Britain to urge sanctions on Taliban

Johnson set to raise issue at G7 meeting

LONDON • Britain plans to push world leaders to consider new sanctions on the Taliban when the G7 meet on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan, sources have told Reuters.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who currently leads the group that includes the United States, Italy, France, Germany, Japan and Canada, called on Sunday for the virtual meeting, in the wake of the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan.

Britain believes the G7 should consider economic sanctions and withhold aid if the Taliban commits human rights abuses and allows its territory to be used as a haven for militants, one British government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Sunday.

Taliban militants seized control of Kabul last weekend in an upheaval that sent civilians and Afghan military allies fleeing for safety.

Outside the Kabul airport on Sunday, a day after seven people were killed in a crush at the gates, Taliban fighters fired in the air and used batons to beat back thousands desperate to flee.

Britain's Sky News showed Allied soldiers on a wall on Saturday attempting to pull the injured from the crush and spraying people with a hose to prevent them from getting dehydrated.

The U.K. defence ministry said Sunday it had evacuated 5,725 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 13 and plans to evacuate an additional 6,000 this week.

Canada has evacuated 281 Afghans and 13 foreign nationals in the past week.

The United States said Sunday it had called up 18 civilian aircraft from United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air and others to carry people from temporary locations after they have landed on flights from Afghanistan.

In a briefing at the White House, President Joe Biden said the U.S. had an “unwavering commitment” to get U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans out safely.

However, Biden said the security situation in Afghanistan was changing rapidly and his administration was under no illusions about the threat from Islamic State militants in Afghanistan known as ISIS-K.

“Let me be clear, the evacuation of thousands from Kabul is going to be hard and painful” and would have been “no matter when it began,” Biden said.

“We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong.”

Asked by a reporter whether the United States would extend an Aug. 31 deadline for evacuations, Biden replied: “Our hope is we will not have to extend but there are going to be discussions I suspect on how far along we are in the process.”