Taliban

Morale across Afghanistan's military was "destroyed" when then-President Trump made a deal with the Taliban in 2020 and President Biden affirmed the U.S. exit in 2021, a new watchdog report says.

After six months of Taliban rule, many Afghans say they fear for their economic future of lack of personal freedoms.

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the Taliban have changed since they last ruled. He says they have no issue with the United States.

The statement from Taliban officials came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the withdrawal of U.S. troops in August. There was no immediate comment from the U.S.

The head of Save the Children in Afghanistan says it has been difficult to operate under the Taliban and their restrictions on women. Without humanitarian aid, he predicts serious casualties ahead.

Joseph Ladapo is Florida's new surgeon general, an outspoken critic of mask mandates and lockdowns. Plus, inequities in Florida's vaccine distribution and a local organization assisting with Afghan refugee resettlement.

Kabul's interim mayor did not give an exact number on just how many female employees would be forced to stay home because of the new rule. Previously about a third of city employees were women.

About 200 people, including some Americans, departed the Afghan capital on Thursday. Officials said this was not an evacuation flight, but rather that people were leaving of their own free will.

The Taliban's ideology has distant links to India. Scholars say Afghanistan's new leaders might listen to clerics in the birthplace of Deobandi Islam, though the clerics deny ties with the Taliban.

Travelers have spent seven days waiting to depart from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. At least 19 U.S. citizens and two green card holders are said to be among the group of about 600.

Zak Khogyani fled Afghanistan with his parents when he was 9. When the Pentagon called on commercial airlines to support evacuation efforts, he asked to be a part of the mission.

Here's what it's like at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where many of the tens of thousands of Afghans evacuated from Kabul over the past few weeks are awaiting travel to the United States.