Taliban Refuses Deadline Extension For Troop Pullout, Afghans Can't Leave

by GoNews Desk 2 years ago Views 1610

As tensions escalate over extending the deadline for evacuation of foreign nationals and Afghans from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan through Kabul Airport. The group’s spokesperson Zabihulla Mujahid has further stated that Afghans are no longer permitted to go to the airport.

Taliban Refuses Deadline Ext
Uncertainty prevails about extending the deadline for evacuation of foreign nationals and Afghans from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan through Kabul Airport. The group's spokesperson Zabihulla Mujahid has categorically rejected any stay of troops on Afghan soil after the August 31st deadline. It had previously warned the United States of "consequences" over this. Mujahid has further stated that Afghans are no longer permitted to go to the airport. He reiterated that the Taliban will not extend the evacuations window beyond the end of the month, and that the USA and its allies had the resources to accomplish it by then.

This directly counters assertions by the US President who numbers this as among the most difficult airlifts in history. For the Afghans trying to flee the country and their regime, he assured them of a safe passage back home. This is similar to the group’s ‘negotiated’ surrender tactics whereby Afghan soldiers would be allowed to return home or join them if they ceased resistance.


The G-7 emergency meeting convened to discuss the Afghanistan situation is being chaired by the U.K. Among foreign policy coordination strategies will also be the question of extending the deadline for troop presence on ground.

Earlier, Spain and the UK had stated that they would fail to evacuate everyone in case of the extension not materializing. There have been over 60,000 evacuations thus far in the mammoth operation that has been described as happening on a “war footing” by a ‘NATO diplomat’ according to Reuters.

While Biden has asked Americans and the world to brace for a “hard and painful” evacuation in which things could still go wrong, German Foreign Minister stated that his country is working with Britain and the US to chalk out a plan to continue civilian flights after the military withdrawal is complete. The USA is said to be under pressure domesticall and its G-7 partners to initiate talks about extending the deadline. 

 

Speaking to the newspaper Bild, he said that since the August 31 deadline “will not be enough to evacuate those we (including United States) want… we are working with the United States and Britain to ensure that once the military evacuation is completed it is still possible to fly out civilians from Kabul”.

However, it remains to be seen whether the militant group will allow civilian flights and whether their security will be guaranteed in the absence of foreign troops. The ‘acting’ President of Afghanistan (the Taliban has not been recognized yet) Amrullah Saleh has tweeted about the situation in Andarab Valley, where he has said that children have been abducted and food and fuel supply cut off for being a resistance center against the group.

 

 

The evacuation crisis, and the unfolding panic caused by the Taliban looming over the airport, has also caused public expressions of dismay and frustration from military veterans and the general American public. 81% Americans, according to a YouGov and CNN poll, think that Afghans who helped the U.S. should be assisted in escaping the country. Support for the Afghanistan War had begun plummeting a decade ago. In 2007, a Pew Global Attitudes Project survey found only two countries with majority support for the Afghanistan War. While at that time American support for some frm of troop presence was still close to 50%, a poll by the Chicago Council of Global Affairs in July 2021 found that 7 out of 10 Americans favor troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.

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