Nato members’ hopes that the US will extend the emergency evacuation from Afghanistan beyond August 31 were in doubt because of the risk of Taliban opposition, a British defence minister admitted on Monday. James Heappey said the Taliban “gets a vote” on whether to allow the air bridge out of Kabul to continue beyond the
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Seven Afghan civilians have been killed around Kabul international airport as chaos continued to hamper western efforts to evacuate people from the country, one week after the Taliban retook control. Confirming the civilian deaths, the UK defence ministry acknowledged on Sunday that “conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging”, as the US warned its citizens
Joe Biden pledged to evacuate every American trying to leave Afghanistan and insisted the botched US airlift was making “significant progress”, dismissing suggestions his administration had ignored warnings the Taliban would conquer Kabul at lightning speed. “This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” said Biden in a televised address to the
China’s biggest tech stocks are on track for their worst week in four months as groups including Alibaba came under renewed selling pressure on the latest signs that Beijing’s regulatory crackdown was tightening. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon index of large US-listed Chinese stocks closed more than 5 per cent lower on Thursday in New York,
European stocks tumbled at the open on Thursday, with commodities also under heavy pressure on mounting concerns over US monetary policy and the renewed spread of coronavirus. Major bourses across the region slid in early trading, with London’s FTSE 100 dropping about 2 per cent. The broad Europe Stoxx 600 fell 1.4 per cent with
The Taliban is rushing to work out how to govern Afghanistan after the militant Islamist group’s exiled leaders came back to a country that has changed profoundly since it was driven from power 20 years ago. While the Taliban has been setting up shadow governors and administrators to rule its conquered territory, the US has
The Taliban has urged public officials to return to work and renewed a pledge to grant amnesty to government workers a day after Joe Biden blamed Afghan security forces for their rapid capitulation to the insurgents. The Islamist group’s effort to reassure Afghans came as evacuation flights resumed from Kabul, following a chaotic day at
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban — 20 years after it was driven out — will end American influence in Afghanistan, probably for decades. In that sense, it is comparable to the overthrow of the Shah of Iran in 1979, the fall of Saigon in 1975 or the Cuban revolution of 1959. With the
Britain’s defence secretary has warned that Afghanistan risks descending into civil war and becoming a failed state as the Taliban captures large cities and gains ground in the wake of the hasty US troop withdrawal. The Islamist militia is now in control of Kandahar, Afghanistan’s second-biggest city, and Lashkar Gah in Helmand province after weeks
The US and UK will deploy troops to help evacuate staff from their embassies in Kabul as the Taliban continues its lightning rout of provincial capitals in Afghanistan following president Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw American troops. The Pentagon said it was sending 3,000 troops to Kabul in the next 24-48 hours to help with
The White House has called on Opec to boost oil production in an effort to curb high gasoline prices that Biden administration officials say “risk harming the ongoing global recovery”. Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden’s national security adviser, said in a statement on Wednesday that while Opec and its allies had “recently agreed to production increases”,
The US Senate passed a sweeping $1tn infrastructure bill on Tuesday in a major victory for Joe Biden and congressional Democrats. Nineteen Republicans, including the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, joined with all Democrats in Congress’s upper chamber to back the bill, which would dole out $550bn in new federal spending over the next five
The Pentagon plans to make Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for US troops by mid-September, as the country grapples with a rise in cases caused by the spread of the contagious Delta variant. “To defend this nation, we need a healthy and ready force,” wrote Lloyd Austin, defence secretary, in a memo to US forces released on
ByteDance, the owner of short-video app TikTok, has revived a plan to go public despite a widening regulatory assault targeting Chinese technology companies, aiming for a Hong Kong listing by early next year. The Chinese group, which raised about $5bn in December at a $180bn valuation, is planning to list in either the fourth quarter
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway reported a 7 per cent increase in profits in the second quarter, with many of the companies owned by the sprawling conglomerate benefiting from the economic recovery. The investment company disclosed on Saturday that it had earned $28.1bn, or $18,488 per class A share, in the three months to the end
The US labour market added 943,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4 per cent, in a sign that some of the worker shortages that have hampered the economic recovery have begun to ease. Non-farm payrolls data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday came in well above economists’ expectations
Apple intends to install software on American iPhones to scan for child abuse imagery, according to people briefed on its plans, raising alarm among security researchers who warn that it could open the door to surveillance of millions of people’s personal devices. Apple detailed its proposed system — known as “neuralMatch” — to some US
Robinhood shares surged as much as 82 per cent at the start of trading on Wednesday, prompting multiple trading halts as the market capitalisation of the newly listed US brokerage briefly climbed to $71bn. The rally, which lifted the stock to a high of $85, has accompanied a furious start to trading in the company’s
New York City will require proof of vaccination for a variety of indoor activities from dining to health clubs and concerts, Bill de Blasio, the city’s mayor, announced on Tuesday. The city is believed to be the first in the US to introduce such restrictions as the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant causes a rise
Some US cities and companies are reintroducing face mask requirements, even for people who are fully vaccinated, in an effort to counter a spike of Covid-19 infections caused by the more transmissible Delta variant. San Francisco and six other Bay Area counties on Monday reinstated a universal mask mandate for indoor public places. “Indoor masking