Celebratory gunfire resounded across the Afghan capital yesterday as the Taliban took control of the airport following the withdrawal of the last US troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist group stronger than it was in 2001.

The story of how 148 Afghan female students of a university in Bangladesh managed to flee the Taliban-controlled Kabul can be used as the plot of a Hollywood thriller.

China on Monday announced a drastic cut to children’s online gaming time to just three hours a week during term time, the latest move in a broad crackdown on tech giants in the world’s biggest gaming market.

Japan’s defence ministry is seeking an annual budget increase that will add to past hikes to expand military spending over a decade by almost a sixth, as it looks to counter the growing strength of neighbouring China.

India’s ambassador to Qatar held talks with a top Taliban leader yesterday, the Indian foreign ministry said, the first formal diplomatic engagement since the hardline Islamist group took over Afghanistan.

When Ezmarai Ahmadi returned home from work on Sunday evening in Kabul, the usual gaggle of squealing children were waiting to greet him -- his sons and daughters, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

‘War on terror’: On October 7, 2001 -- less than a month after the September 11 attacks that killed around 3,000 people in the US -- President George W Bush launches “Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan.

America’s longest war ended ignobly, in the dead of night in Afghanistan.

Indian Ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal today met the head of the Taliban’s political office Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai in Doha -- the first official contact between India and the Taliban.

The 148 Afghan students of Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chattogram, who were stranded in their country following the Taliban takeover, have been safely evacuated from Kabul in US military planes.

When Ezmarai Ahmadi returned home from work on Sunday (Aug 30) evening in Kabul, the usual gaggle of squealing children were waiting to greet him - his sons and daughters, and a slew of nieces and nephews.

Kabul airport is without air traffic control services now that the US military has withdrawn from Afghanistan, and US civil aircraft are barred from operating over the country unless given prior authorization, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday.

The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan on Monday, ending 20 years of war that culminated in the militant Taliban's return to power.

A Taliban spokesman yesterday said a US drone strike targeting a suspected suicide bomber in Kabul on Sunday resulted in civilian casualties, and condemned the US for failing to inform the Islamist group before ordering the strike.

Delhi Disaster Management Authorities yesterday announced guidelines including setting up of quarantine room for emergency use and staggered lunch-break as schools, colleges and coaching centres across Delhi resume in-person classes from September 1 after a nearly five-month hiatus.

Flood waters rose across northeastern India yesterday, where hundreds of thousands of people are stranded on the roofs of their homes or have fled to higher ground as more torrential rain fell.

Beijing yesterday banned written exams for six- and seven-year-olds, as part of sweeping education reforms aimed at relieving pressure on pupils and parents in China’s hyper-competitive school system.

North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor that is widely believed to have produced plutonium for nuclear weapons, the UN atomic watchdog said in an annual report, highlighting the isolated nation’s efforts to expand its arsenal.

The Taliban has assured 100 countries that it will continue to allow foreigners and Afghans with foreign travel papers to leave the country “in a safe and orderly manner,” even after the US troop withdrawal ends today, the countries said in a statement Sunday.

Islamic State militants fired a volley of rockets at Kabul’s rapidly emptying international airport on Monday, with just hours left before a deadline for US forces to withdraw at the end of America’s longest war.