Joe Biden has rejected the pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops in Afghanistan for evacuation efforts beyond the end of the month, citing the growing threat of a terrorist attack.
In a move likely to fuel criticism that America is abandoning Afghan partners to the Taliban, the US president made clear that he is resolved to withdraw forces from Kabul airport by next Tuesday’s deadline.
“We are currently on a pace to finish by August the 31st,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. “The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”
The president acknowledged that completing the airlift – one of the biggest in history – by 31 August depends on the Taliban continuing to cooperate and allowing access to the airport with no disruption to operations.
Biden also noted that he has asked the Pentagon and the state department for “contingency plans to adjust the timetable should that become necessary”:
In some ways Biden’s decision is the logical outcome once he announced he would adhere to Donald Trump’s original agreement with the Taliban in February 2020. The Taliban have won, and to the victor goes the spoils.
But Biden’s decision has left Boris Johnson with little on which to cling after making such a public pitch for Biden to extend the deadline.
Putting on a brave face, he said afterwards: “The number one condition that we’re insisting upon is safe passage beyond the 31st, beyond this initial phase, for those who want to leave Afghanistan.” But the Taliban have said they do not want more of their fellow citizens to leave the country, have given no promises about a roadmap on safe passages and, anyway, the UN human rights commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, has claimed there are credible reports the Taliban are already breaking their promises on avoiding reprisals. The one certainty is that between now and 31 August there will be more of what the prime minister described as “harrowing scenes” at the airport.
So it leaves open the question whether the west, effectively defeated in battle, can in some way retrieve the peace, and influence the still as yet unformed Taliban government:
In the end it took only seven minutes for Joe Biden to pour salt into the wounds of his fractured relationship with European leaders, telling them firmly on a video call that he would not extend the 31 August deadline for US troops to stay in Kabul, as he had been asked by the French, Italians and most of all the British. The rebuff follows Biden’s earlier decision in July to insist on the August deadline previously set in 2020 by Donald Trump for the withdrawal, a decision the US president relayed to his EU colleagues as a fait accompli.
For Europe the episode has been a rude awakening, and a moment of sober reassessment. Only on 25 March Charles Michel had afforded Biden the chance to address a meeting of the European Council, the first foreign leader given the honour since Barack Obama 11 years earlier. Biden after all had said his foreign policy would only be as strong as his system of alliances, the true shield of the republic, and Europe would be at the heart of that system.
Michel, the European Council president, told Biden: “America is back and we are glad you are back. Together we can show that democracies are best suited to protect citizens, to promote dignity, and to generate prosperity.”
Hi, Helen Sullivan joining you now on an icy almost-spring morning in Sydney.
I’ll be bringing you the latest developments as they happen, including reaction to Biden’s speech.
As always, if you’d like to get in touch or send news you think we may have missed, the best place to reach me is on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Summary
It’s been a lively few hours, although some spent in suspended animation waiting for Joe Biden to speak. He was more than five hours behind schedule in giving remarks at the White House and then his address was a damp squib. And he didn’t take questions.
It’s now 2.30am local time in Kabul and it’s tense. My terrific colleagues in Australia will now take over this live blog from the US team. Helen Sullivan is standing by.
Here are the most recent highlights:
- Joe Biden said at the White House that: “We are determined to complete this mission.” The mission currently being the US withdrawing completely from Afghanistan by 31 August, confounding key allies who wanted to try to get the deadline extended.
- Reports are filtering in that the United States has started to take some of the 6,000 troops it has in Afghanistan out of the country, as it accelerates evacuations. The US president did not take any questions after his White House remarks, and did not mention this point. Moments earlier, the White House press secretary had declined to discuss it at the media briefing.
- The European Union has announced it’s freezing a billion euros in development aid it has set aside for Afghanistan over the next seven years, as Brussels sought to use its financial leverage to secure assurances over the Taliban’s treatment of women and minority groups.
- UK prime minister Boris Johnson has asked the Taliban to guarantee safe passage for British evacuations out of Afghanistan. Joe Biden later said that US evacuations depended on cooperation by the Taliban. The G7 nations held an emergency meeting earlier today.
Joe Biden has rejected the pleas of domestic and international allies to keep troops in Afghanistan for evacuation efforts beyond the end of the month, citing the growing threat of a terrorist attack.
In a move likely to fuel criticism that America is abandoning Afghan partners to the Taliban, the US president made clear that he is resolved to withdraw forces from Kabul airport by next Tuesday’s deadline, my colleague David Smith writes from Washington.
“We are currently on a pace to finish by August the 31st,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. “The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”
Biden’s domestic opponents - Republicans in Congress - have criticised his ambition and said this afternoon they though there was “no possible way” the US would be able to evacuate all those connected to the US who needed to come out, by the 31 August deadline.
And Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, said following the G7 meeting earlier: “Several leaders during the G7 meeting expressed concerns about this timing, August 31, and we have also had the opportunity to express our opinion on that.”
A 2020 deal struck by then president Donald Trump and the Taliban initially set a May deadline for US troops to fully withdrawn, after nearly 20 years of war there. Biden extended the deadline to 31 August but failed to anticipate how quickly the Afghan government and army would collapse.
Some US Democrats have also weighed in with doubts.
US Democratic congresswoman Mikie Sherrill, a member of the House armed service committee and former navy helicopter pilot, said after a classified briefing: “Make no mistake, this evacuation is an extremely dangerous mission and it’s set to get more dangerous in the coming days. I requested that the SecDef [the Secretary of Defence] and SecState [the US Secretary of State] encourage the President in the strongest possible terms to reconsider that deadline.”
As foreign governments, aid institutions and companies scramble to evacuate staff from Afghanistan, a crucial question is emerging: should they engage with the ruling Taliban or abandon years of investment in the country and 38 million Afghans?
The Taliban in the past week have pledged peaceful relations with other countries, women’s rights and independent media but some former diplomats and academics said the Islamist militant group, while more media and internet savvy than the Taliban of the 1990s, is just as brutal.
The Taliban barred women from work, girls from school and killed or disfigured dissenters in public, Reuters reports.
The news agency continues:
It also harbored al Qaeda, which plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington that prompted a U.S.-led invasion.
For foreign aid agencies the situation presents “a paradox,” said Robert Crews, a Stanford University history professor and author of the 2015 book “Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation.”
“If you are an aid worker at a state hospital, you are serving a regime whose legitimacy is in the balance,” he said. “But if everybody goes home, will the state collapse?”
Afghanistan’s government budget is 70% to 80% funded by international donors, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said Michael McKinley, who served as ambassador to Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016.
This report from ABC News in the US discusses the heroin trade out of Afghanistan, produced from opium poppies that thrive there, now that the Taliban is in control.
Updated
Joe Biden’s address was over very quickly and revealed very little new, especially for an address that was eagerly awaited and was more than five hours later than it had been scheduled.
The US president left the Roosevelt Room in the west wing at the White House, close to the Oval Office, without taking questions from the assembled media.
He said he would now be consulting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken and would have some more information on evacuation numbers and plans tomorrow.
He reiterated what he told the G7 earlier today, that he has asked some of his senior leadership at the State Department and the Pentagon to draw up contingency plans in case the US is not able to complete its evacuation plans by the end of the month.
Evacuations of US citizens and Afghans who worked with the US have been accelerated, especially in the last 12 hours, he said.
"We are determined to complete this mission" - Biden
The US president has turned to the issue of Afghanistan now. He’s praising allies in the Group of nations (G7), Nato and the European Union for solidarity of approach over Afghanistan – even though the US is strong-arming on its decision to pull out by the end of the month.
“We are currently on pace to finish by August 31. The sooner we can finish the better,” Biden said.
He said the continuing, accelerated, evacuation of Americans and Afghan aides who’ve worked with the US was dependent on the cooperation of the Taliban.
And he said “the longer we stay”, the greater the risk of hostilities from the Taliban and their mutual enemy, an Afghanistan-based branch of Isis, the Islamic State extremists.
Updated
Joe Biden has begun speaking at the White House but, surprisingly, he’s kicking off with remarks on his domestic agenda, after the House of Representatives passed some important budget legislation a little earlier.
The US president is expected to turn to the topic of Afghanistan imminently, after firmly telling G7 allies earlier today, at a virtual emergency meeting, that America intends to hold to the deadline of 31 August for pulling US troops out of the country.
"I just got off the telephone with the leaders of the House,” @potus tells us pic.twitter.com/gULoJzHa7B
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) August 24, 2021
The White House press secretary was asked earlier about the comments of former British prime minister Tony Blair at the weekend, where he slammed the “tragic, dangerous, unnecessary” hasty US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Jen Psaki, press sec, had a riposte.
Asked about Tony Blair’s Afghanistan criticism, Jen Psaki says “The President has been in touch directly with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is the current leader of the UK.”
— Kevin Liptak (@Kevinliptakcnn) August 24, 2021
Biden may have been expected to have more in common with the former Labour leader than with the current Conservative prime minister, who cosied up to Donald Trump.
Blair published a long essay on his own website. He warned that the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan will see “every jihadist group round the world cheering”, as he said that there was now a moral obligation for western troops to stay until all those eligible are evacuated from Afghanistan.
Updated
As we await the repeatedly-delayed US president, it is interesting to wonder what contingency plans are being drawn up in case the 31 August deadline for US withdrawal is not met.
AFP news agency has a useful summary of where Joe Biden, the rest of the G7 and evacuations are up to right now, on their goals.
Biden told G7 leaders Tuesday the United States was “on pace” to complete its pullout from Afghanistan by August 31 but contingency plans were being drawn up in case the self-imposed deadline could not be met.
The White House said Biden also told Group of Seven leaders in a conference call that completing the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of the month depends on “continued coordination” with the Taliban and access for evacuees to Kabul airport.
The United States has evacuated around 58,000 people, including more than 4,000 Americans, from Afghanistan since August 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul and took power, according to US officials.
Several thousand other people have been evacuated by allied European nations such as Germany and the United Kingdom.
The Taliban urged skilled Afghans not to flee the country on Tuesday and warned the United States and its NATO allies they would not accept an extension to the evacuation deadline.
