Russia says situation in Kabul is 'better' under the Taliban than was under the Ghani government

Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov told a Moscow-based radio station on Monday that the situation in Kabul is 'better' under the Taliban than it was under the Ghani government. The statement is being viewed as Russia's endorsement of the Taliban.

It is important to note that, officially, the Taliban is still designated a terrorist organization in Russia.

He also said that the Taliban entered Kabul unarmed and distributed 'hotline phones' to the general population, asking them to report attacks by criminals. They even assured the safety of foreign diplomatic missions, added Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan.

Greece has refused to become a gateway for the Afghan refugees fleeing Afghanistan in light of the Taliban takeover and called for a common EU response to the growing crisis.

The Taliban have announced a general amnesty for all Afghanistan government employees, including women, and asked them to return to work.

Turkey has now welcomed the ‘positive messages’ being sent out by the Taliban.

A senior Taliban official has said that all Taliban fighters have been asked to not enter any vacant embassy buildings in Afghanistan, reports Reuters. The official also said that the Taliban ordered their fighters to maintain discipline and not enter any diplomatic buildings or interfere with embassy vehicles. The Taliban have also asked the general public to go about their business as usual.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pushing for a virtual meeting of the G7 leaders at the earliest to discuss the Afghanistan crisis.

China has warned the Taliban against Afghanistan once again becoming a "haven" for terrorists. The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.

Facebook has told ANI, "The Taliban is sanctioned as a terrorist organization under the US law and we have banned them from our services under our Dangerous Organization Policies. This means we remove accounts maintained by/on behalf of the Taliban and ban their praise, support and representation.

The first of several German military planes trying to evacuate its nationals from Afghanistan has managed to rescue only 7 people due to the chaos at Kabul airport

Japan has closed its embassy in Kabul due to the worsening security situation in Afghanistan and the last remaining 12 embassy personnel have also left the country.

The head of Afghanistan's central bank has fled Kabul, questioned the loyalty of Afghan security forces and blamed President Ashraf Ghani and his inexperienced advisors for the country's swift and chaotic fall to the Taliban.