War in Afghanistan

More than 7,000 U.S. service members and more than 8,000 contractors had died in post 9/11 wars as of July 2021

In a pre-recorded message to mark the 20th anniversary of 11 September terror attacks, US President Joe Biden remembered the events as a moment defined not only by heroism but "unity and resilience." "We learned that unity is the one thing that must never break," Biden said in a six-minute video filmed at the White House, news wires reported.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume flights from Islamabad to Kabul next week, a spokesman for the airline told AFP on Sept. 11, becoming the first foreign commercial service since the Taliban seized power last month.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded with the international community, during an interview with AFP on Thursday to maintain a dialogue with the Taliban in Afghanistan, warning that an "economic collapse" with possibly millions dying must be avoided.

Turkish and Qatari foreign ministers on Sept. 10 discussed the evolving situation in Afghanistan and bilateral relations between the two countries.

Afghanistan is at an important crossroads, Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations Feridun Sinirlioğlu has said in his speech at the Afghanistan session of the U.N. Security Council while emphasizing the need for a gradual engagement policy with the Taliban in this period.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu said that 139 Afghan citizens arrived in the country on Thursday, on board an aircraft. "Today, most of the Afghan citizens, 'our' Afghans, who were evacuated by Romania from Afghanistan, have just arrived in Romania, as I told them (...).

"We want to help Afghanistan and countries in that region," Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger told a news conference. "But we don't want a repeat of the situation from 2015, so that's where we'll aim all our steps."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to pay a four-day visit to the U.S. to attend the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

At the U.N. headquarters in New York, the president will address the General Assembly, which begins Sept. 14. Erdoğan is also set to inaugurate the 36-story Turkevi Center in Manhattan.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sept. 8 that the Taliban would have to earn legitimacy from the world, after talks with allies on how to present a united front to the hardline new government in Afghanistan.

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