A spokesman for the hardline Islamist group told America to stop taking “Afghan experts,” such as engineers and doctors, out of the country.
“This country needs their expertise. They should not be taken to other countries,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital.
“They should not encourage the Afghan people to flee Afghanistan.”
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Biden had told G7 leaders the US mission in Kabul “will end based on the achievement of our objectives.”
“He confirmed we are currently on pace to finish by August 31,” Psaki told reporters.
“He also made clear that with each day of operations on the ground, we have added risk to our troops with increasing threats from ISIS-K,” she said, adding that “completion of the mission by August 31 depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport.”
“The president has asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to adjust the timeline should that become necessary,” the White House spokeswoman said.
European nations have said they would not be able to airlift all at-risk Afghans before the August 31 cut-off, and Biden has faced calls from all corners to extend the evacuation window.
- ‘It will not be enough’ -
Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said the Islamist group opposes an extension. “They have planes, they have the airport, they should get their citizens and contractors out of here,” he said.
Updated
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has just finished briefing the media and now we wait for Joe Biden to address the public once again on Afghanistan.
If you are in Afghanistan or have knowledge of what is happening there right now, or behind the scenes intel from discussions in Washington on the crisis – or if this blog has missed something vital in Afghanistan news – do tweet me, my handle is @JoannaWalters13.
Updated
US begins withdrawing troops from Afghanistan - reports
Reports are filtering in that the United States has started to take some of the 6,000 troops it has in Afghanistan out of the country, as it accelerates evacuations of Americans and selected Afghans and gets closer to the day, 31 August, when it is due to pack up its presence entirely and exit the country.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki has just been briefing the press at the podium in the west wing and would not confirm whether US military are starting to pull out.
BREAKING: The U.S. military has started withdrawing from Afghanistan reducing troop presence: U.S. officials
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 24, 2021
An unnamed defence official just told the Washington Post that some troops not critical to the evacuation mission have been removed already.
The US had 2,500 military personnel left in the country until a couple of weeks ago then, as the Taliban quickly surged across the country taking control, the US sent additional troops until the number was meant to be 5,000.
Then that total was increased to 6,000 as Kabul fell to the Taliban on Sunday 15 August, the Afghan president fled, the Afghan military had crumbled and in about 11 days the takeover of the country by the extremist Islamist insurgency force that had been kept at bay for 20 years was complete.
BREAKING: The US has reportedly started withdrawing from Kabul Airport tonight.
— Conflict News (@Conflicts) August 24, 2021
It’s half past midnight in Kabul (that’s the time, not a metaphor). CNN is also now reporting that US troops are starting to pull out.
The United States stands by the commitment we’ve made to evacuate people—and this includes vulnerable Afghans, such as women leaders and journalists. pic.twitter.com/kfjfyKmBcM
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 24, 2021
Updated
Countries that have evacuated a total of around 58,700 people so far from Afghanistan over the past 10 days are at full tilt in trying to meet the 31 August deadline agreed earlier with the Taliban for the withdrawal of foreign forces.
“Every foreign force member is working at a war-footing pace to meet the deadline,” a Nato diplomat told Reuters.
Meanwhile the Taliban have warned the US not to take “Afghan experts” such as doctors and engineers out of the country.
“This country needs their expertise. They should not be taken to other countries,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference in the capital Kabul, AFP reports.
“They should not encourage the Afghan people to flee Afghanistan.”
Updated
Another delay at the White House: Joe Biden will now deliver his remarks on Afghanistan at 4.30pm ET (ie local time in Washington DC), 9.30pm BST.
The US president was originally scheduled to start speaking at noon, but the speech was then pushed back to 2pm, and now has been delayed yet again.
It’s not a great look for the US administration, obviously. Biden’s time-keeping had been a bit of a joke from the moment he came into office in January, but 4.5 hours later than advertised, when there has been no sudden incident to cause the delay that anyone outside the White House is aware of, does not make the White House look assured.
The US politics live blog will be covering and so will we, so there is no way to miss it if you stay tuned to the Guardian!
Updated
From the US politics blog:
US: more than 4,000 passport holders evacuated
- The Biden administration has until now been reluctant to say how many Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan, but an official, speaking anonymously, has now said how many US passport holders have come out so far. The official, from the state department, told Reuters and other outlets “more than 4,000 American passport holders plus their families” had been flown “from Afghanistan in the ongoing airlift from Kabul. We expect that number to continue to grow in the coming days,” Reuters quoted the official as saying. At the Pentagon briefing earlier, spokesman John Kirby had an awkward exchange on the subject with Barbara Starr, of CNN:
-
“Why Can’t You Just Say the Number?” CNN’s Barbara Starr Challenges Pentagon Spox John Kirby on His Refusal to Provide Specific Total of Evacuees https://t.co/DUu70tDZcl
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) August 24, 2021
Updated
The lightning-fast changes in Afghanistan are forcing the Biden administration to confront the prospect of a resurgent al-Qaida, the group that attacked America on September 11, 2001.
At the same time, the US is trying to limit violent extremism at home, predominantly from the far right, and cyberattacks from Russia and China.
Al-Qaida’s ranks have been significantly diminished by 20 years of war in Afghanistan, and it’s far from clear that the group has the capacity in the near future to carry out catastrophic attacks on America such as the 9/11 strikes, especially given how the US has fortified itself in the past two decades with surveillance and other protective measures, the Associated Press writes.
But a June report from the UN Security Council said the group’s senior leadership remains present inside Afghanistan, along with hundreds of armed operatives. It noted that the Taliban, who sheltered al-Qaida fighters before the 9/11 attacks, “remain close, based on friendship, a history of shared struggle, ideological sympathy and intermarriage”.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged on Friday that al-Qaida remains a presence in Afghanistan, though quantifying it is hard.
The AP adds:
Even inside the country, al-Qaida and the Taliban represent only two of the urgent terrorism concerns, as evidenced by unease about the potential for Islamic State attacks against Americans in Afghanistan that over the weekend forced the US military to develop new ways to get evacuees to the airport in Kabul.
The Taliban and IS have fought each other in the past, but the worry now is that Afghanistan could again be a safe harbor for multiple extremists determined to attack the US or other countries.
Joe Biden has spoken repeatedly of what he calls an “over-the-horizon capability” that he says will enable the US to keep track of terrorism threats from afar.
His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters Monday that counterterrorism capabilities have evolved to the point where the threat can be suppressed without a strong boots-on-the-ground presence.
The US is also presumably anticipating that strengthened airport screening and more sophisticated surveillance can be more effective than 20 years ago in thwarting an attack.
But experts also worry that intelligence-gathering capabilities needed as an early-warning system against an attack will be negatively affected by the troop withdrawal.
Updated
Thanks to my colleagues in London, this is the New York’s Guardian US office taking over the Afghanistan live blog for the next few hours, Joanna Walters here.
US president Joe Biden has been expected to speak live at the White House about the latest news on Afghanistan and the 31 August deadline for the last two and a half hours but he’s taking his track record of running late into new territory now.
My breaking news colleague in Washington, Joan E Greve, will be covering Biden’s address in our US politics blog. We’ll keep you abreast via this blog, but most of the meat will be here, hopefully soon.
Updated
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Boris Johnson, calling for the UK government to agree to resettle more Afghan refugees.
She said the UK’s commitment to rehouse 20,000 Afghan refugees in the coming years did not go far enough.
Sturgeon said Scotland was “committed to playing our part in welcoming and supporting people fleeing Afghanistan”.
She said she welcomed the prime minister’s recent announcement for a refugee resettlement programme in addition to existing commitments.
Sturgeon added: “While recognising the pressures on accommodation capacity, we are concerned that the commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees in ‘the long term’ and just 5,000 in the first year is not sufficient in the context of the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding.
“We believe a commitment to a substantial increase in numbers is required and urgently seek further details of how civilians, especially women, girls and others in need of refuge will be protected.”
Updated
Women’s rights activists and judges are among thousands of Afghans identified by British officials as being at serious risk from the Taliban but in danger of being left behind when the evacuation ends within days.
Britain had hoped to airlift up to 1,800 British nationals, 2,000 Afghans who worked for the UK, and a list of civil society leaders and former government officials compiled at the last minute.
But aid agencies fear time is running out after the G7 meeting of world leaders broke up with the US rejecting any extension of the 31 August deadline for its troops to hold Kabul airport.
At the same time, it has become more dangerous for Afghans to get to the airport. On Tuesday the Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Afghan nationals should no longer travel there because of the large crowds gathering outside. We are “not in favour” of allowing Afghans to leave, he added.
Elizabeth Winter, the executive director of the British & Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group, which supports NGOs working in the country, said: “There is a real possibility now that countless numbers of human rights defenders and civil society activists will remain in fear in Kabul.”
Updated
Hundreds of Afghans offered an evacuation flight by the Australian government and told to travel to Kabul airport have been turned away at the gates by Australian soldiers.
There is growing despair in the Afghan capital over an apparent lack of coordination between Australian agencies and strict adherence to bureaucratic processes.
Two young women – orphans whose older brother is living in Australia as a permanent resident – were forced out of the airport after being inside for more than 24 hours.
They were also invited by Australia to travel to the airfield on roads under Taliban control.
Here is the full story by Ben Doherty and Daniel Hurst:
The UK prime minister Boris Johnson spoke a little earlier about the G7 agreement not to extend the deadline for evacuations from Afghanistan beyond 31 August.
He also asked the Taliban to guarantee the safe passage out of the country for people who want to leave.
Here is a clip of Johnson speaking after the meeting of G7 leaders:
EU is freezing €1bn in development aid for Afghanistan
The EU has announced it is freezing €1bn in development aid it has set aside for Afghanistan over the next seven years, as Brussels sought to use its financial leverage to secure assurances over the Taliban’s treatment of women and minority groups.
The conduct of the new regime in the coming days, particularly around maintaining free passage for EU officials, Afghan staff and political refugees out of the country, was also highlighted by Charles Michel, the European council president, as a condition of financial support, in comments at a press conference that immediately followed the virtual G7 meeting.
