WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers said all foreign evacuations from the country must be completed by Aug 31, and the White House said US President Joe Biden is aiming to stick to the date due to the mounting threat of militant attacks.
But Biden has left open the chance of the deadline being extended, the White House said, and has asked the Pentagon and the US State Department to develop contingency plans should that prove necessary.
Biden spoke on Tuesday with leaders of the G7 major industrialised nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan, telling them that completing evacuations by Aug 31 is dependent on continued cooperation with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport in Kabul.
Biden also told G7 counterparts that each day on the ground in Afghanistan brings added risk to US troops from an attack by Daesh militants, according to the White House.
The developments follow what two US officials said was a meeting between CIA Director William Burns and Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday to discuss the chaos in Afghanistan after the Taliban’s unexpectedly swift takeover.
Biden, who said last week troops might stay past Aug 31 to evacuate Americans, will follow a Pentagon recommendation to remove the troops by that date as long as the Taliban enables the US to complete its evacuations, three US officials said.
Two US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was growing concern about suicide bombings by Daesh at the airport, which has been overwhelmed by Afghans and foreign citizens rushing to leave, fearing Taliban reprisals.
One US official said it was no longer a question of if, but when, militants would attack and the priority was to get out before it happened.
The hardline Taliban told the thousands of Afghans crowding into the airport in the hope of boarding flights that they had nothing to fear and should go home.
“We guarantee their security,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in the capital, which Taliban fighters seized on Aug 15 from the Western-backed government after most foreign forces withdrew following two decades of war.
As he spoke, Western troops were working frantically to get more foreigners and Afghans onto planes and out of the country.
Mujahid said the Taliban had not agreed to an extension of the Aug 31 deadline and called on the United States not to encourage Afghan people to leave their homeland. He also urged foreign embassies not to close or stop work.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said she had received credible reports of “summary executions” of civilians and Afghan security forces who had surrendered. The Taliban has said it will investigate such reports.
Some Democrats in the US Congress argued that the evacuations must be completed regardless of the target date.
“To me, the mission of evacuating personnel takes priority over deadlines,” said Representative Jake Auchincloss, a former Marine who commanded infantry in Afghanistan.
Auchincloss spoke to reporters after a classified briefing for members of the House of Representatives by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
The G7 leaders on Tuesday said they would remain committed to Afghanistan and back the United Nations in coordinating immediate humanitarian help in the region, which faces a new influx of refugees.
The talks did not result “in new dates” for the end of the evacuation mission, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, though there were intensive discussions on whether a civilian-operated airport in Kabul could be used after Aug 31. — NNN-AGENCIES
