Afghans on Thursday hurry to escape Taliban rule, but Western officials said the group had made assurances that some evacuations would be permitted after next week's US withdrawal deadline.

Family members Friday gather outside a hospital and collect bodies of their loved ones while others desperately seek information on missing relatives following the deadly twin blasts at Kabul airport. "One of my brothers was at the airport. He wanted to fly abroad. Unfortunately, he's missing after the back-to-back blasts," says one Kabul resident.

The hardline Islamist Taliban celebrate their total return to power with gunfire after the last US troops flew out of Afghanistan to end two decades of war. Images posted by Ahmadullah Muttaqi, the Chief of Taliban multimedia branch, cultural commission, show the Taliban entering Kabul airport after US forces abandoned the frenzied airlift that saw more than 123,000 people flee life after the group's takeover.

Hours after the final foreign forces flew out of Afghanistan, a group of Taliban leaders walked victorious through the airport, flanked by their elite "Badri 313" guards, to inspect what had been left behind. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid -- tipped to be minister of information when a new government is named -- led a group of officials onto the runway, his usual stoic expression replaced by a broad grin. The special forces unit posed for pictures, brandishing US M-16 rifles and flying the Taliban's white flag. The atmosphere was one of triumph and victory, but all around was evidence of the chaotic withdrawal of US troops after a 20-year occupation, and the hurried evacuation of more than 120,000 people fearful of the Taliban's return to power

Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani says his country is working with Taliban to reopen Kabul airport "as soon as possible", during a joint press conference with his British counterpart Dominic Raab in Doha.

One month after the Islamists' "unimaginable" takeover of Afghanistan's capital, US items left behind in the airport are the remnants of the two-decade American intervention that ended in an "unthinkable" exit.

"We apologize and we will endeavor to learn from this horrible mistake," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says of a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul that mistakenly killed 10 civilians, including children, during the chaotic US pullout last month. Kirby was delivering the message on behalf of US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a press briefing at the Pentagon.

Marines from the battalion that suffered ten casualties - nine marines and one sailor - in the August 26 Kabul airport terrorist attack return to their home base of Camp Pendleton, California.

US cyber defense capabilities are at "kindergarten level" in some government departments, the Pentagon's former chief software officer told a British newspaper.

US probe concludes that a lone bomber was responsible for the 2021 Kabul airport blast that killed 183, as thousands tried to flee Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the addition to Moscow's nuclear arsenal will make foes "think twice." The US said it was properly notified of the test and did not consider it a threat.

The Pentagon says the suspected spy balloon downed off the US coast was part of a large surveillance program that China has been conducting for "several years," affecting countries across five continents. China says the craft was just a weather balloon.