Al-Arabiya: The Taliban have banned the Afghan media from publishing the message of Ahmad Massoud

East Azarbaijan province emergency spokesman says 20 injured in gas explosion at chemical plant in Tabriz

Angelina Jolie, a famous actress, expressed concern about the situation of Afghan women and girls, saying that the crisis in this country is not a "mistake" or an "abandoned case". "I think of all [Afghan] women and girls who do not know they can go back to work and school," she told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

"I appreciate the US effort in Afghanistan, and in particular the unprecedented evacuation [of troops and personnel]," Israeli Foreign Minister Lair Lapid told US counterpart Anthony Blinken. Lapid criticized the US withdrawal from Afghanistan last week

In an interview with the BBC, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he believed US military forces "will return to Afghanistan in the future". "We will have to because the [terrorist] threat will be very high," he stressed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said his country will take part in the inauguration of Afghanistan's new government if the government is inclusive and covers a wide range of Afghan society. Al-Jazeera reports that the Taliban have invited Turkey, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar to attend the formation of their new government.