Afghan evacuation on 'war footing' as Aug 31 deadline nears

KABUL • Western troops at Kabul airport worked frantically yesterday to evacuate people from Afghanistan before an Aug 31 deadline as US President Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift of thousands trying to flee.

Leaders of the Group of Seven countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - were due to meet virtually yesterday to discuss the crisis, with Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace saying it is "unlikely" evacuations will be extended beyond Aug 31.

Chaos punctuated by sporadic violence has gripped the airport, with foreign troops and Afghan security guards driving back crowds clamouring to get on flights following the Taleban's takeover of the Afghan capital on Aug 15.

Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a news conference yesterday that it has asked the US to stop evacuating skilled Afghans. He also said the Taleban will no longer allow Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport due to the chaos there. Crowds at the airport should go home and their security would be guaranteed, he said.

Countries that have evacuated some 58,700 people over the past 10 days were trying to meet the deadline agreed earlier with the Taleban for the withdrawal of foreign forces, a Nato diplomat said.

"Every foreign force member is working at a war-footing pace to meet the deadline," said the official, who declined to be identified.

Mr Biden, who has said American troops might stay beyond the deadline, has warned that the evacuation was going to be "hard and painful" and much could still go wrong.

But the Taleban spokesman said the militant group had not agreed to an extension of the Aug 31 deadline and that it wanted all evacuations to end by that date.

A Taleban official also said on Monday that an extension would not be granted, though he said foreign forces had not sought one.

Washington said negotiations were continuing.

Many Afghans fear reprisals and a return to a harsh version of Islamic law that the Taleban enforced when in power from 1996 to 2001, in particular the repression of women.

Meanwhile, CIA director William Burns met Taleban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, two US sources told Reuters. A CIA representative said the intelligence agency had no comment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Democrat Adam Schiff, chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told reporters after a briefing by intelligence officials that he did not believe the evacuation could be completed in the days remaining.

"It's possible but I think it's very unlikely, given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated," Mr Schiff said.

Separately, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Berlin was working with Washington and London to ensure the Nato allies can fly civilians out after the deadline.

"Even if the deadline is Aug 31 or is extended by a few days, it will not be enough to evacuate those we want to evacuate and those that the United States wants to evacuate," Mr Maas told Bild newspaper.

"That's why we are working with the US and Britain to ensure that once the military evacuation is completed, it is still possible to fly civilians out of Kabul airport."

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin was interested in serving as a middleman in resolving the crisis along with China, the US and Pakistan. At the same time, he said, Russia opposes the idea of allowing Afghan refugees to enter the former Soviet region of Central Asia or having American troops deployed there.

"If you think that any country in Central Asia or elsewhere is interested in becoming a target so that the Americans could fulfil their initiatives, I really doubt anyone needs that," Mr Lavrov said during a visit to Hungary.

REUTERS