Members of the British Armed Forces continue to participate in the evacuation of eligible personnel from Kabul Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 19-22. August 2021, in this handout picture Reuters received on August 23, 2021.
UKMOD | via Reuters
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host an emergency meeting of G-7 leaders on Tuesday to discuss the chaotic situation in Afghanistan and their next steps.
The G-7 countries – UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan – will try to formulate a plan for the immediate and future as thousands of Afghan refugees gather around Kabul airport and try getting out of the country and how countries are conducting one of the greatest airlifts in history to get their citizens out.
The virtual meeting takes place against the backdrop of a turbulent US withdrawal from Afghanistan, with Taliban forces taking control of the country in about 10 days when the Afghan military and government surrendered.
It also comes just a week before the August 31 deadline for US forces to fully withdraw from Afghanistan. Johnson is expected to request Washington to extend this deadline, which President Joe Biden has openly considered. But the Taliban have announced that they will not accept an extension.
“It’s a red line. President Biden has announced that they will withdraw all of their forces on August 31,” Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Monday. “So if they extend it, it means they are extending employment when it is not required.”
The UK plans to keep its approximately 1,000 armed soldiers in Afghanistan until all of its citizens and Afghan nationals who have worked for its armed forces are evacuated, and has no set withdrawal date like the US. But there are fears that without US forces on the ground, they will not be able to conduct safe evacuations.
“If the US or UK is looking for extra time to evacuate, the answer is no. Otherwise there would be consequences, ”added Shaheen of the Taliban.
Several Afghan forces and civilians were killed both in fighting with militants and in a desperate attempt to flee the now Taliban-ruled country; some tried to hold on to a US evacuation plane taking off from Kabul International Airport.
The U.S. government says it has evacuated or facilitated evacuation about 48,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, but admitted Monday it did not know how many Americans were left in the country.
