Afghanistan updates: US, Taliban hold first direct talks since withdrawal

Prominent Afghan activist and politician Zarifa Ghafari has arrived with her family in Germany after fleeing Afghanistan, according to the premier of Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia state.

Ghafari and her family landed at Cologne Bonn Airport on Monday and they are "now being protected in North Rhine-Westphalia," the premier's office announced via Twitter. Ghafari met with the premier, Armin Laschet, who is also the leading candidate to replace outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on Monday evening after she arrived. Laschet's office tweeted a photo of their meeting.

Ghafari has been the mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital of Afghanistan's Wardak province, since 2019. She is Afghanistan's youngest mayor at 29 and is one of the first women mayors in her country. A champion of Afghan women's rights and an outspoken critic of the Taliban, Ghafari was a recipient of the U.S. Department of State's 2020 International Women of Courage award and has survived at least six assassination attempts, according to the State Department.

The U.S. Air Force has transformed Ramstein Air Base in Germany into a "major evac hub," it said Monday, as military and diplomatic personnel there receive thousands of people fleeing Afghanistan on evacuation flights.

Nearly 48 hours after the operation began there, more than 7,000 evacuees had landed and were being provided temporary lodging, food, medical services and treatment while they awaited transportation to the United States, according to 86th Airlift Wing's public affairs office.

The U.S. is negotiating with Germany to use a fourth facility in the area, according to an internal State Department report obtained by ABC News.

In addition to Ramstein, Germany agreed to let the U.S. use the nearby U.S. Army garrison in Kaiserslautern and a joint training facility in Grafenwoeher in eastern Germany. Now, U.S. officials at the embassy are also in talks with the German Foreign Ministry, according to the internal report, to use the U.S. Army garrison at Hohenfels -- a sign of the massive scale of efforts underway and Germany's importance to them.

Flights with U.S. citizens, personnel from the embassy in Kabul, and Afghans who worked for the U.S. have been processed through Ramstein -- with three more planned for Monday, carrying approximately 900 evacuees, according to the internal report.

But there have also been issues. Officials estimate that some 20% of evacuees at Ramstein lacked documentation, according to the internal report, and at least 22 passengers on one German military evacuation flight "had some connection to the United States, but insufficient documentation to continue travel through commercial air."

Perhaps even more difficult, a number of Afghans evacuated on the same flight "self-identify as U.S.-bound or as having a U.S. connection," but have "no verifiable U.S. connection, were evacuated by Germany, and are in German custody," per the internal report.

The U.S. embassy in Berlin asked what to do with them -- and the mission in Spain, which is also receiving evacuation flights is facing similar questions.

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., defended the intelligence community's assessments of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan ahead of the government's collapse and Taliban's takeover Monday night.

Following a classified briefing on the situation in Afghanistan, he said that the reports "became increasingly pessimistic over the last six months and there were any number of warnings that the Taliban might take over, and some included the potential of a very rapid takeover." 

"It's also fair to say that no one predicted such a rapid collapse," he added. 

Schiff said the intelligence committee will meet "extensively" with the intelligence agencies to review their work on Afghanistan going back "years, months, weeks and days leading up to the present," to determine whether there were any "missed warning signs."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, emerged from a classified briefing on the situation in Afghanistan skeptical that the U.S. troops could complete evacuations by the end of the month -- and called on the Biden administration to keep troops in Kabul "as long as it is necessary."

"It's possible but I think it's very unlikely given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, the number of SIVs the number of others," he said Monday.

"Given the logistical difficulties of moving people to the airport and the limited number of work arounds, it's hard for me to see it being fully complete by the end of the month. And I'm certainly of the view that we maintain a military presences as long as it is necessary to get all U.S. persons out and meet our moral and ethical obligations to our Afghan partners," Schiff continued.

He also said he's worried about the security situation at the Kabul airport. 

"The threat to the airport is very real and very substantial and this has been a concern of mine for some days now that this would make a very attractive target for ISIS-K or elements of al-Qaida ... an opportunity to attack both U.S. forces, Afghan nationals and the Taliban as well, and just cause chaos in a way that could prolong the U.S. stay, in a way that ISIS-K believes suits their interests," he said.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel

Will US extend Afghanistan evacuation deadline?

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Will US extend Afghanistan evacuation deadline?The U.S. and its allies airlifted roughly 16,000 people out of Kabul, Afghanistan, in the last 24 hours. Time is ticking as the Aug. 31 deadline approaches to evacuate all Americans and Afghan allies.

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