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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Maanvi Singh (now) and Joan E Greve (earlier)

Biden says US is ‘determined to complete this mission’ as Afghanistan evacuations pass 70,000 – as it happened

President Joe Biden speaks about the Afghanistan evacuation from the Roosevelt Room on Tuesday.
President Joe Biden speaks about the Afghanistan evacuation from the Roosevelt Room on Tuesday. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

Politics recap

  • Joe Biden said the US has evacuated 70,700 people from Aghanistan since 14 August. “We will continue our close cooperation to get people out as quickly and efficiently as possible,” he said. “The sooner we can finish, the better.” The president said the aim is to finish evacuations by the 31st.
  • Biden held a virtual G7 meeting to discuss the evacuation mission. The meeting came as some of America’s most powerful allies have criticized Biden’s handling of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated he failed to convince Biden to extend the 31 August deadline to complete the evacuation mission. Johnson had been pushing for the evacuations to continue into September, but the prime minister sounded resigned to the current timeline after the G7 meeting. “You’ve heard what the president of the United States has had to say. You’ve heard what the Taliban have said,” Johnson told reporters. “We’re confident we can get thousands more out, but the situation at the airport is not getting any better.”
  • CIA director William Burns reportedly met secretly with the head of the Taliban yesterday in Kabul. The meeting marks the highest-level diplomatic encounter between the US and the Taliban since the militant group took control of the capital city.
  • The House approved the framework for Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package and set a 27 September deadline for passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The party-line vote came after days of tense negotiations between House leaders and moderate Democrats, who argued their party should prioritize the infrastructure bill over the spending package. But Pelosi’s concession to moderates is already causing tension with the more progressive members of her caucus.

– Joan E Greve and Maanvi Singh

Updated

Amnesty International has called the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Afghanistan “weak” for not arranging for an independent way to monitor abuses in the country.

“The UN Human Rights Council special session has failed to deliver a credible response to the escalating human rights crisis in Afghanistan. Member states have ignored clear and consistent calls by civil society and UN actors for a robust monitoring mechanism,” Agnès Callamard, the group’s secretary general, said.

“A robust investigative mechanism – with a mandate to document, collect and preserve evidence of ongoing crimes and human rights violations across Afghanistan – is urgently needed.”

Mary Kaldor, director of the conflict and civil society research unit at London School of Economics, writes in an opinion piece for the Guardian: “The main lesson from Afghanistan is that the ‘war on terror’ does not work”.

I opposed the initial invasion of Afghanistan on the grounds that terrorism is a heinous crime but not a war, and that we needed to use the techniques of policing and intelligence, while tackling the underlying causes of terrorism, rather than military methods to deal with the problem.

Many of us said at the time that the attacks of 9/11 should have been viewed as a crime against humanity, not as an attack by a foreign state. The terrorists should have been designated as criminals not enemies. As the distinguished war historian Michael Howard said, the phrase “war on terror” accorded the “terrorists a status they seek and do not deserve”.

Indeed there were considerable gains in women’s rights and education as well as democratic consciousness, as exemplified by the recent protests in Jalalabad. The fundamental reason was that the security of Afghans was continually undermined by the way that the US prioritised counter-terror operations, by which it meant military targeting of the Taliban and al-Qaida, and more recently, Islamic State.

Actually, there was no insurgency until five years after the invasion. The insurgency began for two main reasons. First, night raids, drone attacks and bombing produced a counterreaction. Second, the US allies in the counter-terror endeavour were the so-called warlords, many of the same people or their children that the CIA recruited to fight the Soviets in the 1980s. It was the continued presence of these criminalised and predatory warlords within the Afghan government that explains its systemic corruption and lack of legitimacy. Civil society groups were vocal and persistent in their demands for justice and an end to corruption. But their demands were ignored.

Read more:

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.

At an emergency session of the UN human rights council, called at the request of Pakistan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, its head, Michelle Bachelet, called for a mechanism to monitor Taliban actions, describing the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls as a “fundamental red line” and warning that “significant numbers of people will seek refuge in neighbouring countries or outside the region”.

Describing the air bridge from Afghanistan, one Nato country diplomat said western nations were working at a “war-footing pace” on Tuesday to get people out of the country.

The US military on Tuesday said it had evacuated the largest number of people from Afghanistan since the operation began.

About 21,600 people were flown safely out of Taliban-held Afghanistan in the 24-hour period that ended early on Tuesday, the White House said. That compares with about 16,000 the previous day.

