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

Taliban militants in Afghanistan have shot dead a policewoman in a provincial city, BBC has reported. The woman, named in local media as Banu Negar, was killed at the family home in front of relatives in Firozkoh, the capital of central Ghor province.

Taliban fighters advanced deep into the last holdout province of Panjshir Sunday, as the top US general warned Afghanistan faces a wider civil war that would offer fertile ground for a resurgence of terrorism. Following their lightning-fast rout of Afghanistan's army last month — and celebrations Monday when the last US troops flew out after 20 years of war — the Taliban are seeking to crush resistance forces defending the mountainous Panjshir Valley.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday held telephonic calls with the top Gulf leaders, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and discussed the current situation in Afghanistan and bilateral ties with them.

At least four planes chartered to evacuate several hundred people seeking to escape the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan have been unable to leave the country for days, officials said Sunday, with conflicting accounts emerging about why they flights weren't able to take off as pressure ramps up on the United States to help those left behind to flee.