Afghanistan crisis live updates: Two killed in anti-Taliban protest in Herat

The US facilitated the departure of four American citizens from Afghanistan via an overland route to a "third country", becoming the first Americans to be evacuated from the war-torn country since the withdrawal of US troops, a senior State Department official has said. "Our Embassy greeted the Americans as they crossed the border into the third country," the official told CNN. The official did not identify the country the US used to facilitate the evacuation.

Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, the chief of the Taliban's powerful decision-making body 'Rehbari Shura', has been named as Afghanistan's new head of state by the insurgent group's top leader Mullah Hebatullah Akhundzada, according to a Pakistani media report. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Chairman of Taliban's Political Office in Doha, and Mullah Abdus Salam will work as deputies of Mullah Hasan in the new Taliban government, which is likely to be announced next week.

"They have gone to a range of countries and we are working with those governments where children have arrived without family support," spokesperson James Elder said, adding that more than 100 of the children are back with family members.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied on Tuesday reports that the Taliban had blocked Americans attempting to fly out of of a northern Afghan city, but said the group had not allowed charter flights to depart because some people lacked valid travel documents. Reports have emerged over the past few days that 1,000 people, including Americans, had been stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif airport for days awaiting clearance for their charter flights to leave.

Afghanistan is facing the collapse of basic services and food and other aid is about to run out, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday. The agency has released a flash appeal for around $600 million to meet humanitarian needs for 11 million people for the remainder of the year amid warnings of drought and starvation.

When the Taliban swept into Kabul last month, capturing Afghanistan's capital without a fight, the sheer speed of the collapse of the Western-backed and trained army stunned the world.But senior officials in the former Afghan administration told AFP that the lightning victory was not entirely unexpected, and the consequence of fundamental leadership failures, rampant corruption, slick Taliban propaganda -- and a crushing "betrayal" by US-led forces with their hasty pullout.

It is evident that Pakistans ISI, backing the Taliban, has marshalled the sophisticated operation in the Panjshir valley on Sunday to decimate the National Resistance Front, led by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the son of the legendary Tajik-Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the State Department is working with the Taliban to facilitate additional charter flights from Kabul for people seeking to leave Afghanistan after the American military and diplomatic departure.Blinken was speaking on Tuesday at a joint news conference with Qatar's top diplomats and defence officials. He said the U.S. has been in contact with the Taliban “in recent hours” to work out arrangements for additional charter flights from the Afghan capital.

Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets in the capital Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif city to protest against the Taliban rule and in support of the resistance movement led by Ahmad Massoud, Al Arabiya reported. Videos on social media showed crowds chanting "death to Taliban, long live Afghanistan" as people marched in the dark streets on Monday night. The chants by the protesters also included "death to Pakistan", IANS reported.