Biden refuses to extend deadline
US warns of threats in Kabul as Johnson calls on Taliban to give Afghans safe passage after troops withdraw
JOE BIDEN last night rejected calls to delay his Aug 31 exit date from Afghanistan, leaving Boris Johnson and fellow world leaders to ask the Taliban to let people go safely after troops withdraw.
The President made it clear in a conference call with G7 leaders that the US was committed to hitting its deadline of pulling out troops by Tuesday, citing heightened security threats.
Speaking at a press conference last night, Mr Biden said: “I’m mindful of the increasing risk I’ve been briefed on and the need to factor those risks in. They’re real...starting with the acute and growing risk of an attack by a terrorist group known as ISIS-K, an ISIS affiliate which is a sworn enemy of the Taliban.
“Every day we’re on the ground is another day ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport.”
Mr Biden added: “I’ve asked the Pentagon and State Department for contingency plans to adjust the [withdrawal] timeline if that becomes necessary.”
Moments after the earlier G7 meeting, the Prime Minister issued a public call for the Taliban to promise “safe passage” for Western citizens and Afghans who wanted to leave after that date, threatening economic and diplomatic punishments if they refused.
But a Taliban spokesman said that Afghans may not be allowed to leave after American and British troops pull out, throwing into uncertainty what exit routes would be available after Tuesday. British troops are expected to start leaving the country in the coming days, with ministers warning that there is a heightened risk of terror attacks or crowd chaos.
Mr Biden said it was a “tenuous situation” and there was a “serious risk of it breaking down”.
He said the Taliban was “taking steps” to help get Americans out. But, in future, the US and its allies would not “take the Taliban’s word” for anything, and would “judge them by their actions”.
A total of 21,600 people were flown out in a 24-hour period before yesterday morning, the White House said, marking the highest number to date.
The Ministry of Defence said 8,458 people had been evacuated by the UK since Aug 13. A total of 1,800 British citizens remain in the country.
There are fears that thousands of Britons, and Afghans who believe they
‘The top condition we’re setting as G7 is that they’ve got to guarantee safe passage’
qualify for evacuation after helping the UK operation in the country over the past 20 years, are still stuck inside Afghanistan.
Some American troops have already begun leaving Kabul, but it would not undermine the evacuation, US officials said. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said evacuations of civilians would need to stop before Aug 31 so US soldiers could remove their equipment.
Mr Johnson faced criticism for failing to secure a delay to the withdrawal at the G7 meeting yesterday.
Mr Biden rejected his request point blank in a call on Monday night. “Biden made clear that it wasn’t a runner,” a senior government source said. Mr Johnson said the G7 leaders had “agreed not just a joint approach to dealing with the evacuation, but also a roadmap for the way in which we’re going to engage with the Taliban”. The Prime Minister added: “The number one condition we’re setting as G7 is that they’ve got to guarantee right the way through, through Aug 31 and beyond, safe passage for those who want to come out. Some of them will say that they don’t accept that, some of them I hope will see the sense of that, because the G7 has very considerable leverage, economic, diplomatic and political.”
That was echoed in the joint statement agreed by the leaders which said: “Our immediate priority is to ensure the safe evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have partnered with us and assisted our efforts over the past 20 years, and to ensure continuing safe passage out of Afghanistan.”
However, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said earlier in the day: “We want them to evacuate all foreign nationals by Aug 31,” adding: “And we are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave.” Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taliban’s founder Mullah Omar, also urged Afghans to give up their plans of leaving the country.
Downing Street will consider freezing bank accounts and financial holdings of Taliban leaders overseas, limiting development assistance and curbing support from the World Bank and the IMF as potential levers.
The Prime Minister said he was also seeking assurances from the Taliban regarding preventing terrorism, upholding human rights – including women’s rights – and pursuing an “inclusive political settlement” in Afghanistan. British military planners were yesterday
preparing to remove about 1,000 personnel in Kabul as well as the final British and Afghan evacuees. The British exit is expected to be completed before America’s.
Government ministers have warned there are heightened security fears for troops still in Afghanistan as the number of Western soldiers reduces.
A defence source said: “It could be the airfield gets compromised by a massive incursion. It could be that the Taliban have an element that wants to put up a fight in the last days. It could be that Isil wants to do a spectacular.”
Some G7 nations are hoping to convince the Taliban to keep Kabul airport open. Both Mr Johnson’s failure to sway Mr Biden to push back the withdrawal end date – despite public pleas from UK government ministers this week – and the belief the Taliban would respond to threats was criticised by politicians, including from his own party.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the former defence secretary and foreign secretary, said it was “pretty pathetic” the West had not tried to delay the deadline.
Sir Malcolm told the BBC that Mr Johnson may not be able to guarantee “safe passage” to those left behind given the Taliban rule. “I think it’s perhaps unwise to give the impression that there are somehow two ways of getting far more people out of Kabul [other] than extending the deadline,” he said.
Lisa Nandy, the shadow foreign secretary, called it a “dark moment for the UK Government and for Afghans”. Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “Boris Johnson has come out from this summit with nothing.”
Mujahid yesterday reiterated the group’s opposition to moving the evacuation deadline beyond Aug 31. “The 31st is the time,” he said.