“We call on the new Afghan authorities to allow free passage to all foreign, and Afghan, citizens who wish to get to the airport,” Michel said. “We have also raised this issue with our American friends and partners on two particular aspects: first, the need to secure the airport, as long as necessary to complete the operations; and second, a fair and equitable access to the airport, for all nationals entitled to evacuation.”
“Today it is too early to decide what kind of relations we will develop with the new Afghan authorities”, Michel added. “We call for an inclusive political settlement and if we want to remain a positive influence for the Afghan people, especially in supporting their basic needs, we will have to deal with the new authorities. This will be subject to strict conditions, regarding the deeds and attitude of the new regime.”
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, who also attended the summit, said EU member states would receive financial help if they “stepped up” to take in refugees.
There has been a mixed response from EU governments on the issue in recent days. The rightwing governments in Hungary and Austria have said they will not accept any refugees, while Spain has offered itself as a hub to take in Afghans who have worked with western powers.
The former German defence minister said that those EU member states who had taken part in the Nato operations in Afghanistan, a contingent which includes Hungary, should be among those offering help.
Updated
Joe Biden is due to explain his decision to stick to the evacuation deadline soon.
Our US live blog will have all the details.
British forces have a matter of days to complete their humanitarian airlift in Afghanistan after Boris Johnson failed to persuade Joe Biden and other G7 leaders to extend a deadline for US forces to leave Kabul beyond 31 August.
Speaking after the virtual G7 gathering, Johnson said it had agreed a “roadmap for future engagement with the Taliban”, on the assumption they would be governing Afghanistan.
The “number one condition” for engagement with the Taliban would be guaranteed safe passage for people who wanted to leave the country both up to the end of August and beyond.
Summary
Here’s a roundup of the latest developments:
- The G7 has failed to persuade the US to extend the 31 August evacuation deadline in Afghanistan. Joe Biden is reported to have agreed to prepare “contingency plans” for getting people out beyond the deadline if required.
- Boris Johnson said the G7 had agreed to ask the Taliban for guarantee of safe passage from Afghanistan. Johnson, who chaired the meeting, said it also agreed a roadmap for engaging with the Taliban.
- The Pentagon confirmed there was “no change” to the 31 August deadline. But a spokesman insisted that efforts to speed up the evacuation were succeeding.
-
The Taliban will accept no extensions to the evacuation deadline, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. Mujahid reiterated that the group wants all foreign evacuations completed by 31 August and any movements after this would be regarded as a “violation”.
-
The Taliban are no longer allowing Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport because of the dangerous situation there, Mujahid also said. He asked the US to not encourage Afghans to leave.
- The EU has evacuated all its staff and their families from Afghanistan, apart from some officials working at Kabul airport, a spokesperson for the European Commission said.
- China said that imposing sanctions on the Taliban would be “counterproductive” ahead of the G7 meeting where leaders will discuss whether to recognise or sanction the group. Beijing has kept open its embassy in Kabul and sought to maintain friendly relations with the Taliban.
-
The top US spy, CIA director William Burns, met secretly with the head of the Taliban on Monday in Kabul, in the highest-level diplomatic encounter since the militant group took over. According to the Washington Post, the pair are likely to have discussed the impending 31 August deadline for the US military to conclude its airlift.
Updated
Here’s video of that Taliban press conference.
Asked if troops could return to Afghanistan, Johnson said:
You’ve got to recognise that the history of Afghanistan is cyclical sadly. Over different epochs different expeditionary forces sent in by different powers with the view to try and destabilise the country. But what I hope is that there is now a different path forward.
There’s got to be a world in which the people of Afghanistan find the leadership, find the wisdom to come together to make accommodations, for all the factions to get together to agree on a way forward for that country.
The point that Joe Biden has been trying to make is that it is very difficult for western powers to try to impose that sort of order on a country if a country is unwilling to do it itself.
What we all want to see now is the UN helping to lead a political process that will try to bring Afghanistan forward without Afghanistan feeling it has to subcontract or outsource its government to foreign powers or to expeditionary forces ... It will take patience and it will take time. But in the meantime, what we need to do is to use our very very considerable influence as G7 to work on the new powers in Afghanistan to insist on safe passage, and to follow the path that we think is compatible with our values and which will enable us to engage positively with them in the future.
Updated
Johnson added:
I don’t think that anybody is going to pretend that this is anything other than a very difficult situation, but that doesn’t mean that we should ignore the leverage that we have.
We want to help with the humanitarian crisis ... but when it comes to engaging with the Taliban, the G7 has huge leverage. The G7 agreed a roadmap for future engagement with the Taliban.
So if those huge funds are going to be unfrozen eventually for use by the government and people of Afghanistan, then, what we’re saying is Afghanistan can’t lurch back into becoming a breeding ground of terror; Afghanistan can’t become a narco state; girls have got to be educated up to the age of 18 and so on. Those are important things that we value as G7.
The number one condition that were insisting upon his safe passage beyond the 31st so beyond this initial phase. For those who want to leave Afghanistan.
Updated
Asked if he had failed to persuade Biden to extend the deadline, Johnson said:
The immediate phase of the evacuation is actually being a very considerable success by the military and I think most people looking at the numbers that we have got out would say it was quite remarkable.
Since 14th of August we’ve got 9,000 people coming to this country, hoping to make new lives and obviously we’re having to check them to vet them. There are all sorts of processes that we have to go through but 9,000 is a very considerable number.
That’s UK nationals in Afghanistan, but it’s also those who have helped us during the last two decades, and it’s the UK, showing its commitment showing its responsibility to those people and I think we can be very proud of what we’re achieving.
Johnson: G7 asks Taliban to guarantee safe passage
Johnson added:
The number one condition, we’re setting as G7 is that they [the Taliban] have got to guarantee, through August 31st and beyond, safe passage. Safe passage for those who want to come out. Some of them will say that they don’t accept that and some I hope I will see the sense of that because the G7 has very considerable leverage, economic, diplomatic and political.
Updated
Johnson said:
The UK alone has taken 9,000 people out of Kabul. I think 57 flights, a huge, huge effort by our military. And we will go on, right up until the last moment that we can.
You’ve heard what the president of United States has said and you’ve heard what the Taliban have said. I think you’ve got to understand the context in which we’re doing this. We’re we’re confident we can get thousands more out.
But the situation at the airport is not getting any better, there are public order issues. It is harrowing scenes for those who are trying to get out. And it’s tough for our military as well.
We’ve agreed 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.
Updated
Johnson: G7 agrees roadmap for engaging with Taliban
Boris Johnson has given a brief pooled interview following the G7 virtual summit.
Asked whether he failed to persuade Joe Biden to extend the deadline, he dodged the question.
Instead he said 9,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul so far by the UK.
He says the G7 had agreed a “roadmap for engaging with the Taliban”.
He said he wanted to ensure safe passage for Afghans wanting to flee after the 31 August.
He said Biden had pointed out that it was difficult for the west to impose its values on Afghanistan.
Updated
British efforts to persuade the US to extend its humanitarian airlift in Afghanistan beyond the end of the month appear to have failed, with the Pentagon saying on Tuesday there was “no change” to its planned timetable to remove US forces from Kabul by 31 August.
Boris Johnson had been expected to ask the US president, Joe Biden, about the possibility of allowing more time to remove people during an online meeting of G7 leaders taking place on Tuesday afternoon.
However, in a Pentagon briefing, US admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said: “There’s been no change to the timeline of the mission, which is to have it done by the end of the month.”
Read more here:
Updated
More context behind the US decision to stick to the deadline, from Reuters foreign policy correspondent Idrees Ali:
Officials say decision was made because of increasing security concern at the airport, particularly the risk of suicide bombings and car bombings. The withdrawal process for 5,800 troops begins on Friday, they said.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) August 24, 2021
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that 500 to 600 Afghan commandos are now at the airport, and the remaining core of the vast Afghan national security forces that the US-led coalition tried to build, will all be evacuated at the end of the US operation at Kabul airport.
“Afghan forces are there at the airport with us, and actually helping us in the security mission, and they will all be able to come out,” Kirby said.
Maj Gen Hank Taylor said that better coordination among US agencies and more information flowing to force commanders in Kabul airport has helped increase the flow of people into the airport and out on flights.
He said:
I think one of the reasons for the increase in our throughput is understanding ...who’s where, who needs to come through the gates, so we can provide better information on which gate to come in.
Updated
... but US preparing 'contingency plans' to stay longer
Biden is ticking with the deadline, but he has asked for “contingency plans” to stay longer if necessary, Reuters reports.
The US president, Joe Biden, has agreed with a Pentagon recommendation to stick with the 31 August Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, an administration official told Reuters on Tuesday.
The Pentagon recommendation was made on Monday based on concerns about security risks to American forces, the official said.
Biden has asked the Pentagon for contingency plans to stay longer should it be necessary, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States is telling the Taliban that the US withdrawal by Biden’s 31 August deadline is contingent on the group’s cooperation in facilitating evacuations, the official said.
Updated
Biden reportedly sticking to deadline
Biden has resisted UK and G7 attempts to extend the 31 August deadline for withdrawal, according to Reuters citing a senior US official.
President Joe Biden has agreed with Pentagon recommendation to stick with Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, senior administration official says. @steveholland1
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) August 24, 2021
It sounds like the G7 virtual summit is over, judging by the past tense used in this White House tweet.
Today, President Biden met virtually with G7 leaders to discuss a continuation of our close coordination on Afghanistan policy, humanitarian assistance, and evacuating our citizens, the brave Afghans who stood with us over the last two decades, and other vulnerable Afghans. pic.twitter.com/zFxjsm2W8H
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 24, 2021
We were told to expect press conferences following the G7 virtual summit from 4pm BST. That is one deadline that has slipped. The meeting began at around 2.30pm.
The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, has insisted that the working deadline for evacuation of all Americans is the end of the month, and that it has become more doable because of the increase in the number of flights going out of Kabul.
What is much less clear is how many vulnerable Afghans can be evacuated in that period.
Kirby said:
There’s been no change to the timeline of the mission which is to have this completed by the end of the month.
