed putting up tents.

A bilateral agreement signed last week between Spain and the U.S. governments allows the evacuation of the two bases of up to 4,000 people while they are cleared to continue their trips to the U.S. The Spanish government has put a 15-day cap on the Afghans’ stay in the bases owned by Spain.

PARIS —

France’s European affairs minister says France will end its evacuation operation in Kabul “soon” but may seek to extend it until after Friday night. Clement Beaune said on French radio that Europe 1 that France continues its process in order “to evacuate as many people as possible.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that France has identified “several hundred people,” including French nationals and a majority of Afghans, who remain to be evacuated. After two suicide bombings killed at least 95 Afghans and 13 American troops near Kabul airport, Macron was speaking. Before the explosions, the French prime minister said France would end its operation on Friday evening.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark —

Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soereide said Friday she regrets that “it was not possible to help everyone this time” as the last plane of evacuees from Afghanistan landed in Oslo.

Eriksen Soereide told the Norwegian news agency NTB that the plane carried 128 people — including Norwegian citizens and “others who qualify for entry and Afghans in need of protection.” So far, Norway has evacuated 1,098 people.

Another plane which will be the last one with evacuees, is scheduled to arrive later Friday. “This will be the very last plane with people who have received help to travel from Kabul this time,” she added.

“The operation ends after yesterday’s horrific terrorist attack that claimed many lives. We have always been clear that the time window could be short due to the security situation and because a deadline has been set for completion.”

ROME —

Italy’s last airbridge flight with 109 Afghan citizens evacuated from Kabul has landed in Rome. An Italian state radio reporter said the C-130 had taken off earlier on Friday from Pakistan. The radio said Italy’s consul was staying at Kabul airport.

The Italian ambassador had left on one of the first flights on the air bridge, coordinating from Rome visas for Afghans who assisted the Italian military, worked in humanitarian organizations, or as rights advocates.

By Friday morning, Italy had evacuated more than 4,900 Afghans, nearly all since mid-August. It wasn’t immediately known if other persons, who might have received clearance to come to Italy but hadn’t been able to make it to Kabul airport, might be evacuated via other nations’ flights.

MADRID —

The Spanish government says it has ended its evacuation operation from Afghanistan with the arrival in Dubai early on Friday of the two military aircraft that have carried Spaniards and vulnerable Afghans out of the Taliban-controlled country.

The last flights carried Spanish aid workers, Afghan collaborators, and their relatives, as well as the previous 81 soldiers and diplomats that Spain kept at the Kabul airport, a statement from the Spanish government said. They were expected to arrive in Madrid later on Friday.

Spain has evacuated a total of 1,900 Afghan nationals, the statement said. Those include workers for the Spanish forces and embassy, relatives, and people who collaborated with the United States, Portugal, the European Union, and NATO.

LONDON —