Political commentator, journalist, and human rights activist from Pakistan says she is unable to get in touch with her colleagues and friends, with social media on the blink in the country; finds chants of Islamic victory distressing.

Even as the Islamist group has taken over the presidential palace and is poised to form the next government, Amrullah Saleh said the government, of which he is a part, will take measures to secure support and consensus among key stakeholders.

With desperate crowds thronging Kabul's airport, and Taliban fighters ringing its perimeter, the US government is renewing its advisory to Americans and others that it cannot guarantee safe passage for any of those desperately seeking seats on the planes…

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Pentagon believes it has the ability to get all Americans who want to leave Afghanistan out by August 31.

India and its foreign policy are connected to Afghanistan in myriad ways. The way forward needs to take into account all these, former diplomats say.

Afghanistan-Taliban Crisis Highlights: The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the US-backed Afghan government collapsed and President Ghani fled the country

Hibatullah Akhundzada -- the so-called commander of the faithful -- has shepherded the Taliban as its chief since 2016 when snatched from relative obscurity to oversee a movement in crisis.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan placed near the bottom of every list when it came to protections for women, and at the top in terms of the need for safe houses, counseling and courts that could help keep women safe.

Mullah Hasan is presently head of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body - Rehbari Shura or leadership council - which serves much like a government Cabinet running all the group's affairs subject to the approval of the top leader.

The minister, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, laid out the new policies at a news conference Sunday, several days after Afghanistan's new rulers formed an all-male, all-Taliban government.

"There was hardly anyone on the plane, around 10 people... maybe more staff than passengers," said an AFP journalist aboard the flight from Islamabad.

Foreign aid payments, which accounted for 40 percent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product, have all but stopped as the West considers how to deal with a group that, until August, led a deadly insurgency against the U.S.-backed government.