Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday said in a surprise move he would step down, setting the stage for a new premier after a one-year tenure marred by an unpopular Covid-19 response and sinking public support.

A small group of Afghan women protested near the presidential palace in Kabul on Friday, demanding equal rights from the Taliban as Afghanistan’s new rulers work on forming a government and seeking international recognition.

Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar will lead a new Afghan government set to be announced shortly, sources in the Islamist group said on Friday, as its fighters battled forces loyal to the vanquished republic in the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul.

The European Union will engage with the Taliban, subject to strict conditions, but that does not mean the bloc is recognising a new Afghan government, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Friday.

The Taliban said yesterday they were close to forming a new government, as dozens of women held a rare protest for the right to work under a new regime that faces enormous economic hurdles and deep public mistrust.

Under their previous reign, they shocked the world by brutally oppressing women and girls. Now, back in power 20 years after a US invasion ousted them, the Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule, pledging that women will be allowed to work.

Most Afghan allies seeking to flee with the US withdrawal were unable to do so, an official acknowledged Wednesday, as the United States began to wrestle with painful choices in the chaotic final days of the war.

Even in the final days of Washington’s chaotic airlift in Afghanistan, Javed Habibi was getting phone calls from the U.S. government promising that the green card holder from Richmond, Virginia, his wife and their four daughters would not be left behind.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers were preparing on Thursday to unveil their new government as the economy teetered on the edge of collapse more than two weeks after the Islamist militia captured Kabul and brought a chaotic end to 20 years of war.

Indian authorities cracked down on public movement and imposed a near-total communications blackout Thursday in disputed Kashmir after the death of Syed Ali Geelani, a top separatist leader who became the emblem of the region’s defiance against New Delhi.

They move from place to place at a moment’s notice in a desperate bid to evade the Taliban — girls whose lives are in danger simply because they chose to play a sport they loved.

The new, Taliban-appointed head of Afghanistan's central bank has sought to reassure banks the group wants a fully-functioning financial system, but has so far provided little detail on how it will supply funds to sustain it, said four bankers familiar with the matter.

The Taliban said the formation of Afghanistan’s new government is in its final stages, as US President Joe Biden vehemently defended his decision to end the two-decade war amid growing criticism.

The evacuation process of the six Bangladeshi engineers from Kabul could only be described as a nightmare in which they saw horrific events, including bomb blasts and killings.

1945 - Japanese leaders aboard the US battleship Missouri signed an unconditional surrender, ending World War Two.

There is growing concern among Pakistani officials about security in neighbouring Afghanistan, as the Taliban tries to form a government and stabilise the country following the departure of US and other foreign forces.

Lack of trust: There is widespread suspicion about the Taliban among Afghans, and for good reason. The last time the group was in power from 1996 to 2001, it imposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.

After two decades of focus on Afghanistan, the United States’ withdrawal this week allows the country to shift its concentration to the east, where superpower rival China is now the number-one priority.

China's special envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang visited Myanmar last week for talks with its military rulers, as a new route spanning the Southeast Asian nation opened up connecting Chinese trade flows to the Indian Ocean.

As the last US troops prepared to leave Afghanistan, Hussain, a US passport holder who worked with the US military, scrambled with his six daughters through Taliban checkpoints to the gates of Kabul airport for several days in a row, hoping to catch a flight to safety.