So, we are remain committed to getting any and all Americans that want to leave to get them out, and we still believe certainly now that we have been able to increase the capacity and the flow, we believe that we have that we that we have the capability, the ability, to get that done by the end of the month.
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia would not deploy its armed force to Afghanistan to take part in a conflict.
He added that Moscow had learnt the lessons of the Soviet Union’s decade-long failed intervention there.
Putin was speaking to a congress of the ruling United Russia party, Reuters reports. It quotes Putin as saying:
It goes without saying that we do not plan to interfere in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs let alone deploy our armed forces in a conflict.
The USSR had its own experience in that country. We have drawn the necessary lessons.
Soviet forces left Afghanistan in 1989.
The German military says it is concerned by the growing risk of attacks by the Islamic State group in Kabul, AP reports.
Germany’s top military commander, Gen Eberhard Zorn, told reporters that “the threat has further increased.”
He added:
We have signals both from American sources as well as our own assessment, that there is an increase of (IS) suicide bombers (slipping) into the city.
That’s increasing and leads to heightened precautions.
German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she takes seriously the Taliban threat not to allow any foreign troops to remain beyond 31 August.
She said:
I think one needs to take very, very seriously the announcement that they won’t agree to a further delay.
She added the threat could also be an attempt by the group to “drive up the price” in negotiations with foreign officials.
The Pentagon has said Afghans with special immigrant visas have begun flying out of Germany after being screened at Ramstein airbase.
Maj Gen Hank Taylor told a press briefing that 800 Afghans had arrived in the US. So far 8,000 evacuees have gone through Europe, and US European command is considering other bases in Germany, Italy and Spain.
The total number of “temporary safe havens”, stops where evacuees are screened is now 14, across Europe and the Middle East, Taylor said.
Once Afghan evacuees land in the US, at Dulles airport in Washington, they are then taken to one of four military bases around the country, he said. They will then stay there until their immigration paperwork is done and a place can be found for their resettlement, he explained.
Updated
Nearly 100 French citizens and over 1,500 Afghans have reached France since the beginning of evacuation operations from Afghanistan, the French foreign ministry has said, according to Reuters.
The ministry also said in a statement that the situation in Kabul was still complex.
And here’s video of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warning that it would regard any evacuations beyond the 31 August deadline as a “violation”.
“We are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave”
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2021
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid adds it would be a “violation” of the agreement to allow evacuations of foreign nationals beyond 31 August
Latest: https://t.co/PgvjrfQUeS pic.twitter.com/bs8TPYooZz
For the avoidance of doubt, Kirby added: “We’re absolutely still aiming towards the end of the month.”
.@JenGriffinFNC: "Has the U.S. started preparations to leave in order to leave by August 31st? When does the U.S. military have to begin making those preps? When does that decision have to be made?
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 24, 2021
John Kirby: "So, I'm not going to get into a specific tiktok here." pic.twitter.com/t5TCKTqCu2
Updated
The efforts to improve access to Kabul airport and to fly people out seem to be having an effect.
The Pentagon has announced the biggest day so far for evacuations. Maj Gen Hank Taylor said 21,600 people flew out of Kabul airport in the past 24 hours.
Of that total, 12,700 were flown out on 37 US military transport planes, while 57 coalition and partner aircraft took the other 8,900.
It is not clear how many of those are American citizens and other foreigners, and how many are Afghans.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that so far three babies have been born during the evacuation. One was born on a military transport plane, and two were born on landing at Ramstein air force base.
Updated
Kirby suggested the US and the Taliban were in agreement about the 31 August deadline for leaving Afghanistan.
“Without getting into details, I’m not seeing much dissonance” between US public statements and conversations with the Taliban, Kirby said.
“The Taliban have been very clear about what their expectations are,” Kirby said.
Kirby said “several thousand” US citizens have been moved out of Afghanistan. Getting 100,000 people out by the end of the week is the goal, he told the Pentagon briefing.
“For all Americans who want to leave ...we are getting them out every day,” Kirby said.
Updated
Pentagon: no change to deadline
US Admiral John Kirby is hosting a press briefing at the Pentagon.
He says there is “no change” to the deadline of completing the evacuation by the end of the month.
Kirby says the US believes it can complete the evacuation on time.
“There’s been no change to the timeline of the mission, which is to have it done by the end of the month,” Kirby said.
On Aug 31st deadline: DOD Press Sec John Kirby says, "There's been no change to the timeline of the mission."#NexstarDC pic.twitter.com/SRN0zc3cEh
— Raquel Martin (@RaquelMartinTV) August 24, 2021
Updated
As the G7 meeting continues, Italy is hoping to organise a G20 meeting on Afghanistan, to widen the global discussion on the crisis to countries including Russia and China, AFP reports.
Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, emphasised the importance of the wider G20 grouping, over which Italy currently presides and which includes countries such as China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
“We are working on the idea of an ad hoc summit to promote a deeper debate on Afghanistan,” Di Maio told lawmakers in parliament.
“We will have to find alliances and involve all the actors, especially those in the region... in addition to Russia and China.”
Di Maio said Afghanistan would be at the centre of his meeting with Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Italy on Friday.
The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Updated
Reuters has this roundup of how things stand as we await the outcome of the G7 virtual summit:
Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers said they wanted all foreign evacuations from the country completed by an 31 August deadline and they would not agree to an extension.
The hardline Islamist group sought to assure the thousands of Afghans crowded into Kabul airport in the hope of boarding flights they had nothing to fear and should go home.
“We guarantee their security,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in the capital, which Taliban fighters seized on 15 August.
As he spoke, Western troops were working frantically to get foreigners and Afghans onto planes and out of the country.
Joe Biden faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the airlift.
Chaos punctuated by sporadic violence has gripped the airport following the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - were due to meet virtually later on Tuesday to discuss the crisis.
The CIA director, William Burns, met the Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, two US sources told Reuters.
The Taliban’s Mujahid said the group had not agreed to an extension of the deadline and it wanted all foreign evacuations to be completed by 31 August.
He also called on the United States not to encourage Afghan people to leave their homeland.
The Taliban wanted to resolve the situation through dialogue, he said, and he urged foreign embassies not to close or stop work.
“We have assured them of security,” he said.
Countries that have evacuated nearly 60,000 people over the past 10 days were trying to meet the deadline agreed earlier with the Taliban for the withdrawal of foreign forces, a Nato diplomat told Reuters.
Updated
Taliban tell Afghans to stop going to Kabul airport
During a press conference in the last hour the Taliban said Afghans should not go to the airport or try to leave the country.
Its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has been widely quoted making the plea.
He accused the US of taking “Afghan experts” such as engineers out of Afghanistan, according to AFP.
“We ask them to stop this process,” Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul.
JUST IN - Taliban not to extend the August 31 deadline and Afghans are not allowed to go to #Kabul airport anymore, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says in a press conference. pic.twitter.com/KRKzqaIhaZ
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) August 24, 2021
Taliban spokesman @Zabehulah_M33 says Afghan nationals are not allowed to go to the airport anymore, in order to stop the crowds from gathering there and to avoid security issues. Only foreigners are allowed to go to the airport for now. #Afghanistan
— Ayesha Tanzeem (@atanzeem) August 24, 2021
Updated
After some inelegant flip-flopping, the UK and other G7 countries appear to be returning to a familiar combination of carrots and sticks such as humanitarian aid, international recognition and sanctions in an effort to retain a measure of influence over the Taliban.
The threat of sanctions was raised explicitly by the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in the Daily Telegraph, even though Downing Street had earlier cautioned that such threats were unhelpful during the refugee airlift when maximum cooperation from the militants is required. In practice, the entire Taliban leadership is already subject to sanctions.
Read more here:
Summary
The G7 meeting, during which leaders will discuss the possibility of extending the US evacuation deadline as well as whether to recognise or sanction the Taliban, is scheduled to begin soon.
Here is a roundup of today’s major developments so far:
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The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said it was “unlikely” the evacuation of Kabul will be extended beyond the 31 August deadline. Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat also stressed that any agreement would depend on a Taliban agreement as well – the chances of which appear slim.
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The Taliban will accept no extensions to the evacuation deadline, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. Mujahid reiterated that the group wants all foreign evacuations completed by 31 August.
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The Taliban are no longer allowing Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport because of the dangerous situation there, Mujahid also said. He asked the US to not encourage Afghans to leave.
- The EU has evacuated all its staff and their families from Afghanistan, apart from some officials working at Kabul airport, a spokesperson for the European Commission said.
- The European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU will increase its humanitarian aid for Afghans from €50m (£43m) to more than €200m (£171m). Reuters reports that an EU official said that the aid will be conditional on the respect of human and women’s rights.
- China said that imposing sanctions on the Taliban would be “counterproductive” ahead of the G7 meeting where leaders will discuss whether to recognise or sanction the group. Beijing has kept open its embassy in Kabul and sought to maintain friendly relations with the Taliban.
- Pakistan also called for an inclusive political settlement with the Taliban, with the foreign minister describing it as the best way forward for peace and stability in Afghanistan. Shah Mahmood Qureshi is reported to have made the remarks in a phone call with his Russian counterpart.
- The top US spy, CIA director William Burns, met secretly with the head of the Taliban on Monday in Kabul, in the highest-level diplomatic encounter since the militant group took over. According to the Washington Post, the pair are likely to have discussed the impending 31 August deadline for the US military to conclude its airlift.
My colleague Matthew Weaver will be here shortly to bring you the latest updates as the G7 meeting gets under way. Thank you.
Updated
Taliban will not accept deadline extension - spokesman
The Taliban will accept no extensions to the evacuation deadline and want all foreign evacuations completed by 31 August, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said.
The statement comes ahead of the G7 emergency meeting this afternoon, where one of the key topics under discussion will be whether the US will extend its deadline.
Mujahid said: “31 August is the time given and after that it’s something that is against the agreement. All people should be removed prior to that date. After that we do not allow them, it will not be allowed in our country, we will take a different stance.”
The spokesman also said the Taliban are no longer allowing Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport because of the dangerous situation there. He asked the US to not encourage Afghans to leave.
