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Firefight Involving Western Forces Erupts at Kabul Airport, Afghan Guard Killed

An Afghan family at the Pakistan border. (AFP)
An Afghan family at the Pakistan border. (AFP)
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Firefight Involving Western Forces Erupts at Kabul Airport, Afghan Guard Killed

An Afghan family at the Pakistan border. (AFP)
An Afghan family at the Pakistan border. (AFP)

A firefight involving Western forces erupted at Kabul airport on Monday when Afghan guards exchanged fire with unidentified gunmen and one guard was killed, Germany’s military said.

Thousands of Afghans and foreigners have thronged the airport for days, hoping to catch a flight out after Taliban fighters captured Kabul on Aug. 15.

Twenty people have been killed in the chaos at the airport, most in shootings and stampedes, as US and international forces try to evacuate citizens and vulnerable Afghans.

CNN said the clash began when a sniper outside the airport fired at Afghan guards - some 600 former government soldiers are helping US forces at the airport - near its north gate.

US and German forces were involved in the clash, Germany’s military said. Three wounded Afghan guards were being treated at a field hospital in the airport, it said.

Two NATO officials at the airport said the situation was under control after the firing.

The Taliban have deployed fighters outside the airport, where they have tried to help enforce some kind of order.

On Sunday, Taliban fighters beat back crowds at the airport a day after seven Afghans were killed in a crush at the gates as the deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops approaches.

The Taliban seized power just over a week ago as the United States and its allies withdraw troops after a 20-year war launched in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as US forces hunted al-Qaeda leaders and sought to punish their Taliban hosts.

The administration of Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, struck a deal with the Taliban last year allowing the United Sates to withdraw its forces in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.

‘Hours, not weeks’
President Joe Biden said on Sunday the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and remained dangerous.

“Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and painful” and would have been “no matter when it began”, Biden said in a briefing at the White House.

“We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong.”

Biden said US troops might stay beyond their Aug. 31 deadline to oversee the evacuation. But a Taliban leadership official said foreign forces had not sought an extension and it would not be granted if they had.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge Biden this week to extend the deadline. Defense Minister Ben Wallace said Britain was “down to hours now, not weeks” in its evacuation plan and forces on the ground needed to use every moment they had to get people out.

Panicked Afghans have clamored to board flights out of Kabul, fearing reprisals and a return to their harsh interpretation of Islamic law that the group implemented when it held power from 1996 to 2001.

The chaos at the airport is also disrupting shipments of aid going in to Afghanistan.

The World Health Organization said 500 tons of medical supplies due to be delivered this week were stuck because Kabul airport was closed to commercial flights, spokesperson Inas Hamam said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

She said the WHO was calling for empty planes to divert to its storage hub in Dubai to collect the supplies on their way to pick up evacuees in Afghanistan.

Opposition
Leaders of the Taliban, who have sought to show a more moderate face since capturing Kabul, have begun talks on forming a government, while their forces focus on the last pockets of opposition.

Taliban fighters had re-taken three districts in the northern province of Baghlan which opposition forces briefly captured and had surrounded opposition forces in the Panjshir valley, an old stronghold of Taliban opponents northeast of Kabul.

“The enemy is under siege in Panjshir,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter.

Anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Massoud said on Sunday he hoped to hold talks with the Taliban but his forces in Panjshir - remnants of army units, special forces and militiamen - were ready to fight.

Zabihullah also said the Taliban wanted to “solve the problem through talks”.

In general, peace has prevailed in recent days.

Reuters spoke to eight doctors in hospitals in several cities who said they had not heard of any violence or received any casualties from clashes since Thursday.

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World

UN Aid Chief Warns Russian Drones Threaten Civilians and Aid Work in Ukraine

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the media about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations (UNOG), Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 22, 2025. (EPA)
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the media about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations (UNOG), Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 22, 2025. (EPA)
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UN Aid Chief Warns Russian Drones Threaten Civilians and Aid Work in Ukraine

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the media about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations (UNOG), Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 22, 2025. (EPA)
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher briefs the media about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations (UNOG), Geneva, Switzerland, Aug. 22, 2025. (EPA)

The intensifying use of drones against civilians and humanitarian workers is a dangerous obstacle for aid operations in Ukraine, the UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said on Wednesday.

Fletcher spoke to The Associated Press in an interview after a visit to the southern city of Kherson, where he witnessed how communities there are coping while living under the constant threat of Russian drones. Fletcher described the visit to Kherson, split by the Dnipro River, which acts as an active front line, as “quite chilling."

Russian forces occupy the eastern bank, while Ukrainian forces hold the western bank. From across the water, kamikaze and surveillance drones routinely hunt and attack civilians, vehicles and public transit.

“It really gives us an insight into the dangers ahead of us,” he said.

The threat is also making it harder for humanitarian organizations to reach people who need assistance.

Fletcher spoke after attending a commemoration for two humanitarian workers who had died while doing their jobs.

“Drones are a real threat to not just civilians but the humanitarians who are here to protect them,” Fletcher said.

He said that aid workers are protected under international humanitarian law and yet marked humanitarian vehicles have still been hit. “So that does restrict what we can do," he said.

Local organizations are particularly exposed. More than two-thirds of operations funded through Ukraine's humanitarian fund are carried out by local organizations, according to Fletcher.

“They’re the ones who are saying most loudly to us, we’re not protected,” he said.

