The Latest: US says Kabul evacuees don’t need COVID tests

WASHINGTON — Amid the chaos and confusion at the airport, the United States said it had taken at least one step to ease requirements for those seeking to leave: COVID-19 tests. Davood Moradian said in a briefing to the council on Thursday that this would allow Afghanistan’s rival factions to come to an inclusive political settlement “while working to mitigate the unfolding catastrophe.” He told members by video from an undisclosed location outside Afghanistan that he was at Kabul airport 48 hours ago watching the chaos and “the unfolding catastrophe” as he and others tried to get flights out of Afghanistan and people were racing down the runway trying to get on a U.S. military plane. ___ WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden says the Taliban have not changed but are going through an “existential crisis” about whether they want legitimacy on the global stage as they’ve taken over Afghanistan. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow would be ready to offer its planes to airlift “any number of Afghan citizens, including women and children to any foreign countries that would be interested in accommodating them.” Zakharova’s statement came as thousands of Afghans are desperate to flee the country fearing that the Taliban will reimpose a brutal rule after taking over Kabul on Sunday. ___ COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark says that a plane with 84 people who had been evacuated from Afghanistan has landed in Copenhagen and were now on “safe ground in Denmark.” On Twitter, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod wrote Thursday that the evacuation “is still in full swing and we are working hard to evacuate the last local staff, interpreters and other groups from Kabul.” Danish media said that those aboard the plane reportedly were locally hired people and interpreters who had worked for Denmark.