Afghanistan news – live: Biden not ruling out sending more troops to Kabul, as airport death toll hits 20

The US defence secretary has insisted that none of the options available to the Biden administration in Afghanistan were “good options” as he defended the decision to withdraw troops from the country this month.

Lloyd Austin was asked by ABC’s This Week on Sunday whether he thought that the withdrawal plan had been “acceptable and appropriate” given how quickly the Taliban had retaken power.

Mr Austin replied: “I do, based upon what we were looking at and the inputs to the plan.

“But I think you have to go back and look at what the administration inherited. We came in and we were faced with a 1 May deadline to have all forces out of the country. This deal had been struck with the Taliban.”

He added: “So he [Biden] had to very rapidly go through a detailed assessment and look at all options in terms of what he could do and none of those options were good options.

“He went through a very rigorous process, a very detailed process… but again he was faced with a situation where there were no good options.”

Boris Johnson has spoken to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today about the crisis in Afghanistan, with both leaders agreeing that any new government must protect the rights of women and minorities in the country, according to Downing Street.

“The prime minister spoke to Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan today about the crisis in Afghanistan,” a No 10 spokesperson said.

“They discussed the importance of the international community working together to stabilise the situation and support Afghans in the country and in the region.”

They added: “The leaders shared the view that any new government must be representative of Afghanistan’s diverse population and protect the rights of women and minorities, and that the Taliban would be judged by their actions not their words on this.

“They agreed that countries must commit to burden-sharing on aid and refugees, noting that United Nations coordination would be central to that effort.”

The Biden administration today described the security threat to Americans at Kabul airport as “acute”.

Yesterday, the US government said that there was a risk of threats from groups such as al-Qaeda and Isis.

“The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and something we’re focused with every tool in our arsenal,” said President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan. 

It comes as the administration said it was considering “creative ways” to get Americans and Afghan allies out of Afghanistan.

Mr Sullivan said on CNN show “State of the Union” that 3,900 people had been airlifted out of Kabul on US military flights in the past 24 hour, and that about the same number of people were evacuated on non-US military flights over the same period. 

No firm estimates of the number of Americans who are seeking to get out of Afghanistan have been made. Some have said the total is likely between 10,000 and 15,000. Mr Sullivan said it is “several thousand.” 

The Pentagon today ordered six US commercial airlines to help move evacuees from temporary sites outside of Afghanistan. 

Bahrain said today that its state-owned airline is helping evacuate people in Afghanistan to the US.

The US-allied island kingdom said that a Gulf Air flight will take people from its Isa Air Base in Bahrain to Dulles International Airport, west of Washington DC. 

The official statement said the flight was an “affirmation of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s efforts to protect lives.” 

The son of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, who was one of the main leaders of Afghanistan’s anti-Soviet resistance in the 1980s, said he will not surrender areas under his control to the Taliban.

The comments of Ahmad Massoud, founder of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, whose stronghold is the Panjshir valley in the north-east of Afghanistan, were cited today by Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel.

He called for a comprehensive government to rule Afghanistan with the participation of the Taliban, adding that war will be “unavoidable” if the Taliban refuse to engage, the TV channel said.

Massoud said government forces opposed to the Taliban have rallied from different provinces to gather in his stronghold.

According to his Wikipedia page, Massoud, 32, did a year-long military course at Sandhurst in 2012, before going on to study war studies at King’s College, University of London, and then obtain a master’s degree in international politics at City, University of London.

A woman that had been flown out of Afghanistan has given birth on board an evacuation flight.

She was on a US Air Force C-17 aircraft flying from an “intermediate base” in the Middle East to the US Air Force’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

The woman began experiencing complications during the flight on Saturday, the US military’s Air Mobility Command tweeted.

It said: “The aircraft commander decided to descend in altitude to increase air pressure in the aircraft, which helped stabilise and save the mother’s life.”

On arrival at Ramstein, which is being used as a transit base for evacuees bound for the US, medics boarded the plane and delivered the baby in the aircraft’s cargo bay.

“The baby girl and mother were transported to a nearby medical facility and are in good condition,” the US military said.

Britain’s ambassador to Afghanistan says British authorities have managed to evacuate more than 5,000 people, with 1,000 in the last 14 hours alone.

Laurie Bristow said in a statement on Twitter that the “huge effort” to move evacuees out of Afghanistan is “gathering pace” but that there is still “a huge amount of work to do.” 

He said he is in the evacuation handling centre in Kabul where soldiers, diplomats and forces have been “working around the clock to get our British nationals, Afghan colleagues and Embassy staff to safety.” 

In addition to the 4,000 or so UK nationals, there are thought to be around 5,000 Afghan allies, such as translators and drivers, who are earmarked for a seat on a British aircraft. 

A toddler was one of the people that was trampled to death at Kabul airport, according to reports.

The two-year-old girl’s mother – a former employee of a US organisation in Kabul – said, according to the New York Times: “My heart is bleeding. It was like drowning and trying to hold your baby above the water.”

The woman said that her daughter, husband, disabled parents, three sisters, and cousin were trying to get a flight out of Afghanistan when the crowd surged towards the gates of the airport.

“I felt pure terror. I couldn’t save her,” she told the newspaper when recalling the horrific incident.

The bereaved mother said the family has no plans to return to the airport, adding that she would “rather die a dignified death here at home than die in such an undignified way,.”

At least 20 people have died amid the distressing chaos at Kabul’s airport since the Taliban took over Afghanistan last Sunday.

A British officer working in Kabul has told of his pride at how troops have dealt with an unprecedented and complex situation in the Afghan capital.

Lt Col Justin Baker, of 16 Air Assault Brigade, was speaking from Kabul on Sunday morning as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said British armed forces had safely evacuated nearly 4,000 people from Afghanistan since 13 August.

Every passenger to fly on a British aircraft goes to a passenger handling centre in Kabul where members of the Brigade have been working “tirelessly” on the evacuations, according to the MoD.

Lt Col Baker said: “It is the operating environment here which is so complex that it is making the operating environment so challenging, I think this is something that nobody has experienced before.

“We are facing challenges that nobody has experiences for but I have been really impressed by how agile and adaptable that the whole force has been and how well they have coped with those challenges.”

The government has listed groups of non-British nationals that it is prioritising for evacuation out of Afghanistan.

Its list includes Afghans who have supported “British efforts” in the country, which include interpreters and other personnel.

Other prioritised groups include current or former Chevening Scholars, people with existing leave or an open application for student, work, and family visas, and journalists and those who have worked with British news agencies.

Those also on the list are members of civil society groups for womens’ rights, Afghan government officials, officials working in counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics, and employees of charities, humanitarian organisations and NGOs.

The guidance was published on the government’s website today.