Here are the top updates from Saturday:

  1. The United Kingdom’s last flight to evacuate civilians from Afghanistan left the Kabul airport on Saturday, the BBC reported. The UK has evacuated almost 15,000 British and Afghan citizens in two weeks.
  2. France has concluded evacuations from Afghanistan, Al Jazeera reported. “In exceptionally difficult circumstances, France evacuated nearly 3,000 people,” the country’s D Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defence Minister Florence Parly said.
  3. Meanwhile, the United States has helped fly about 1,11,900 people out of Afghanistan since August 14, CNN reported, citing the White House. The evacuation effort is in its final phase. The deadline for US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan is August 31.
  4. The Taliban have deployed more fighters at the Kabul airport after Thursday’s deadly terror attack, AP reported on Saturday. More checkpoints have come up along the way to the airport.
  5. Earlier on Friday, the United States military said that it conducted an unmanned airstrike against a planner of the Islamic State-Khorasan, the group that has claimed responsibility for the attack. “Initial indications are that we killed the target,” Bill Urban, a spokesperson for the US Central Command said.