Situation at Kabul airport ‘stabilising’, Raab says, as crowds try to flee Afghanistan
The situation at Kabul airport is “stabilising”, Dominic Raab has said, after crowds rushed to flee the city.
The foreign secretary admitted he was taken by “surprise” at the speed of the Taliban’s advance over the weekend, but vowed the efforts of veterans in the conflict “wasn’t all for nothing”.
It comes as scenes of chaos were seen at Kabul’s airport on Monday as thousands of desperate Afghans, foreign diplomats and officials attempt to flee Afghanistan.
Britons landed at RAF Brize Norton after being evacuated from Afghanistan. Pic: MoD
“The position at the airport is stabilising. There’s been a surge of US and UK troops – we’ve got 600 extra personnel there,” Mr Raab told Kay Burley on Sky News.
“It is critically important, not just for the stability on the ground for Afghans, but critically for our evacuation effort.
“We’ve made real progress. We had 150 British nationals come out on Sunday. Over the last week we have also had 289 of those Afghan nationals who have served the UK so loyally in Afghanistan.
“And we expect over the next 24 hours to have 350 more British nationals and Afghan nationals who have worked for us coming out.
“So the situation is stabilising but obviously we are monitoring it very carefully.
“I do think that the airport is more stable today than it was yesterday, and we need to make sure that we consolidate that in the days ahead.”
President Biden said the options were to pull US forces out of Afghanistan or fight ‘indefinitely’
The foreign secretary said “no one” predicted the speed of the Taliban takeover or the western-backed Afghan government’s collapse.
He told Sky News: “We saw a very swift change in the dynamics. And of course this has been part and parcel of the withdrawal of western troops, but it has also been the way and the approach of the Taliban and of course it’s been a test for the Afghan security forces.
“All of those factors have been very fluid. But no one saw this coming. Of course we would have taken action if we had.”
Mr Raab added that “in retrospect” he “wouldn’t have gone on holiday” if he had known what was going to happen in Kabul.
The foreign secretary said the UK government must “deal with that reality” that the Taliban are now in power in Afghanistan, adding that ministers will be “pragmatic” about the situation.
Asked to confirm the UK will not return to Afghanistan, Mr Raab said troops are “clearly withdrawing”.
Many have tried to break in to Kabul airport to board an evacuation flight out of Afghanistan
He added that events in Afghanistan could have a “ricochet effect” in the UK.
Many Afghans descended on Kabul airport on Monday desperate to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban seized Kabul during the weekend.
The fear many Afghans have of Taliban rule was vividly captured in a photograph taken from inside a US military flight out of Kabul which was carrying some 640 passengers – reportedly more than five times its suggested payload.
Some clung to another plane as it taxied and video footage showed at least one person falling from the aircraft during take-off.
At least five people were killed during chaos on the ground, with US troops firing into the air to deter people trying to force their way onto flights evacuating diplomats and embassy staff.
There are also concerns that the Taliban will resume the harsh practices it used during its last rule between 1996 and 2001, with stoning, whipping, hanging and amputation used as punishment.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The defence secretary teared up while speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari on Monday about his fear some people won’t be able to leave Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden spoke on Monday evening, insisting he had no choice but to implement the withdrawal agreed between his Republican predecessor Donald Trump and the Taliban last year.
Mr Biden said his options were to pull US forces out of Afghanistan or to ask them to fight what he described as the country’s civil war indefinitely.
Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday.
On Monday, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told Sky News that British forces going back to Afghanistan is “not on the cards”.
The Taliban has now seized control of all major cities after insurgents took control of the capital. As of Monday, fighters claimed around 90% of Afghan state buildings are under the control of militants.
Employees who were furloughed during the US government shutdown are expected to return to work at the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission after 43 days away.
According to the operations plans with the SEC and CFTC, staff are expected to return on Thursday, following US President Donald Trump’s signing of a funding bill late on Wednesday to resume federal operations.
The two agencies’ respective plans require employees to come in on the “next regularly scheduled workday […] following enactment of appropriations legislation,” which acting CFTC chair Caroline Pham appeared to confirm in a Thursday X post.
Amid the government shutdown, both agencies had fewer staff and reduced operations. In the SEC’s case, this limited its ability to review applications for exchange-traded funds, including those tied to cryptocurrencies. The CFTC’s plan said it would “cease the vast bulk of its operations,” including enforcement, market oversight and work on regulatory rulemaking.
With the reopening of the government, however, the SEC and CFTC may need some time to catch up on activities, such as reviewing registration applications submitted in the previous 43 days. Some companies submitted IPO and ETF applications amid reports that the shutdown would likely end soon.
