Afghan evacuation on ‘war footing’ as G7 meets
Western forces at Kabul airport worked flat out on Tuesday to get people out of Afghanistan before an Aug. 31 deadline, as US President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift of thousands of stranded people.
Widespread chaos punctuated by sporadic violence has gripped Kabul’s airport, with Western troops and Afghan security guards driving back crowds desperate to flee following the Taliban’s take over of the Afghan capital on Aug. 15.
Countries that have evacuated some 50,000 people over the past 10 days are trying to meet the deadline agreed earlier with the Taliban for the withdrawal of foreign forces, a NATO diplomat told Reuters.
“Every foreign force member is working at a war-footing pace to meet the deadline,” said the official, who declined to be identified.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries - Britain, Canada, France Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States will meet virtually later on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
Biden, who has said US troops might stay beyond the deadline, has warned the evacuation was going to be “hard and painful” and much could still go wrong.
Taliban will be judged by deeds, not words: Johnson
The Taliban will be judged by its deeds rather than words, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said ahead of chairing an emergency G7 virtual meet to coordinate international response to the Afghan
crisis. Downing Street on Monday said that during the meeting on Tuesday, Johnson will call on the Group of Seven leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US to continue to stand by the Afghan people and step-up support for refugees and humanitarian aid.