Here are the top updates from Friday:
- Shortly before India evacuated about 200 people from Afghanistan, the Taliban had requested the Indian government to retain its diplomatic presence in the country, the Hindustan Times reported. A senior leader of the militant group, Sher Mohammed Abbas Stanekzai, reportedly sought to assure Indian officials that they should not worry about the safety of India’s mission and diplomats in Kabul. However, India concluded that it could not take the request at face value and went ahead with the evacuation, the report said.
- Women who have been working for the government and private offices in Afghanistan held a protest to express their concerns about their future under the Taliban regime, Tolo News reported. The protestors said that the militant group cannot ignore the progress that women have made in the past 20 years.
- A Nato official pledged to speed up evacuations from Afghanistan and said that over 18,000 persons have been flown out of…