“I’m sure some [companies] took the position that they could just submit [an application to the SEC] knowing it’s not going to be looked at until they get back, but at least they’re in the queue,” Jay Dubow, a partner at law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, told Cointelegraph.
He also warned of the possible ramifications of the SEC going through repeated shutdowns:
“Every time you go through something like this, there’s the risk of things just slipping through the cracks in various ways.”
Related: Last US penny minted shows why savers need Bitcoin
During the shutdown, officials with both financial regulators regularly spoke at conferences on their approach to cryptocurrencies, sometimes commenting on their availability and addressing the reduced operations.
“Within limits, we’re still obviously functioning,” said SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Oct. 7, less than a week into the lapse in appropriations. “There are restrictions on what we can and can’t do, especially for staff […] I can still come and do things like this [referring to the conference].”
Before the funding bill had been resolved, Akins said that the SEC planned to consider “establishing a token taxonomy” in the coming months, “anchored” in the Howey test to recognize that “investment contracts can come to an end.” Pham, similarly, said the CFTC had been pushing for approval of leveraged spot cryptocurrency trading as early as December.
Prospective CFTC chair scheduled for Senate hearing
Michael Selig, who serves as chief counsel for the SEC’s crypto task force, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday as part of Trump’s push to have him confirmed as the next CFTC chair. Though the hearing could likely have moved forward amid the shutdown, Selig’s authority with the agency, had he been confirmed, would have been severely limited.
Pham is expected to leave her position as acting chair should the Senate confirm Selig. However, even if he were to be installed quickly, the CFTC would still face a dearth of leadership, with only one Senate-confirmed commissioner out of the usual five.
Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto: Canton, Zcash and more
The United Kingdom needs to regulate and encourage the development of British pound stablecoins to keep the country’s financial services sector globally competitive, according to Mark Fairless, the group CEO of bank infrastructure and fintech company ClearBank.
“Stablecoins are a logical extension to reduce friction in international global payments,” Fairless told Cointelegraph in an interview at Web Summit 2025 in Lisbon, Portugal.
He said that pound stablecoins will never equal the market capitalization of dollar or euro-denominated tokens because it isn’t a global reserve currency.
However, the UK needs a British pound stablecoin to remain commercially competitive as the world shifts to onchain finance and internet capital markets, Fairless said. He told Cointelegraph:
“From a capability perspective for the UK, the ability to settle payments internationally in real time requires a GBP stablecoin, and if we don’t have one, we risk falling behind other financial sectors.
“The financial services market in the UK is one of our strongest parts of the economy, and so, stablecoins are a logical place to go next,” he said, adding that the effect of stablecoins on the banking sector and traditional business models remains to be seen.
Stablecoins have become geostrategically relevant as governments respond to growing pressure to place their fiat currencies onchain to remain competitive with countries that integrate digital and blockchain rails into their economies.
Related: Bank of England’s Breeden warns watered-down stablecoin rules risk stability
Bank of England vows to keep pace with the US on stablecoins
Sarah Breeden, deputy governor for the Bank of England, the UK’s central bank, said the country will keep pace with US stablecoin regulations and work closely with international partners to synchronize regulatory efforts.
Breeden also urged a cautious approach and warned against loosening stablecoin regulations to the point where the asset class poses a systemic risk to the banking sector.
The Bank of England published a consultation paper on Monday outlining a proposed regulatory framework for stablecoins in the UK.
The proposal included potential reserve requirements, asset taxonomy, and risk management regulations for stablecoin issuers and is open for industry feedback until February 2026, with finalized regulations expected in the second half of the year.
Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs, and other risks loom
Key takeaways
-
The Fed’s Dec. 9-10 meeting carries unusual weight as markets wait to see whether another rate cut will arrive before Christmas, shaping bonds, equities and crypto.
-
After two cuts in 2025, rates now sit at 3.75%-4.00%. Labor weakness and softer inflation support further easing, but officials remain divided because inflation risks have not fully cleared.
-
A cooling job market, easing inflation and the end of quantitative tightening could justify another reduction and align with year-end liquidity needs.
-
Sticky inflation, gaps in economic data caused by the government shutdown and a divided Fed may push policymakers to keep rates unchanged this December.
When the US Federal Reserve meets on Dec. 9-10 to decide on interest rates, it will not be just another routine gathering. Markets are watching closely to see what direction policymakers choose. Will the Fed cut rates again before the holidays? A pre-Christmas Eve reduction could send waves through bonds, stocks, credit markets and crypto.
This article explains why the Fed’s pre-Christmas meeting is significant and outlines the factors supporting or opposing a potential rate cut. It also highlights what to watch in the coming weeks and how a Fed move could affect crypto and other financial markets.