Biden has suggested between 50,000-65,000 Afghan allies could be eligible for evacuation.

Read more:

“Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,” Biden said, before ending his statements. “They’re real and significant challenges that we also have to take into consideration. The longer we stay starting with the acute and growing risk of an attack by a terrorist group.”

The Taliban has said there will be “consequences” if US troops remained after the 31st.

Biden says the US’s completion of evacuations by 31 August is contingent on the Taliban allowing access to the airport. “We are determined to complete this mission,” he said.

But the president said there are going to be contingency plans to stay past the 31st deadline to finish evacuating Americans and Afghan allies.

The Taliban said it is opposed to letting Afghan nationals leave. “We are not in favor of allowing Afghans to leave,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters.

“They [the Americans] have the opportunity, they have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them but we are not going to allow Afghans to leave and we will not extend the deadline,” he said.

Updated

The US has now evacuated 70,700 people since 14 August, the president said.

“We will continue our close cooperation to get people out as quickly and efficiently as possible,” he said. “The sooner we can finish, the better.”

Biden said the aim is to finish evacuations by the 31st.

Biden begins remarks

The president has begun his much-delayed remarks by speaking about his domestic agenda.

Watch here:

Today so far

That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Joe Biden will soon deliver his (much delayed) remarks on the situation in Afghanistan, as evacuation efforts continue in Kabul. The US has helped evacuate more than 20,000 people out of Afghanistan since yesterday morning, according to the White House.
  • Biden held a virtual G7 meeting to discuss the evacuation mission. The meeting came as some of America’s most powerful allies have criticized Biden’s handling of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated he failed to convince Biden to extend the August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation mission. Johnson had been pushing for the evacuations to continue into September, but the prime minister sounded resigned to the current timeline after the G7 meeting. “You’ve heard what the president of the United States has had to say. You’ve heard what the Taliban have said,” Johnson told reporters. “We’re confident we can get thousands more out, but the situation at the airport is not getting any better.”
  • CIA director William Burns reportedly met secretly with the head of the Taliban yesterday in Kabul. The meeting marks the highest-level diplomatic encounter between the US and the Taliban since the militant group took control of the capital city.
  • The House approved the framework for Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package and set a September 27 deadline for passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The party-line vote came after days of tense negotiations between House leaders and moderate Democrats, who argued their party should prioritize the infrastructure bill over the spending package. But Pelosi’s concession to moderates is already causing tension with the more progressive members of her caucus.

Maanvi will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

Well, there it is: the Congressional Progressive Caucus has released a statement saying its members will not support the bipartisan infrastructure bill until the House passes Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package.

CPC chairwoman Pramila Jayapal said, “As our members have made clear for three months, the two are integrally tied together, and we will only vote for the infrastructure bill after passing the reconciliation bill.”

That could create a major problem for House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has just promised moderate Democrats that the lower chamber will vote on the infrastructure bill by September 27.

So moderates are demanding that the infrastructure bill take priority, and progressives are holding firm that the spending package must be approved first. It’s going to be a very long September on Capitol Hill.

Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who led the group of moderate Democrats pushing for an earlier vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, celebrated after reaching an agreement with House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“With roads and bridges crumbling across our nation, this agreement does what we set out to do: secure a standalone vote for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, send it to the President’s desk, and then separately consider the reconciliation package,” Gottheimer said in a statement.

“This is a big win for America and will help get people to work and shovels in the ground. We have established a path forward that ensures we can pass this once-in-a-century infrastructure investment by September 27th, allowing us to create millions of jobs and bring our nation into the 21st century.”

But again, the deal between Pelosi and Gottheimer’s group will almost certainly cause tension between House leaders and progressives, who have consistently demanded that Democrats’ $3.5tn spending package be given legislative priority.

Shortly before the House formally approved the budget framework, speaker Nancy Pelosi released a statement saying she is “committing to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill by September 27”.

“Passing an infrastructure bill is always exciting for what it means in terms of jobs and commerce in our Country. Now more than ever, it also has to be a part of protecting our environment,” Pelosi said.

The speaker added, “We must keep the 51-vote privilege by passing the budget and work with House and Senate Democrats to reach agreement in order for the House to vote on a Build Back Better Act that will pass the Senate.”

The September 27 deadline for passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which was a concession to moderate Democrats, will likely cause tension between Pelosi and the more progressive members of her caucus. Stay tuned.

