Eaths from desperate dash to airport shoot up to 12
A total of 12 people have been killed in and around the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul, Taliban and Nato officials said, since the Taliban seized the city on Sunday, triggering a rush of fearful people trying to leave.
The deaths were caused either by gunshots or in stampedes, the Taliban official said on Thursday, and he urged people still crowded at the gates of the facility to go home if they did not have the legal right to travel. “We don’t want to hurt anyone at the airport,” said the Taliban official.
Italy pushes for summit after Taliban takeover
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi is working to organise a summit of the Group of 20 economies on the situation in
Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, newspapers La Repubblica and Il Messaggero reported on Thursday.
Italy holds the rotating G20 presidency this year and a possible meeting is expected to be held before October’s scheduled summit in Rome, La Repubblica said.
Draghi is expected to discuss the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the two dailies added.
An online meeting of leaders of the G7 grouping has already been scheduled for next week to discuss a common strategy and approach on the situation in Afghanistan.
IMF halts Afghanistan’s access to funding
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the new government in Afghanistan is cut off from using fund reserve assets days before the nation was set to receive almost $500 million, depriving the Taliban of key resources.
The country has been in line to automatically receive new reserves, known as special drawing rights (SDRS), on Monday as part of a recently approved IMF plan to inject $650 billion of liquidity into the troubled global economy. While Afghanistan will still receive the assets, it won’t be able to use them because the new regime lacks international recognition, the IMF said.
“As is always the case, the IMF is guided by the views of the international community,” an IMF spokesperson said by email on Wednesday. “There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access SDRS or other IMF resources.”