It comes after the Taliban warned continuing the airlift from Kabul beyond the end of the month was a “red line”.
Updated
Airbnb will help house up to 20,000 Afghan refugees, the company has announced, as part of its Airbnb.org charitable arm.
The company will coordinate with Airbnb hosts who want to offer their homes to refugees for free, or at a discounted rate, with the charitable organisation picking up the rest of the bill, as well as any other operational expenditures. The Airbnb co-founder and chief executive, Brian Chesky, will also fund the effort.
The company has not confirmed where, or for how long, it will house refugees, calling the situation “fast evolving”.
Groups representing hundreds of British humanitarian NGOs have called on G7 leaders to provide safe passage to Afghans whose lives are at risk.
They also warned against allowing foreign policy agendas, including the possibility of sanctions, to block the delivery of aid to Afghans affected by the crisis.
Elizabeth Winter, executive director at British & Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) said the priority was showing solidarity to Afghan who are in danger. She said: “The UK’s offer to resettle just 5,000 Afghans this year is inadequate and lacks the urgency needed to help the many thousands of people at risk. It also sends an unhelpful message to other nations, including other G7 states, and countries neighbouring Afghanistan.”
Stephanie Draper, the head of Bond, the UK network for organisations working in international development also warned about the risk that sanctions carry, saying: “Such interventions aimed at preventing funds flowing to proscribed armed groups have previously impeded or even prevented the delivery of life-saving aid and protection for vulnerable people. This work is never easy given the changing political, environmental and security situation. We urge those with power to support and enable, not obstruct our vital work.”
Updated
The US military has pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights from Afghanistan since the operation began, despite deadly violence persisting on routes to the airport.
The Associated Press reported that a US official has confirmed that The CIA director, William Burns, secretly swooped into Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban’s top political leader, following a report in the Washington Post earlier today.
The Associated Press reports:
About 21,600 people were flown safely out of Taliban-held Afghanistan in the 24-hour period that ended early Tuesday, the White House said.
Thirty-seven US military flights — 32 C-17s and 5 C-130s — carried approximately 12,700 evacuees. Another 8,900 people flew out aboard 57 flights by US allies.
Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said Monday the faster pace of evacuation was partly due to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport.
With access still difficult, the US military went beyond the airport to carry out another helicopter retrieval of Americans. US officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens Monday and brought them onto the airfield for evacuation. This was at least the second such rescue mission beyond the airport; Kirby said that last Thursday, three Army helicopters picked up 169 Americans near a hotel just beyond the airport gate and flew them onto the airfield.
President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said at the White House that talks with the Taliban are continuing as the administration looks for additional ways to safely move more Americans and others into the Kabul airport by an end-of-August deadline.
Updated
A UK Foreign Office minister responsible for Afghanistan has urged the Taliban to allow “the safe and orderly departure” of those who wish to leave the country.
PA reports:
Lord Ahmad, the minister directly responsible for south Asia, including Afghanistan, told a special meeting of the UN Human Rights Council: “The Taliban need to make a political decision to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms. And they must understand that they will be held accountable if they do fail to do so.”
He said: “We urge the Taliban to allow the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals, and those who wish to leave Afghanistan.”
Ahmad, who is also the minister responsible for human rights, added: “We also call for a co-ordinated and concerted effort from the international community to address the humanitarian emergency, which has been exacerbated by famine, Covid and internal displacement.”
Updated
Communities built on social media are valuable fundraising tools for the Taliban and crucial to recruitment, according to politics academic Weeda Mehran, who argues in today’s opinion section that they are not just used for spreading propaganda.
Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan are interested in serving as middlemen in resolving the crisis in Afghanistan, according to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov added that Russia opposed the ideas of allowing Afghan refugees to enter the ex-Soviet region of central Asia - located between Russia and Afghanistan - or having United States troops deployed there, according to a report from Reuters.
Rachel Hall here on the blog - please do send over tips to rachel.hall@theguardian.com.
Updated
The Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, has said the country has evacuated 1,404 people from Afghanistan, including 1,061 Turkish nationals.
The other 343 are nationals from “various countries”, the AP quotes him as saying.
Çavuşoğlu said there were 4,500 Turkish nationals in Afghanistan but only around 200 were still waiting to be evacuated.
“We have contacted each one of them. ... An important number of them said they did not want to return,” Cavusoglu said, explaining that they included people who had businesses or jobs in Afghanistan or were married to Afghans. “We of course, respect their decision but we have also made the necessary suggestions and warnings,” he said.
Updated
Top US spy meets Taliban leader in Kabul
The top US spy, CIA director William Burns, met secretly with the head of the Taliban on Monday in Kabul, in the highest-level diplomatic encounter since the militant group took over.
According to a report in the Washington Post, unnamed US officials said Burns met the Taliban leader, Abdul Ghani Baradar, as the Biden administration continued efforts to evacuate US citizens and other allies amid chaos at the airport in Kabul.
While the CIA declined to comment on the Taliban meeting, the report speculated that the likely subject of discussion was the impending 31 August deadline for the US military to conclude its airlift.
The meeting took place as the UN’s top human rights official described credible reports of serious human rights violations committed by the Taliban in Afghanistan, including summary executions of civilians, restrictions on women and limitations on protests against their rule.
Updated
EU has evacuated its staff from Afghanistan
The EU has evacuated all its staff and their families from Afghanistan, apart from some officials working at Kabul airport, a spokesperson for the European Commission has said.
“All the staff who needed to be evacuated have been evacuated,” he told journalists in Brussels. “We still have a core presence at the airport in order to manage what needs to managed, but the staff of the EU delegation and their families have all been evacuated.”
Updated
Ahead of this afternoon’s emergency G7 meeting, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has this analysis on the concerns each country is likely to bring to the table.
- Joe Biden, who is under pressure to keep the airport evacuation open a few days longer, could also face questions on how to prevent Afghanistan becoming a base for international terrorism.
- Boris Johnson will seek an extension from Biden, but accepts the airlift ends when US forces leave.
- France is likely to back set conditions on international recognition of the Taliban.
- Italy backs a deadline extension, but, like France, feels the past weeks must mark a turning point for EU defence.
- Germany has been offering cash to try to persuade Afghanistan’s neighbouring countries to take in refugees, and is talking to the Taliban about opening land routes.
- The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has not joined the criticism of Biden’s handling of the issue, and has pledged to take 21,000 refugees.
- Tokyo fears that the withdrawal reflects a growing US isolationism.
Updated
The CIA director, William Burns, held a secret meeting with the Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday, according to a report in the Washington Post which cites anonymous US officials.
This is the highest level diplomatic encounter since the Taliban seized control of Kabul, and comes ahead of G7 discussions over whether to recognise the militant group, as well as pressure on the US to extend its withdrawal deadline.
Updated
Airbnb has said it will begin offering temporary housing to 20,000 Afghan refugees around the world for free.
The company’s CEO, Brian Chesky, said the decision was taken in response to “one of the biggest humanitarian crises of our time” and that the firm felt a “responsibility to step up”.
Chesky added: “I hope this inspires other business leaders to do the same. There’s no time to waste.”
The statement did not say how long refugees would be housed for, but a spokesperson for the company said that the Airbnb Host community “is able to provide both short-term and long-term stays”.
Updated
A Ukrainian minister has claimed a passenger jet meant to evacuate people fleeing Afghanistan to Ukraine was hijacked at gunpoint and flown instead to Iran, in an unconfirmed incident that was later denied by his own government.
A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson later denied the claim, telling the local internet television station, Hromadske, that Yenin was trying to describe the difficulties faced by Ukrainian pilots during the evacuation of Kabul.
Updated
The UN world food programme (WFP) has urged the international community to donate $200m in food aid for Afghanistan, warning that “further delay could be deadly”.
“WFP is warning that a humanitarian catastrophe awaits the people of Afghanistan this winter unless the international community makes their lives a priority,” Anthea Webb, WFP deputy regional director for Asia and Pacific, told a UN briefing.
She underlined the importance of timely action, saying “once the snow sets in it is simply too late” as mountain passages will be blocked. “Any further delay could be deadly,” she said.
Updated
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, discussed the situation in Afghanistan in a phone call with Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, on Tuesday, the Kremlin said in a statement.
The leaders agreed to establish a permanent channel for bilateral consultations on Afghan developments, it said.
Here is an analysis on the effect the US withdrawal will have on the influence of regional powers, including Russia:
Updated
The World Health Organization only has enough supplies in Afghanistan to last for one week, a senior regional official has said.
The WHO is also concerned that the chaos following the Taliban takeover could lead to a rise in Covid-19 infections, Ahmed Al-Mandhari told a press briefing.
It follows a statement from the WHO on Monday saying that more than 500 tonnes of medical supplies were unable to reach Afghanistan due to the restrictions at Kabul airport.
Updated
China’s ambassador to the UN has called for the US army and its military partners to be held accountable for alleged rights violations in Afghanistan.
Speaking at an emergency session of the Human Rights Council on Afghanistan, Chen Xus said: “The US, UK, Australia and other countries must be held accountable for the violation of human rights committed by their military in Afghanistan and the evolution of this current session should cover this issue.
“Under the banner of democracy and human rights the US and other countries carry out military interventions in other sovereign states and impose their own model on countries with vastly different history and culture,” he said.
Updated
Pakistan’s foreign minister has called for an inclusive political settlement with the Taliban, Reuters reports, describing it as the best way forward for peace and stability in Afghanistan.
According to a foreign ministry statement, Shah Mahmood Qureshi made the remarks in a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, about the situation in Afghanistan.
Qureshi told Lavrov that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was of critical importance for Pakistan and the region, and that Pakistan is facilitating the evacuation of foreigners stranded in Afghanistan.
Updated
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, repeatedly underlined that extending the rescue operation into September was “unlikely” this morning. Here is our full report on the minister’s comments ahead of today’s G7 meeting:
Updated
The United States will not use its largest overseas military bases in South Korea and Japan to temporarily house Afghan refugees, two sources with close knowledge of the matter have said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one source told Reuters that US officials “appeared to have figured out better sites and decided to remove both countries from the list because of logistics and geography among other reasons”.
