Foreign relations analysts fear long-term instability and a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan as the Taliban takes control of the country following the withdrawal of US forces, with its repercussions felt in the entire region.

Rohingya refugees expelled from Myanmar in a bloody crackdown were set to testify in a court in Argentina for the first time yesterday to urge a full judicial investigation into allegations of war crimes committed against them.

The Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan poses a new challenge for big US tech companies on handling content created by a group considered to be terrorists by some world governments.

Hong Kong’s leader yesterday warned one of the city’s top legal bodies against getting involved in politics, in the latest sign of the government telling professional bodies to toe Beijing’s line. 

China carried out assault drills near Taiwan yesterday, with warships and fighter jets exercising off the southwest and southeast of the island in what the country’s armed forces said was a response to “external interference” and “provocations”. 

Malaysia’s king asked leaders from different parties to work together to address the economic and health woes facing the country, as he yesterday began a search to replace Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister. 

An Indian air force plane has evacuated more than 170 people from Kabul, including India’s ambassador to Afghanistan, a government official says, as diplomats and civilians scramble to leave the country.

Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who fled Afghanistan on Sunday,  is in Oman after Tajikistan denied landing yesterday.

A photo shows more than 600 Afghans -- women, men, children and the elderly -- sitting packed on the floor of a cavernous US military plane, part of a dramatic airlift hours after Kabul fell to the Taliban. 

Regional powers will see their influence increase dramatically in Afghanistan as the US executes a hasty, haphazard withdrawal and the Taliban return to power after 20 years.  

Four more Bangladeshis were found stranded in Afghanistan, two days after the commercial flights were suspended as the airport in Kabul turned chaotic with thousands of foreigners and Afghans scrambling to leave after the Taliban’s capture of the country Sunday.

The Taliban gave the first indication on Tuesday since coming to power that they would not make the full burqa compulsory for women as they did when they last ruled Afghanistan.

A UN human rights expert warned of “cultural disaster” in Afghanistan after Kabul fell to Taliban forces, and urged states to provide urgent assistance to human rights defenders, including those working on women’s and cultural rights, as well as artists trying to flee the country.

Taliban has pledged cooperation with media within the cultural framework in their first press briefing after taking over.

Iran's embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul remains open and fully active, state media reported on Tuesday, a day after Tehran welcomed the "military failure" of its arch-foe the United States as it withdraws its forces from Afghanistan.

A US military cargo plane, with the capacity to carry 150 people, evacuated some 640 Afghans from Kabul late Sunday.

The United States must do more to ensure the safety of Afghan journalists as the county falls under the control of the Taliban, including facilitating safe passage out of the country and providing emergency visas, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said.

Malaysia's king met political party chiefs Tuesday as the hunt began for a new prime minister, a day after the last leader quit.

Taliban announced Tuesday an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join its government, trying to calm nerves across a nervous capital city that only the day before saw chaos at its airport as people tried to flee their rule.

India today said it was pulling back its ambassador to Afghanistan and his Indian staff from Kabul as part of the emergency evacuation in view of the situation there.