Poland ceases airlifts as safety concerns rise
WARSAW — Poland has ended its evacuations from Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday, as the clock ticks down on dramatic Western efforts to help people flee the Taliban takeover ahead of a full American withdrawal.
President Biden declared the day before that he is sticking to his Aug. 31 deadline for completing the U.S. pullout as the Taliban insisted he must, ramping up pressure on the already risky airlift from Kabul to get out as many people as possible in the coming days.
European allies pressed for more time but lost the argument, and as a practical matter they may be forced to end their evacuations a couple of days before the last American troops leave. Several countries haven’t said yet when they plan to end their operations, perhaps hoping to avoid yet another fatal crush at an airport that’s one of the last ways out of the country.
The Taliban wrested back control of Afghanistan nearly 20 years after they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion following the 9/11 attacks. Their return to power has pushed many Afghans to flee, fearing reprisals from the fighters or a return to the brutal rule they imposed when they last ran the country.
Thousands of people are trying to leave, and it’s not clear that everyone who wants to will be able to by Aug. 31. But any decision by Biden to stay longer could reignite a war between the Taliban and U.S. troops and other coalition forces who are running the airlift.
“Due to extreme tension on the ground … and the scheduled departure of American forces, these evacuations are a true race against time,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said Wednesday. He said that his country’s evacuation would likely end in “a few hours, maybe a few days ahead” of the American departure.
With the deadline looming, Marcin Przydacz, a Polish deputy foreign minister, said Wednesday that a group of people taken from Kabul who are now in Uzbekistan was the last evacuated by Poland. He said his nation made its decision to not continue operations after consulting with U.S. and British officials.
U.S. officials pledged Wednesday that the military airlift of Americans and others from Kabul will continue until the final hours before the Tuesday night deadline. But refugee groups described a disorganized, barely-there U.S. evacuation effort for Afghan allies that leaves the most desperate to risk beatings and death at Taliban checkpoints
Analyst Patricia Lewis said the practical deadline for the evacuations to stop was “the next couple of days.”
“All of the allies are highly dependent on the U.S. for military cover, particularly air cover,” Lewis said. “They can’t put their own people at risk, so it really depends on when the U.S. starts packing up.”