The South Korean government had responded positively when the US first floated the idea, the source added. The country is working with the US to evacuate some 400 Afghans who worked with South Korean troops and relief workers to Seoul.
China urges no sanctions on Taliban
China has said that imposing sanctions on the Taliban would be “counterproductive” ahead of the G7 meeting where leaders will discuss whether to recognise or sanction the group.
Beijing, which has seized on the images of violence from the evacuation to criticise the US for its engagement in Afghanistan, has kept open its embassy in Kabul and sought to maintain friendly relations with the Taliban.
AP reports that foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters: “The international community should encourage and promote the development of the situation in Afghanistan in a positive direction, support peaceful reconstruction, improve the wellbeing of the people and enhance its capacity for independent development.
“Imposing sanctions and pressure at every turn cannot solve the problem and will only be counterproductive.”
Updated
EU will increase aid to Afghans to more than €200m
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said the EU will increase its humanitarian aid for Afghans from €50m (£43m) to more than €200m (£171m).
At today’s @G7 Leaders call, I will announce an increase in the humanitarian support for Afghans, in and around the country, from #EU budget from over €50m to over €200m.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 24, 2021
This humanitarian aid will come on top of Member States' contributions to help the people of Afghanistan.
“This humanitarian aid will come on top of member states’ contributions to help the people of Afghanistan,” Von der Leyen said, adding that she would announce the additional support at a G7 summit later in the day.
Reuters reports that an EU official said that the aid will be conditional on the respect of human and women’s rights. They said this would determine how much money would enter Afghanistan directly or into neighbouring regions.
Updated
The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, has said that she had received credible reports of the Taliban committing serious violations, including summary executions of civilians.
Bachelet urged the UN human rights council, holding an emergency session at the request of Pakistan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to set up a mechanism to closely monitor Taliban actions, according to Reuters.
She said there had also been reports of severe restrictions on women. “A fundamental red line will be the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls,” she told the Geneva forum.
Updated
Prominent Afghan women’s rights activist Zarifa Ghafari has arrived in Germany with her family.
Ghafari reached Cologne/Bonn airport late on Monday after fleeing Afghanistan to Pakistan last week, the AP news agency reports.
In 2018, Ghafari became the mayor of the Afghan town of Maidan Shahr at the age of 26 and has survived at least six assassination attempts.
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said the UK trying to secure the airport after the US withdrawal is not a solution.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s not about effectively whether I could fly in thousands of troops and secure the airport. Yes, I could do that, I could probably secure the airport for a few months, or maybe a year or two.
“But for what purpose? For them to be shot at, attacked, people not to get to the airport and to trigger just a permanent fight? I don’t think that is a solution.”
Updated
Norway’s foreign minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, has called for the withdrawal deadline to be extended beyond 31 August, adding that Norway will continue evacuations as long as Kabul airport remains open.
“One of the main concerns is that the airport will be closed,” Eriksen Søreide told Norwegian broadcaster TV2 on Tuesday morning. “The civilian part is closed now, so we are completely dependent on the US military operation being maintained in order to be able to evacuate.”
She said there was “no guarantee” all Norwegian citizens would be evacuated – words which were echoed by the Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde.
Eriksen Søreide’s comments came as a plane with 157 people who had been evacuated from Afghanistan landed in Oslo. Norway has so far evacuated 374 people from Afghanistan.
Updated
In the UK, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, who served in Afghanistan, has said extending the 31 August deadline would depend on Taliban cooperation as well as a US agreement.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “I support the prime minister completely on this, but let’s recognise what we’re asking - we’re not just asking the Americans, although clearly they’ll have a major role, we’re actually asking the Taliban, and that’s a really difficult thing, because bluntly, they’re not exactly trustworthy.”
Tugendhat said the government could ask the US to stand with them, adding that if the Americans decide not to the UK won’t be able to secure the airfield. He said that many families are struggling to get through the gate and “a day, maybe two days longer, would help just a few more”.
Updated
Hundreds of Afghan refugees living in Indonesia, mostly members of the Hazara ethnic minority, held a rally on Tuesday calling for resettlement in third countries following the Taliban’s lightning power grab.
Around half of the 13,400 refugees living in Indonesia are Afghans, according to UN figures from April. Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention of 1951 and its 1967 Protocol, and doesn’t allow asylum seekers to work or have access to public services.
The Associated Press reports that protesters gathered outside the UN refugee agency’s office Jakarta, with many saying they’re terrified for their families back home.
Banners at the rally read “Afghanistan is not safe” and “Resettle Afghan refugees from Indonesia”.
The UK shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, has called on Boris Johnson to “step up” and for world leaders to agree to a withdrawal plan as the 31 August deadline looms.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nandy said there is not much more soldiers and other staff on the ground can do, but said there is “certainly” more that the politicians can do to support them.
She told BBC Breakfast: “They need help sorting through those cases, they need politicians to step up, most of all today, and agree a plan about how we’re going to get people out, extend the airbridge, but also support to those countries in the region like Pakistan who are seeing huge numbers of people crossing the border at the moment.
“To keep those borders open we need the world’s wealthiest countries to step up and say, ‘We will support you, this will not be your problem alone when this refugee crisis is over’.”
She called on Boris Johnson to “step up after years of cutting aid, of stepping back from the world, of trashing our alliances”.
Extension to Kabul evacuation deadline 'unlikely' says UK defence secretary
The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said it is “unlikely” the evacuation of Kabul will be extended beyond the 31 August deadline.
He told Sky News: “I think it is unlikely. Not only because of what the Taliban has said but if you look at the public statements of President Biden I think it is unlikely. It is definitely worth us all trying, and we will.”
Wallace said around 8,600 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan in last two weeks, including 2,000 people in the last 24 hours, though he conceded that “we’re not going to get everybody out”.
Updated
Amrullah Saleh, the vice president of Afghanistan’s fallen government, has said the country rejects dictatorship.
Speaking to India TV, Saleh said Afghanistan rejected “power by force”.
He said: “Don’t want Afghanistan to become Talibanistan, that will not happen, that is what the Taliban want. We prefer negotiations, but it should be meaningful. We reject of the emirate of the Taliban, we reject dictatorship, and we reject power by force.
“We are not seeking positions, personal favours, but we want the Afghan people to have a chance to determine the character of their state. We don’t want the individual identities of the Afghan people to be shattered.”
Hello, I’ll be updating the blog for the next few hours as the G7 prepare to meet to discuss providing a united position on the Taliban. Joe Biden is also expected to decide within the next 24 hours whether to extend the 31 August withdrawal deadline – a time limit the Taliban have said is a red line.
The G7 meeting over video conference will begin at 3:30pm BST, before a press conference at 5pm by Presidents Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen.
As always, please feel free to flag any important developments not included via Twitter. Thank you.
Updated
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan, for today. Thanks for following along – and stay tuned for the latest with my colleague Clea Skopeliti.
The G7 is due to meet today. When the leaders last met two months ago, they put Afghanistan as number 57 out of 70 points in their final 25-page communique - behind Ukraine, Belarus and Ethiopia, AP reports.
Afghanistan didn’t even feature in the one-and-a-half page summary of the document. NATO had already signed off on the US withdrawal and all that appeared to be left was the completion of an orderly withdrawal and hopes for a peace deal between the Afghan government and Taliban.
‘We call on all Afghan parties to reduce violence and agree on steps that enable the successful implementation of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire and to engage fully with the peace process. In Afghanistan, a sustainable, inclusive political settlement is the only way to achieve a just and durable peace that benefits all Afghans,’ the leaders said, without a hint of urgency.
‘We are determined to maintain our support for the Afghan government to address the country’s urgent security and humanitarian needs, and to help the people of Afghanistan, including women, young people and minority groups, as they seek to preserve hard-won rights and freedoms,’ they said.
California Democrat Rep Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee, told reporters after a committee briefing Monday on the Afghanistan withdrawal “it was hard for me to imagine” wrapping up the airlifts by the end of the month.
He also said it was clear “there were any number of warnings” to the administration “of a very rapid takeover” by the Taliban.
After more than a week of evacuations plagued by major obstacles, including Taliban forces and crushing crowds that are making approaching the airport difficult and dangerous, the number of people flown out met – and exceeded – US projections for the first time, AP reports. The count was more than twice the 3,900 flown out in the previous 24 hours on US military planes.
Army General Stephen Lyons, head of US Transportation Command, which manages the military aircraft that are executing the Kabul airlift, told a Pentagon news conference that more than 200 planes are involved, including aerial refuelling planes, and that arriving planes are spending less than an hour on the tarmac at Kabul before loading and taking off. He said the nonstop mission is taking a toll on aircrews.
“They’re tired,” Lyons said of the crews. “They’re probably exhausted in some cases.”
The US military pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan by far on Monday, but deadly violence that has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul’s airport persisted, and the Taliban signalled they might soon seek to shut down the airlifts.
AP: Twenty-eight US military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, and 15 C-17 flights over the next 12 hours brought out another 6,660, White House officials said.
The chief Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the faster pace of evacuation was due in part to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport.
“Thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and deconfliction with the Taliban,” Kirby said.
“What we’ve seen is, this deconfliction has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport.”
With access still difficult, the US military went beyond the airport to carry out another helicopter retrieval of Americans. US officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens Monday and brought them onto the airfield for evacuation.
This was at least the second such rescue mission beyond the airport; Kirby said that last Thursday, three Army helicopters picked up 169 Americans near a hotel just beyond the airport gate and flew them onto the airfield.
Summary
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
- US President Joe Biden is expected to decide within 24 hours whether to extend the 31 August Afghanistan withdrawal deadline in order to give the Pentagon time to prepare, an administration official told Reuters on Monday.
- The Taliban warned Monday there would be “consequences” if the United States and its allies try to remain in Afghanistan beyond next week, as Washington ramped up its efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people desperate to flee.
