Afghanistan News LIVE Updates: 145 Evacuated from Kabul Reach Delhi; Biden Still Hopes Afghan Airlift Will End by August 31

Why is CAA Necessary? Hardeep Puri Points to Plight of Sikhs, Hindus | Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said the recent turmoil in Afghanistan and troubles being faced by Sikhs and Hindus were why the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act was necessary. Puri, who handles the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and Housing and Urban Affairs, shared a tweet: “Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood & the way Sikhs & Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act. #CAA."

Biden Says Still Hoping for Afghan Airlift to End by Aug 31 | US President Joe Biden said Sunday he was still planning to finalize the dramatic evacuation from Afghanistan by August 31, but left the door open to extending the deadline if necessary. In a televised address from the White House on the chaotic exit, Biden said his "hope is we will not have to extend."

READ | 'Our Parents' Stories Coming True for Us': Afghan Women Students Face Bleak Future Post Taliban Takeover

A group of Afghan women too young to recall the Taliban's 1996-2001 rule are experiencing the same trauma once recounted by relatives after the group retook control of Afghanistan, leading thousands…

How the Valley Has Been Preparing to Fight? | Since the Taliban took control of the country following a lightning charge into the capital Kabul, thousands of people have made their way to Panjshir to both join the fight and find a safe haven to continue their lives, Ali Maisam Nazary had told the AFP. While the Taliban control the vast majority of Afghanistan, Nazary optimistically highlighted reports that local militias in some districts have already begun resisting their hardline rule and have formed links with Massoud’s NRF. 

Where is Panjshir Located? | Panjshir, or the “Five Lions", is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern region of the nation containing the Panjshir Valley, which is nestled in the peaks of Hindu Kush in north of Kabul. The province is divided into seven districts and comprises 512 settlements. As of 2021, the population of Panjshir province was roughly 173,000. Bazarak serves as the provincial capital. It is now controlled by the Second Resistance, and the only province yet to be captured by the Taliban since the 2021 Taliban onslaught.

In Panjshir, Ahmad Massoud, the son of legendary mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud who was assassinated by Al-Qaeda two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks, has sought to assemble a force of around 9,000 people to counter the militants, the spokesman, Ali Maisam Nazary, told AFP. Pictures taken by AFP during training exercises show dozens of recruits performing fitness routines, and a handful of armoured humvees driving across the valley northeast of Kabul.

“Hundreds of Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate are heading towards the state of Panjshir to control it, after local state officials refused to hand it over peacefully," the group wrote on its Arabic Twitter account. Since the Taliban took control of the country following a lightning charge into the capital Kabul, thousands of people have made their way to Panjshir according to a spokesman for anti-Taliban forces.

Panjshir on Taliban Target, ‘Hundreds’ of Fighters Out to Capture Valley | The Taliban said on Sunday that “hundreds" of its fighters were heading to the Panjshir Valley, one of the few parts of Afghanistan not yet controlled by the group, AFP reported. Since the Taliban overran Afghanistan, flickers of resistance have begun to emerge with some ex-government troops gathering in the Panjshir, north of Kabul, long known as an anti-Taliban bastion.