SIDELIGHTS

Iran's supreme leader has called the situation in Afghanistan a tragedy and blamed the US for the problems there. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his first official meeting with new president Ebrahim Raisi's Cabinet on Saturday said "the tragedies in Afghanistan are deeply affecting human beings (and were) made by America."

Turkey officials informed that the country will not assist operations at Kabul airport after NATO's withdrawal unless the Taliban agree to the presence of Turkish security at the airport.

With anti-Pakistan protests erupting across several countries against Islamabad's proxy role in assisting the Taliban, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that the country would continue to play a constructive role to support Afghanistan.

Until last week, Shabeer Ahmadi was busy covering the news in Afghanistan. But after a hasty and excruciating decision to leave his Taliban-controlled country for an uncertain future in Spain, he's helplessly glued to news feeds on his cellphone, following every twist in the dramatic end of the evacuation of Afghans from Kabul.

Any sustainable solution in Afghanistan must include Pakistan, a senior Republican Senator has said. "We all must remember (that) Pakistan is a nuclear-armed nation, and there is a Pakistan version of the Taliban who wishes to topple the Pakistani government and military," Senator Lindsay Graham tweeted.