The background of a December rate cut
Central banks typically cut rates when inflation is easing, economic growth slows or financial conditions become too tight. In late October, the Federal Reserve lowered rates by 25 basis points, setting the federal funds target range at 3.75%-4.00%, its lowest level since 2022. The move followed another 25-basis-point cut in September 2025, making it the Fed’s second rate reduction of the year.
The move came amid clear signs of a cooling labor market. October recorded one of the worst monthly layoff totals in more than two decades, according to multiple labor-market reports, reinforcing concerns about weakening job conditions. The Fed’s October statement echoed this trend, noting that risks to employment had increased even as inflation remained somewhat elevated.
At a press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that a December cut is “not a foregone conclusion.” Yet economists at Goldman Sachs still expect a cut, pointing to clear signs of labor market weakness. Fed officials remain divided, with some emphasizing inflation risks and the limited room for further easing.
A December rate cut is possible, but it is not guaranteed.
Factors supporting a potential rate cut
There are several reasons the Fed may decide to cut rates:
-
Cooling labor market: Private sector data shows softer hiring, rising layoffs and a slight increase in unemployment.
-
Moderating inflation: Inflation is still above target but continues to trend lower, giving the Fed more flexibility to ease policy.
-
Ending quantitative tightening: The Fed has announced it will stop reducing the size of its balance sheet beginning Dec. 1.
-
Pre-holiday timing: A rate cut would align with year-end liquidity needs and help set expectations for 2026.
Arguments for the Fed to postpone action
Several factors suggest the Fed may delay a rate cut in the near future:
-
Sticky inflation: According to the Fed’s latest statement, the inflation rate remains “somewhat elevated.”
-
Data vacuum: The US government shutdown has delayed key employment and inflation reports, making policy assessments more difficult.
-
Committee division: Federal Reserve officials are split on the appropriate path forward, which encourages a more cautious approach.
-
Limited room for easing: After multiple cuts this year, some analysts argue that policy is already close to a neutral level.
Did you know? In March 2020, the Fed cut interest rates to near zero to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. It lowered rates by a total of 1.5 percentage points across its meetings on March 3 and March 15.
What to monitor before December
These factors are likely to shape the Fed’s upcoming policy decision on rate cuts:
-
Nonfarm payrolls and unemployment: Is the job market continuing to slow?
-
Inflation data: Any unexpected rise in inflation will reduce expectations for policy easing.
-
Financial conditions and market signals: Are credit spreads widening, and is overall market liquidity tightening?
-
Fed communications: Differences of opinion within the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) may influence the outcome.
-
External shocks: Trade developments, geopolitical risks or sudden supply disruptions could shift the Fed’s approach.
Did you know? US stocks have historically returned about 11% in the 12 months after the Fed begins cutting rates.
How a Federal Reserve cut may impact crypto
Fed rate cuts increase global liquidity and often push investors toward riskier assets like crypto in search of higher returns. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) tend to benefit from stronger risk appetite and rising institutional inflows. Lower decentralized finance (DeFi) borrowing rates also encourage more leverage and trading activity. Stablecoins may see greater use in payments, although their yield advantage narrows when rates fall.
However, if a rate cut is interpreted as a signal of recession, crypto may experience equity-like volatility. Markets might see an initial boost from easier liquidity, followed by a pullback driven by broader macro concerns. If global financial conditions loosen instead, the environment could support further crypto demand.
Lower borrowing costs make it easier for people and institutions to take investment risks, which can draw more interest toward digital assets. As more money flows into the sector, crypto companies can build better tools and services, helping the industry connect more smoothly with the rest of the financial system.
Did you know? When the Fed cuts rates, short-term bond yields usually fall first, creating opportunities for traders who track movements in the yield curve.
Consequences of a Fed rate cut on other financial sectors
Here is a look at the potential effects on major asset classes if the Fed cuts interest rates:
-
Bonds and yields: Short-term yields will likely decline as markets adjust their expectations. The yield curve may steepen if long-term yields remain stabler than short-term ones, which can signal confidence in future growth. If the cut is viewed as a sign of recession risk, long-term yields may fall as well, resulting in a flattening or even an inversion of the curve.
-
US dollar and global FX: A rate cut generally weakens the dollar because interest rate differentials narrow. This often supports emerging markets and commodity-exporting countries. If the cut is driven by concerns about economic growth, safe-haven demand may temporarily push the dollar higher.
-
Equities: A pre-Christmas Eve rate cut could spark a rally in US stocks if investors see it as a sign of confidence in a soft landing. A soft landing refers to cooling inflation alongside a stable labor market. If the cut is motivated by growth worries instead, corporate earnings may come under pressure, and defensive sectors could outperform cyclical ones.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024