Tag: sticks

Categories
World News

Biden Sticks to Afghan Deadline, Resisting Pleas to Lengthen Evacuation

Biden Sticks to Afghan Deadline, Resisting Pleas to Extend Evacuation

“People will die and they will be left behind,” said McCaul.

Mr Biden has stressed that he takes the threat to American security in Kabul seriously. In a closed meeting with the leaders of the Seven Nations Group on Tuesday, the president told them the risk of a terrorist attack was “very high,” according to a senior American official.

A deadly attack by ISIS-K on American and Afghan civilians would be a catastrophe not only for the United States but also for the Taliban, who want to consolidate control over Kabul. The Taliban and the Islamic State were enemies and fought for control of parts of the country on the battlefield.

Understanding the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan

Map 1 of 5

Who are the Taliban? The Taliban emerged in 1994 amid the unrest following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including flogging, amputation and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here is more about their genesis and track record as rulers.

Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the Taliban, men who for years have been on the run, in hiding, in prison and dodged American drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to rule, including whether they will be as tolerant as they say they are.

What is happening to the women of Afghanistan? When the Taliban was last in power, they banned women and girls from most jobs or from going to school. Afghan women have gained a lot since the Taliban was overthrown, but now they fear that they are losing ground. Taliban officials are trying to reassure women that things will be different, but there are indications that they have begun to reintroduce the old order in at least some areas.

ISIS-K refers to the Khorasan offshoot of the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who chaired the meeting, tried to put the discussions on a good face and said the evacuation had been remarkably successful. He said the leaders had agreed on a roadmap for long-term dealings with the Taliban and vowed to use Afghan funds in Western banks as leverage to put pressure on the Taliban.

“Condition # 1 is that they must guarantee safe passage for those who want to get out by August 31st and beyond,” Johnson told the BBC after the meeting.

But Mr Johnson failed in his efforts to persuade Mr Biden to extend the evacuation beyond August 31, and it was not clear what other options the allies had to protect their own citizens and Afghan allies without American military power.

Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were plans to find a way to ensure that “we can still get as many local workers and vulnerable people to leave the country” afterwards. But her sober tone exposed the sense of futility Western leaders felt about Afghanistan.

“How can it be that the Afghan leader left the country so quickly?” said Mrs. Merkel. “How can it be that Afghan soldiers who we trained for so long gave up so quickly? We will have to ask ourselves these questions, but they were not the most urgent today. “

Categories
Politics

Biden sticks to Aug. 31 Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, regardless of stress to increase

Biden sticks to Aug. 31 Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, despite pressure to extend

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden told G-7 leaders during an emergency meeting on Tuesday that he would adhere to the pre-established timetable for the full withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, although the US is also putting in place contingency plans if an extension proves necessary should prove.

“We are currently well on the way to being finished by August 31,” said Biden from the west wing of the White House in his third televised address on Afghanistan since the country fell to the Taliban.

“I also asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans in order to adjust the schedule should this be necessary,” said Biden.

The president faced political pressure to extend the withdrawal period from US allies in Europe, such as Britain, as well as from his own party in Washington. However, Biden made it clear on Tuesday that he believes the sooner the U.S. can complete the evacuation operation, the better.

The president warned that staying for long periods posed serious risks to Allied troops and civilians. ISIS-K, an offshoot of the terrorist group based in Afghanistan, poses a growing threat to Hamid Karzai International Airport, the president said.

“Every day we are there is another day we know that ISIS-K is trying to attack the airport and target both US and Allied forces and innocent civilians,” he said.

Biden also described US relations with the Taliban on the ground in Kabul as “poor”. The militants have worked with the US in the evacuations, the president said, but the longer the US stays, the greater the risk that fighting will break out.

According to the White House Tuesday evening, the US has evacuated or helped evacuate approximately 70,700 people from Afghanistan since August 14. The US has relocated nearly 75,900 people since the end of July.

As of Tuesday, approximately 4,000 American passport holders and their families had been flown out of Afghanistan, although several thousand Americans are believed to be awaiting evacuation.

Biden said the leaders of the world’s seven major industrial democracies, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations, have agreed to “stand together in our dealings with the Taliban.”

“We will judge them [Taliban] through their actions and we will stay in close coordination on any steps we take in response to the Taliban’s behavior, “Biden said.

In a joint statement following their virtual meeting, the G7 leaders expressed “serious concern” about human rights, especially for women, in Afghanistan and called on countries around the world to support efforts to relocate vulnerable Afghans.

A Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit walks with the children during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 24, 2021.

Sgt. Samuel Ruiz | US Marine Corps | via Reuters

The Taliban said Tuesday that the group would no longer allow Afghan nationals to leave the country on evacuation flights, nor would they accept an extension of the exit period beyond the end of the month.

“We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave the country,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday.

“She [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people who belong to them with them, but we will not allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline, “he said. Evacuations by foreign forces after August .31 would be a “violation” of the Biden government’s promise to end the US military’s mission in the country, Mujahid said.

Read more about developments in Afghanistan:

Although the Biden government tried to complete the evacuation by the end of the month, members of the president’s own party have expressed doubts.

House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Said Monday after a secret briefing with intelligence officials that it was “very unlikely” that the US would remove all remaining American citizens, special immigrant visa applicants and vulnerable Afghans US could evacuate land by August 31st.

A U.S. Marine provides assistance with an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, Aug. 22, 2021.

US Marines | Reuters

“I am encouraged to see how many people have been evacuated, to the point where we have evacuated 11,000 people in a single day,” Schiff said.

“Still, given the logistical difficulties involved in transporting people to the airport and the limited number of workarounds, I can hardly assume that this will be fully completed by the end of the month. And I certainly believe that we have a military.” Presence as long as it is necessary to get all US people out and to honor our moral and ethical obligations to our Afghan partners. “

Crowds gather in front of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, 23 August 2021.

Asvaka News | via Reuters

More than 5,000 US soldiers are on site in Kabul and are helping with the evacuation efforts. Almost 200 aircraft are in some way earmarked for evacuation.

The Pentagon announced Monday that evacuees were flying from Kabul to temporary safe havens in the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. installations in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.

To date, Afghan nationals arriving in the United States have been accommodated at either Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, Fort Lee, Virginia, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, or Fort Bliss, Texas.