- Leaders of the G7 advanced economies are expected to pledge unity on whether or not to officially recognise or sanction the Taliban when they meet virtually to discuss Afghanistan on Tuesday, according to two diplomatic sources. Recognition is a political act taken by sovereign states with important consequences, including allowing the Taliban access to the foreign aid relied upon by previous Afghan governments. The tool of recognition is “one of the most important remaining pieces of leverage that we have,” Annie Pforzheimer, a retired US diplomat who served as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Kabul from 2017 to 2018 told Reuters.
- Australia’s home affairs minister said “the situation is deteriorating hour by hour”. Australia has evacuated another 650 people from Afghanistan in its biggest night of a dangerous rescue mission. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the situation at the gates of Kabul’s airport was diabolical. “We know that the situation is deteriorating hour by hour, day by day,” Ms Andrews told the ABC.
- More than 4,226 Afghans, including embassy staff and their families, have been evacuated as part of “Operation Pitting”, the UK’s military evacuation. The UK has so far evacuated 7,109 people out of Kabul. UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said earlier this evening that Britain’s effort to evacuate people by air from Kabul is “down to hours now, not weeks”.
- Afghanistan could start to run out of food as early as September without urgent aid funding, UN agencies have warned.
- More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
- A US Pentagon spokesperson said that over the past 24 hours, 16,000 people were flown out on 89 planes - a combination of military transport and commercial charters. The US military alone was responsible for flying out just under 11,000 people.
- Germany is looking at options for keeping Kabul airport running to allow for evacuations beyond the US’s self-imposed deadline of 31 August for withdrawal of its presence in Afghanistan.
The full story on Kamala Harris in Singapore – with the implications of the Afghanistan withdrawal for US foreign policy in Asia-Pacific:
In a frank admission about the dire situation in the Afghan capital, Sir Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, has made clear the Taliban would not tolerate western forces staying into September – a spokesperson for the group said on Monday this would cross a “red line” and “provoke a reaction”.
Speaking from Kabul, he said: “The signalling that we’re seeing from the Taliban, including earlier today, is pretty uncompromising that they want the operation finished by the end of the month.
“So I think it follows from that, that if the US and its allies were to try to push beyond that, then there’s at least a risk there, of us doing so in a much more difficult and less compliant environment.”
Here is our full story on the latest from Afghanistan:
G7 leaders will be under pressure to present a united front at an emergency summit on Afghanistan on Tuesday despite public divisions over the deadline to complete evacuations from the country by 31 August.
With the deadline to get out of Kabul looming, British prime minister Boris Johnson will chair online talks where, diplomatic sources told Reuters, G7 nations were expected to show unity on areas including whether to sanction or officially recognise the Taliban to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and protect the human rights of vulnerable groups.
The talks come amid desperate scenes in Kabul, where countries including the US and UK are scrambling to get people out. US special forces said on Monday they had retrieved 16 US citizens from a site two hours outside Kabul, and brought them back to the airport for evacuation processing:
More from New Zealand now: Those waiting to be evacuated from Kabul include New Zealand citizens, visa holders, and those who assisted troops during the occupation. Abdul*, a New Zealand citizen of Afghan descent, said his wife was trapped in Kabul, and has been granted an emergency visa to join him in New Zealand.
She has tried to reach the airport twice, but both times was unable to get inside the gates. The first time, she turned back after watching people get injured in the crush, he said. Taliban soldiers carried sections of PVC piping and used them to beat back the crowds – both his uncle and brother were beaten. The family watched a woman fall, hit her head, and then be trampled under a panicking crowd.
“These stampedes happen at the worst time possible. And anybody who’s on the way, whether it be big or small or a woman or a man or a child is just going to get hurt.”
At the other end of the phone line, Abdul could hear “just constant firing as I was speaking to her … the Taliban fighters were shooting up into the air, and also at the ground”. Three people around his wife were injured by ricocheting bullets.
“It got so dangerous I got worried for their health and safety … I told them to go back home.”
As New Zealand begins to evacuate people from Afghanistan, those awaiting evacuation say they are struggling to reach the planes that would carry them to safety, and growing “more desperate with each passing day.”
“Access into Kabul airport is extremely difficult and travel into Kabul from the provinces is almost impossible,” minister of defence, Peeni Henare, said on Monday.
For New Zealand-bound people trapped in Kabul, getting to the airport is a bitter catch-22: it currently represents the only route to safety and refuge, but getting there at all puts them at greater risk. At least 20 people have already died in and around Kabul airport, many crushed by stampeding crowds or hit by stray bullets. On Monday, an Afghan guard was killed and three injured in a firefight involving US and German forces.
And for those trying to get on an evacuation plane, time may be running out. Taliban officials told Reuters last week that foreign forces had not sought to extend the end-of-August deadline to leave. On Monday, prime minister Jacinda Ardern warned that “the window to evacuate people out of Afghanistan is unfortunately very limited”.
“Despite our ongoing efforts we cannot guarantee we can assist all those who are seeking to evacuate,” Ardern said.
The chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan has complicated the Biden administration’s message of support to the Indo-Pacific region, AP reports, raising questions about the US commitment to its allies.
While Biden said last week that an indefinite engagement would’ve benefited “true strategic competitors” China and Russia, China has seized on the images of violence from the evacuation to slam the US for its engagement there.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday that the US had done “unscrupulous and dishonest things” in Afghanistan and called on the nation to help rebuild.
“The United States is the root cause and the biggest external factor in the Afghan issue,” Wenbin said. “It cannot just run away like this.”
But Vice President Kamala Harris, during a joint news conference with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday, said that her presence in the country, combined with the agreements around greater cooperation that the Biden administration has pursued with Indo-Pacific countries, speak “volumes in terms of the integrity of the relationships that the United States has around the world on many issues.”
PBS reports that Afghan children have gone missing or been left behind amid the chaos at Kabul’s airport:
Via the BBC:
Our latest report on the fears many Afghan women have about their future.. The Taliban insist women will be allowed to work and get an education but many don't trust their promises
— Secunder Kermani (@SecKermani) August 23, 2021
Thank you to those who spoke to us despite obvious security concerns
w / @MalikMudassir2 pic.twitter.com/YwEwdYoSZh
Outside Kabul, there have been flickers of resistance against the Taliban.
Some ex-government troops have gathered in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital - long known as an anti-Taliban bastion. There were scattered reports of clashes overnight.
Taliban fighters are “stationed near Panjshir”, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, adding the group was trying to resolve this issue “peacefully”.
One of the leaders of the movement in Panjshir, named the National Resistance Front, is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The NRF is prepared for a “long-term conflict” but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary told AFP in an interview on the weekend.
G7 leaders will also discuss a possible extension of Biden’s 31 August deadline for withdrawing US forces, to give the United States and other countries more time to locate and evacuate Western citizens, Afghans who aided Nato and US forces and other vulnerable people, unnamed sources have told Reuters.
Britain and France are pressing for more time, but a Taliban official said foreign forces had not sought an extension and it would not be granted if they did.
G7 leaders will also commit to coordinate on any sanctions and resettlement of a wave of refugees, the sources said.
The G7 will take stock of the current evacuation efforts and commit to coordinating closely on further steps, including security, humanitarian assistance and resettlement of refugees, said Karen Pierce, Britain’s envoy to the United States.
“We want to work together to convey the very important point that we don’t want Afghanistan to be a breeding ground for terrorism. We don’t want it to lapse into its pre 9/11 state,” she said.
If you see any news you think we may have missed, get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
More now on what we can expect from the G7, from Reuters:
Leaders of the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Japan may use the possibility of unified official recognition, or renewed sanctions to push the Taliban to comply with pledges to respect women’s rights and international relations.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will stress a unified approach during the G7 talks, which will also include NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said Karen Pierce, Britain’s envoy to the United States.
“We want to start the process of developing a clear plan, so that we can all deal with the new Afghan regime in a unified and concerted way,” Pierce told Reuters.
“We will judge the new regime by actions, not words.”
Recognition is a political act taken by sovereign states with important consequences, including allowing the Taliban access to the foreign aid relied upon by previous Afghan governments. A 2020 agreement signed by the former Trump administration explicitly states that the group “is not recognised by the United States as a state.”
The tool of recognition is “one of the most important remaining pieces of leverage that we have,” said Annie Pforzheimer, a retired US diplomat who served as the deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Kabul from 2017 to 2018.
It would be “infinitely more powerful” if it is well coordinated and ensures that the new government is inclusive and recognises Afghanistan’s human rights commitments, she said.
Updated
G7 leaders plan to pledge unity on Taliban recognition, sanctions – Reuters sources
Leaders of the G7 advanced economies are expected to pledge unity on whether or not to officially recognise or sanction the Taliban when they meet virtually to discuss Afghanistan on Tuesday, according to two diplomatic sources.
US allies are still smarting from Washington’s delays in outreach after Kabul fell on 15 August, and foreign diplomats in Washington said cooperation will be a key theme of the call.
“The G7 leaders will agree to coordinate on if or when to recognise the Taliban,” said one European diplomat. “And they will commit to continue to work closely together.”
For its part, the powerful US military has been grappling with the collapse of US-backed Afghan forces after 20 years of training.
“Was it worth it? Yes. Does it still hurt? Yes,” General David Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote in a memo to Marines.
The difficulties at the airport were underlined on Monday with a firefight between Afghan guards and unidentified gunmen. German and US forces were also involved, the Germany military said.
A local Taliban militant, speaking to a large crowd in Kabul, urged Afghans to remain.
“Where has our honour gone to? Where has our dignity gone to?” the unidentified militant said.
“We will not let the Americans continue to be here. They will have to leave this place. Whether it is a gun or a pen, we will fight to our last breath.”
The Taliban’s swift takeover and ensuing chaos in Afghanistan have roiled US politics, Reuters reports, with opposition Republicans piling criticism on Biden for the withdrawal, which was initiated by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden’s opinion poll numbers have slipped.
Biden’s fellow Democrats who control Congress have promised to investigate what went wrong in Afghanistan within the past weeks and throughout the 20-year conflict, America’s longest war.
Biden’s national security adviser on Monday said he had not heard the president discuss any plans to fire, reassign or ask for the resignation of any White House or US officials over the situation in Afghanistan, Reuters reports.
