The Afghanistan flag will be displayed in Tuesday’s opening ceremony of the Paralympics as “a sign of solidarity” – even though the country’s athletes were not able to get to Tokyo to compete.

Andrew Parsons, the president of the International Paralympic Committee, said a representative of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees would carry the flag in the National Stadium during the opening ceremony.

Para-taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi and discus thrower Hossain Rasouli were both unable to reach Japan after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban just over a week ago.

The US military has confirmed that an Afghan soldier died in gunfire from a “hostile actor” outside Kabul airport.

In a statement released on Monday, it said: “The incident appeared to begin when an unknown hostile actor fired upon Afghan security forces involved in monitoring access to the gate. The Afghans returned fire, and in keeping with their right of self-defense, so too did U.S. and coalition troops.

“One member of the Afghan forces was killed by the hostile actor; several Afghans were wounded during the exchange. The wounded are being treated at an airfield hospital and are reported to be in stable condition.”

Russia will sell weapons and military hardware to its Central Asian allies at a low cost, following the fall of Afghanistan, the countries deputy prime minister told the RIA news agency.

This comment follows an virtual meeting between Moscow and countries in the region to discuss security concerns after the Taliban’s takeover.

G7 leaders should agree to donate $8 billion towards Afghan education over the next two decades, the former Labour leader Gordon Brown has said.

This figure matches the total given by these countries over the past 20 years.

The former prime minister said aid should be distributed in line with an agreement between Unicef and the Taliban last year to form more than 3,000 informal schools in Afghanistan.

“At the same time, we should state unequivocally that aid, including the donor pledges already made for 2021-2024, will be withdrawn if the rights of girls are not upheld,” he added.

Hungary has evacuated 173 people from Afghanistan, including some passengers requested by the US and Austria, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Peter Szijjarto confirmed that a Wizz Air flight travelled from Uzbekistan and landed in Budapest on Monday.

In return for the favour, he called on American troops to allow Hungary to evacuate those it wanted from Kabul.

“We have brought out a large part of passengers at American and Austrian request…In exchange we expect our allies, including the Americans, not to hinder people whom we want to evacuate from getting into Kabul airport,” he said.

The threat of an Isis attack at Kabul airport is “acute”, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan has warned

“The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and it is something that we are focused on with every tool in our arsenal,” Mr Sullivan told CNN on Sunday. “We are working hard with our intelligence community to try to isolate and determine where an attack might come from.”

Evacuations from Kabul airport have now entered their second week.

Former Tory leadership candidate Rory Stewart has hit out at the idea of imposing sanctions on the Taliban, saying such a move would likely “inflict pain on innocent Afghan communities”.

Mr Stewart, who is an expert on Afghanistan, said the policy would “deepen the humanitarian catastrophe” already engulfing the country and would not greatly affect the Taliban.

His comments come after reports suggest that the UK government wants other G7 countries to pursue sanctions.

There is a “good chance” Joe Biden will extend evacuations from Kabul airport beyond the end of August, a former government official has said.

James Steinberg, deputy secretary of state under the Obama administration, told BBC Radio 4 that an extension was a strong possibility.

“I think that he [Mr Biden] recognises of the many challenges that have come about of the way this evacuation has been handled, failure to consult with the allies has been a big problem and I think the president probably feels a significant obligation now to try and accommodate the concerns from the British and others to facilitate getting people out,” he said.

Mr Steinberg added that the Taliban are unlikely to be given a chance to veto this delay.

A synagogue in Hertfordshire has been inundated with donations for Afghan families who have recently arrived in the area.

Rabbi Elchonon Feldman, of the Bushey United Synagogue, said his Facebook request for support was met with a “tremendous act of love” from the local community.

“It went crazy. People copied the (Facebook) message. They forwarded it around and by the time Sunday arrived we had around may 3,000 bags (of items) that had been brought to help out.”

“It has been a tremendous act of love and completely run by volunteers who all just wanted to help. They are not just Jewish. The message ended up going far and wide and everyone just wanted to make a difference,” he added.

Afghans not living in Kabul who wish to escape Taliban rule face “challenges”, Downing Street has said.

Boris Johnson’s spokesperson told reporters that the first phase of the UK’s operation was to evacuate British nationals and those eligible under the first wave of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) initiative.

They explained that resettlement would then continue in the months and years ahead, like it did under a previous scheme for Syrians.

“Now I appreciate that does, again … it presents challenges for those wishing to leave Afghanistan who might not be based in Kabul, who might have to get to neighbouring countries, for example,” they said, adding that it would extremely difficult for them to get to the capital for air evacuations.