NATO Vows To Meet ‘Commitments’ Over "Reports Of Serious Human Rights Violations And Abuses Across Afghanistan”.

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Earlier on Thursday, NATO foreign ministers issued a joint statement after a virtual meeting expressing concern about “reports of serious human rights violations and abuses across Afghanistan”.

The alliance also pledged not to allow Afghanistan to become a safe haven for “terrorists”.

“Our immediate task is now to meet our commitments to continue the safe evacuation of our citizens, partner country nationals, and at-risk Afghans, in particular those who have assisted our efforts,” the statement said.

“We call on those in positions of authority in Afghanistan to respect and facilitate their safe and orderly departure, including through Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.”

On Friday, Biden praised the cooperation between NATO members in Afghanistan. “We went in together, and we’re leaving together,” he said of the alliance.

He also expressed sympathy for the Afghan people, saying that he discussed with his foreign counterparts the need to provide humanitarian aid to Afghans.

“The past week has been heartbreaking. We’ve seen gut-wrenching images of panicked people, acting out of sheer desperation. It’s completely understandable. They’re frightened; they’re sad, uncertain what happens next,” the US president said.

US evacuation flights out of Kabul were paused for at least eight hours on Friday, with Washington struggling to find destinations to temporarily host Afghan evacuees, CNN reported.

ALSO READ: President Biden Vows To Evacuate All Americans And US Allies From Afghanistan

Biden confirmed in his speech that flights stopped for a “few hours”.

“But our commander on Kabul has already given the order for outbound flights to resume,” he said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Al Jazeera a “huge task” remains to help evacuate people at Kabul airport amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

“We have been able to evacuate thousands of people over the last two days, and the situation at the airport is much better now than it was in the beginning of the week, but we really recognise that it’s a huge task,” he said from Brussels on Friday.

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