“I have not heard him say so,” Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House, when asked if Biden had plans to take disciplinary action against US officials after the Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of the country this month.
Biden has repeatedly defended his decision to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, and said he took responsibility for making the decision to end the 20-year war.
Biden has said that the Taliban’s march into Kabul unfolded more quickly than anticipated, raising questions about a possible intelligence failure.
Sullivan said Biden was considering whether to extend his 31 August deadline for withdrawing US forces from Afghanistan, amid mounting pressure to do so from Britain, France and other US. allies.
He said US officials were in daily contact with the Taliban and US allies about the issue, but saw substantial progress in the military operation to evacuate US citizens, people from third countries and vulnerable Afghans.
“The president will make his own determination,” he said.
The US military reported by far its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan on Monday, with 28 flights taking about 10,400 people to safety. Since 14 August, about 37,000 people have been evacuated. But security around the airport remains highly volatile.
The rush to flee has left at least 20 people dead, according to the Reuters news agency, mostly in shootings and stampedes. The German defence ministry said on Monday an Afghan man was killed and three others wounded in a dawn firefight between local guards and unknown assailants.
The harrowing images in Kabul have comprehensively ended Biden’s political honeymoon period after seven months. David Axelrod, a former strategist for Barack Obama, told the New York Times the way the war is ending “cuts against some of his core perceived strengths: competence, mastery of foreign policy, supreme empathy.”
According to the NBC News survey, 49% of adults approve of Biden’s overall job performance, while 48% disapprove. The poll showed 53% of Americans approve of the president’s handling of the coronavirus, which represents a 16-point drop from April.
This decline is likely to be the result of a fresh wave of infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant that has caused record hospitalisations in parts of Florida, Texas and other southern states, especially where vaccination rates are relatively low, in what the White House at this stage calls a “pandemic of the unvaccinated”:
Joe Biden faced mounting pressure at home and abroad on Monday as he raced against time to deal with evacuations from Afghanistan, a surging coronavirus pandemic and a vital congressional vote on his domestic agenda.
The US president’s job approval rating fell below 50% for the first time, according to an NBC News poll, with just 25% approving of his handling of Afghanistan, which was overrun by the Taliban this month far quicker than he predicted.
Thousands of America troops have poured back into the country to oversee the chaotic airlift of foreigners and selected Afghans from Kabul airport, and Biden is being called upon to extend a 31 August deadline for full US withdrawal:
Spokesperson for the Taliban @suhailshaheen1 dismisses accusations by @amnesty that the Taliban have committed atrocities #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/KdenOVHkOD
— Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) August 23, 2021
Tuesday’s Guardian front page:
Tomorrow's @Guardian: Race to complete Kabul airlift amid Taliban threat
— Richard Preston (@richardpreston_) August 23, 2021
• Read our story, by @dansabbagh and @julianborger, here: https://t.co/gIdHtClwkh#TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/QGYO7Vh4yl
Human Rights Watch and several other NGOs have issued a public letter to Biden calling on him to extend the deadline.
In the letter, they ask Biden to “Plan for US forces to remain on the ground until the most-vulnerable Afghans are safely out of the country, including past August 31”.
The letter warns that a failure to do so will:
Heighten the risk to the lives of thousands who face an already dire human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. It is imperative that the United States develop a more effective evacuation operation and continue it as long as necessary to bring about the safe departure of all those in Afghanistan most at risk.
Australian home affairs minister: 'the situation is deteriorating hour by hour'
Australia has evacuated another 650 people from Afghanistan in its biggest night of a dangerous rescue mission, AAP reports.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday revealed five overnight flights brought the total number of people extracted to almost 1700.
Mr Morrison said Australia would continue evacuation flights if the United States decided to extend the withdrawal deadline past 31 August.mThe prime minister said the mission would continue for as long as it could.
“If that deadline is able to be pushed out, we’ve made that clear to the United States that we would support that,” Mr Morrison said.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the situation at the gates of Kabul’s airport was diabolical.
“We know that the situation is deteriorating hour by hour, day by day,” Ms Andrews told the ABC. She said there were multiple Taliban-controlled checkpoints on the road to the airport.
“We are expecting that there will be an escalation in violence, but it is pretty dire circumstances already there at the moment.”
A British foreign office minister will stress that the Taliban “need to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms” during an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council focussed on the situation in Afghanistan, PA reports.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the minister directly responsible for south Asia – whose responsibilities include Afghanistan, is due to make a statement and hold urgent discussions with humanitarian partners on Tuesday.
It comes after the Conservative peer came under fire following reports by Sky News that he was on leave enjoying a break in Britain last week when the situation in Afghanistan worsened.
Lord Ahmad is expected to speak with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, at the special session, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary, who managed to leave Kabul on Sunday, has posted video of what the airport was like:
Hamid Karzai international airport the night I left Afghanistan. 2/3 meters of distance between Taliban and American forces as well as their Afghan allies from Counter - Terrorism Pursuit teams( CTPTS) pic.twitter.com/TIuKQ1S8cv
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 23, 2021
I wonder what these people have left behind. I left behind 20 years of building a life. pic.twitter.com/MlPKnv3joy
— BILAL SARWARY (@bsarwary) August 23, 2021
Here is an interview with Sarwary on his decision to leave:
One of the best reporters to cover Afghanistan, @bsarwary, is leaving the country. We’ll all be poorer for it. https://t.co/1ixk8LPbKk
— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) August 22, 2021
More on the evacuations so far – and how many people still remain, via AFP:
In the 12 hours up until 3:00 pm Monday (1900 GMT), about 10,900 people were evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport, the official said, updating figures given earlier in the day at the Pentagon.
The number of people relocated from Afghanistan since July on US flights hit 53,000, with 48,000 of those since the intense airlift operations started on 14 August as the Taliban moved into Kabul.
Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said those evacuated included “several thousand” US citizens, and thousands of Afghans who worked for US forces, who had applied for or received special immigrant visas, and Afghans seen as at risk to Taliban attacks for their work in non-governmental organisations, the media, and other jobs.
Kirby said the focus remains on getting US evacuation operations done by the 31 August deadline that President Joe Biden has set for completing the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
That would require withdrawing the 5,800 US troops who have essentially run airport operations and maintained security since August 14, as well as large amounts of equipment brought in to support their mission.
German, British and French officials said Monday that evacuations on their part could continue after 31 August, and said they want the US force to stay in place to help the international airlift.
Monday saw 10,900 people evacuated from Kabul by the US and coalition forces, according to Wall Street Journal national security correspondent Vivian Salama.
On Monday, a total of about 10,900 people were evacuated from Kabul, a White House official said, through a combination of U.S. military cargo flights and coalition flights. Since Aug. 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of about 48,000 people.
— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) August 23, 2021
Taliban warn of 'consequences' if deadline extended
The Taliban warned Monday there would be “consequences” if the United States and its allies try to remain in Afghanistan beyond next week, as Washington ramped up its efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people desperate to flee, AFP reports.
Biden and his Group of Seven counterparts - several of whom are pushing him to leave soldiers at the airport to keep it open - will meet Tuesday, with coordination on Afghanistan and how to handle the hardline Islamist Taliban atop the agenda.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that the White House believes it can get all Americans out by the deadline – but insisted the large majority of those being evacuated each day were Afghan nationals.
So far, the Taliban have 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 are currently working on forming a government, but two sources within the movement told AFP there would be no announcements on a cabinet until the last US soldier has left Afghanistan.
On Twitter, US secretary of state Anthony Blinken has reiterated Biden’s statement, first made last week, saying “any American who wants to get home will get home”.
Biden is expected to make a decision within the next 24 hours on whether to extend the withdrawal deadline past 31 August.
This is difficult, important work, and it demonstrates what @POTUS said yesterday: any American who wants to get home will get home. And we are continuing to help evacuate the citizens of our partners and allies, as well as our Afghan allies and others at-risk. https://t.co/szAimepMl1
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 23, 2021
Biden expected to decide in 24 hours whether to extend withdrawal past 31 August
US President Joe Biden is expected to decide within 24 hours whether to extend the 31 August Afghanistan withdrawal deadline in order to give the Pentagon time to prepare, an administration official told Reuters on Monday.
Biden was still mulling how to proceed but some of his advisers were arguing against extending the withdrawal deadline for security reasons, the official said. Biden could signal his intentions at a virtual meeting of G7 nations on Tuesday, the official said.
Reuters foreign policy correspondent Idrees Ali reports that administration officials have told his colleague, White House reporter Steve Holland, that “some advisers are arguing against extending the Aug. 31 deadline because of security reasons.”
Administration official tells @steveholland1 that Biden is expected to make his decision within that time frame of 24 hours and some advisers are arguing against extending the Aug. 31 deadline because of security reasons.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) August 23, 2021
Updated
Summary
Hi, my name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest from Afghanistan for the next while.
Reuters is reporting that, per a Biden administration official, the US president is expected to decide within 24 hours whether to extend the 31 August withdrawal deadline to give the pentagon time to prepare.
This is breaking news – we’ll have more on the story shortly.
You can get in touch with me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
In the meantime, here are the key recent developments:
- More than 4,226 Afghans, including embassy staff and their families, have been evacuated as part of “Operation Pitting”, the UK’s military evacuation. The UK has so far evacuated 7,109 people out of Kabul. UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said earlier this evening that Britain’s effort to evacuate people by air from Kabul is “down to hours now, not weeks”.
- Afghanistan could start to run out of food as early as September without urgent aid funding, UN agencies have warned.
- More than 500 tonnes of medical supplies including surgical equipment and severe malnutrition kits due to be delivered to Afghanistan this week are stuck because of Kabul airport restrictions, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
- A US Pentagon spokesperson said that over the past 24 hours, 16,000 people were flown out on 89 planes - a combination of military transport and commercial charters. The US military alone was responsible for flying out just under 11,000 people.
- Germany is looking at options for keeping Kabul airport running to allow for evacuations beyond the US’s self-imposed deadline of 31 August for withdrawal of its presence in Afghanistan.
Updated