Fletcher said the UN needs more than $2 billion for its prioritized humanitarian response in Ukraine this year, with winter among his biggest concerns. Damage to civilian infrastructure, including electricity, water and gas systems, could once again leave millions vulnerable during the harsh winter months, raising fears of a repeat of last winter’s severe conditions.

The UN has sharply narrowed its humanitarian priorities all over the world as donor funding has fallen. Fletcher said the organization initially identified 87 million people facing the most severe humanitarian needs, but that figure has since risen to about 92 million with the onslaught of Ebola in Africa, the earthquake in Venezuela and other conflicts.

The UN is seeking $23 billion to provide life-saving assistance to those people and had raised about $11 billion, said Fletcher.

Ukraine is relatively well funded compared with many other crises, he added, with roughly 70–75% of its hyper-prioritized funding requirement covered. But even full funding of the humanitarian plan would address only part of Ukraine’s needs.

Fletcher also admitted that raising money for humanitarian operations has become more difficult as governments have increasingly redirected spending toward defense and domestic priorities.

“We’re in a more transactional world, I would say a more selfish world,” he said.

Fletcher said the UN now has to demonstrate that it is using limited taxpayer money efficiently and strategically.

“We have to show governments that we are spending their taxpayers’ money sensibly, wisely, in a prioritized way,” he said.

In a stark new assessment released on Wednesday, the UN warned that 907 aid workers were victims of violence last year and over 1,000 have been killed in three years. Fletcher said he could not reassure colleagues that those responsible would be held accountable based on how the international community has reacted.

He said accountability should extend beyond identifying the person who physically carried out an attack.

“I want to see investigations into the people who fired the weapon or flew the drone,” he said.

World

Seoul Detects North Korean Missile Launches after Trump Says to Meet Kim

People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
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Seoul Detects North Korean Missile Launches after Trump Says to Meet Kim

People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul. Jung Yeon-je / AFP

North Korea has fired several short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul's military said on Thursday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he would meet Pyongyang's Kim Jong Un this year.

The latest launches from the nuclear-armed North come as South Korea and the United States hold a shorter edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, following an order from Trump to scale them back.

Pyongyang has long condemned US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills.

Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday he plans to meet the North Korean leader later this year.

The US president also said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Seoul says there are around 80-120.

Hours after Trump's remarks, an official from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP that the North fired "around 10 short-range ballistic missiles" from the Pyongyang area.

Japan earlier said a suspected "ballistic missile launched by North Korea a short while ago has already fallen", according to an X post from the prime minister's office.

Trump's sudden focus on Kim and his scaling back of joint US-South Korean military drills have alarmed Asian allies, while sparking speculation that he was seeking a foreign policy win as the Iran war stalls.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said on Wednesday that her brother had "good memories and feelings" about Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remains "excellent".

She said, however, that she was unaware of any current communication between the two leaders.

Her statement came hours after Seoul announced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises would end on Friday -- about a week earlier than planned -- "at the suggestion of the US side".

The Pentagon said the reduced drills would cause "no degradation to US training objectives".

The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.

The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defenses, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korea's Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back said Seoul remained opposed to officially recognizing the North as a nuclear-weapon state.

Asked whether Washington had "given up" on North Korea's denuclearization, Ahn said he did not believe so.

President Lee Jae Myung - who has long pushed for stronger homegrown defenses to reduce South Korea's reliance on the United States -- said on Wednesday he would "do his utmost" to support Trump's peacemaking efforts with the North.

World

Japan Train Hits Station Workers, 4 Killed

A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
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Japan Train Hits Station Workers, 4 Killed

A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)
A man takes photographs of a Japanese government sign reading "Day of the Return of the Northern Territories, Day of Peace. The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan's territory." (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)

A train hit and killed four workers in Japan on Thursday, authorities said, a rare incident in a country renowned for its normally excellent rail safety record.

Local media reported that the four workers were removing weeds from the train tracks at Shin-Kanuma Station in Kanuma city north of Tokyo when the express train struck them.

"The four were confirmed dead," a fire department official told AFP.

Another official said that when emergency services arrived, three workers were trapped under the train, while one was on the platform.

The workers, all men, were in their 50s and 60s, Jiji Press reported. None of the roughly 50 passengers on the train suffered injuries.

The six-car train was the Spacia X express on the Tobu Nikko Line, connecting Greater Tokyo with popular tourist destination Nikko in the Tochigi region, media reports said.

The Tokyo-bound train was approaching its stop at Shin-Kanuma when the accident occurred, broadcaster NHK said, citing the operator.

"We heard this loud rumbling noise. Then the train came to an emergency stop with such sudden braking that it was impossible to stand," a 40-year-old man who was on the train told NHK.

"There was an announcement saying 'we will stop to identify where the noise came from', and then we were left unable to get off for a while," the man was quoted as saying.

Local media reported that the workers were part of a seven-person crew removing weeds from around the train tracks.

Japanese railways have one of the best safety records in the world.

Fatal accidents from malfunctioning trains are extremely rare in Japan due to high levels of maintenance and training, and use of advanced technology.

Japan's deadliest accident this century was in April 2005 when a rush-hour commuter train derailed and smashed into an apartment building in Amagasaki, in the country's west, killing 107 people and injured more than 500 others.

An accident involving a derailed cargo train and two passenger trains killed 161 people in 1963.

There has never been a passenger fatality from a derailment or a collision on Japan's network of "shinkansen" bullet trains since they entered service in 1964.