GET OUT OR ELSE
Taliban threat of ‘consequences’ if deadline missed
KABUL: The Taliban has warned there will be ““consequences” if the US and its allies, including Australia, try to remain in Afghanistan beyond next week, as efforts continue to evacuate tens of thousands of people who are desperate to flee the country.
Thousands of Western troops have poured back into the country to oversee the chaotic airlift of foreigners and Afghans from Kabul airport, and pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden to extend the August 31 deadline.
Mr Biden and his G7 counterparts – several of whom are pushing him to leave soldiers at the airport to keep it open – were due to meet to discuss how to handle the hardline Islamist Taliban insurgents.
“The goal is to get as many people out as fast as possible,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. “The focus is on trying to do this as best we can, by the end of the month.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House believed it could get all Americans out by the deadline, and stressed the majority of those being evacuated each day were Afghan nationals.
The Taliban has shown no willingness to compromise. Spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News that any foreign military presence beyond the agreed deadline would be “extending occupation”.
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no, there would be consequences,” he said.
The Taliban is working on forming a government, but two sources said there would be no announcements on a cabinet until the last US soldier had left Afghanistan.
The rush to leave Kabul has sparked harrowing scenes at the airport, with reports of numerous people crushed to death at the boundary fence.
The German defence ministry said an Afghan man was killed and three others hurt in a gunfight between guards and unknown assailants.
The Taliban, infamous for an ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law during its 1996-2001 rule, has claimed to be different this time and declared an amnesty for government forces and officials.
But a UN intelligence report states militants are going door-to-door hunting former government officials and those who worked with US and NATO forces.
In the capital, the Taliban has enforced some sense of calm in a city long marred by violent crime, with its fighters patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints.
With government offices still mostly closed, many Afghan workers are worried about being paid – but the Taliban has announced the appointment of a central bank governor in order to keep the wheels of finance moving.