House approves framework for $3.5tn spending package and deadline for infrastructure vote

After days of tense negotiations, House Democrats approved the framework for the party’s $3.5tn spending package, formally kicking off the reconciliation process for the legislation.

The final vote was 220 to 212, and it fell exactly along party lines.

More specifically, House Democrats approved a “rule” that deems the budget framework to have passed and sets a September 27 deadline for voting on the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

That second component of the rule represents a concession from House speaker Nancy Pelosi to a group of moderate Democrats who called on party leaders to prioritize the infrastructure bill.

There are still more hurdles ahead for the $3.5tn spending package, and Democrats need to hammer out the (many) details of the legislation, so Joe Biden can’t take a victory lap just yet.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki pushed back against Republican criticism that Joe Biden had capitulated to the Taliban’s demands by sticking to the August 31 deadline for Kabul evacuations.

“The Taliban’s deadline was May 1st, struck in a deal with the prior administration. The president’s timeline was August 31st,” Psaki said.

“That’s the timeline he set and a period of time he needed in order to operationalize our departure from Afghanistan.”

Jen Psaki is asked if mistakes are being made in vetting, given that one individual in Qatar is reported to have ties to Isis. The questioner is Peter Doocy of Fox News, a common sparring partner in the briefing room. Psaki pushes back, of course.

Doocy says Americans are stranded in Kabul and what does Psaki say about that.

“We are committed to bringing Americans home who want to leave,” Psaki says.

The press secretary added that anyone who knows of an American still in Afghanistan who has not been contacted by the US government should pass on their contact information to the Biden administration.

Biden is delayed in speaking but Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, is now briefing reporters.

The US has helped evacuate 57,000 people in the last nine days, she says, and is on track to meet its deadline of 31 August, the deadline it has chosen not to extend despite pressure from other countries. Biden has asked for contingency plans too, Psaki says, repeating the statement about the threat from the Islamic State affiliate, Isis K.

Psaki won’t discuss troop withdrawals from the Kabul airport. The Pentagon should discuss that, she says. Asked if that means evacuations will wind down before 31 August, to facilitate troop withdrawals, Psaki says that is correct.

So has Biden not ruled out extending the deadline? Psaki repeats that he has asked for contingency plans but thinks the deadline will be hit.

Are Afghans being slowed from getting to the airport? Psaki says that regarding those prioritised for evacuation, their departure is being facilitated.

She won’t answer a question about William Burns, the CIA director, and his visit to Afghanistan.

As Dan Sabbagh and Amelia Gentleman report, the US is not the only country evacuating Afghan allies from Kabul – and its decision not to extend the 31 August deadline will have consequences way beyond the US:

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 to the 31 August deadline for its troops to hold Kabul airport.

Full report:

White House: Biden told G7 Isis threat added risk to deadline extension

More on the G7 call this morning which Patrick Wintour analyses in the post below.

The White House is out with a statement about what Biden said to fellow world leaders eager to extend the deadline for the Afghanistan evacuation – and disappointed by his refusal to do so.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden told the G7 leaders there was “added risk” to keeping US troops in country beyond 31 August, citing a threat from an Islamic State affiliate.

The president “made clear that with each day of operations on the ground, we have added risk to our troops with increasing threats from Isis-K, and that completion of the mission by 31 August depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport”, Psaki said.

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 decision in July to insist on the August deadline set in 2020 by Donald Trump for the withdrawal, a decision the 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.

But European hopes that Biden might acknowledge the damage done by his handling of the Afghan withdrawal by at least accepting the US troops may stay a day or two beyond the 31 August deadline have for the moment been dashed.

Full story:

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:

Updated

Another delay: Joe Biden will now deliver his remarks on Afghanistan at 4:30 pm ET, so we will have to wait another hour and a half to hear from the US president.

Biden was originally scheduled to start speaking at noon, but the speech was then pushed back to 2 pm, and now it has been delayed yet again.

This blogger is as unamused as anyone. Stay tuned.

The Taliban have moved to prevent Afghans from leaving the country by joining the US-led airlift, declaring the route to Kabul airport only open to foreigners.

The Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “The road that ends at Kabul airport has been blocked. Foreigners can go through it but Afghans are not allowed to take the road.”

The decision is likely to leave tens of thousands of Afghans who had been hoping to escape trapped under Taliban control.

A number of cases had emerged in recent days of Afghans heading to the airport being turned back at Taliban checkpoints, including those with approval from western countries to join the air bridge as the group seeks to tighten its grip on the airport and the capital.

Mujahid offered contradictory justifications for the policy. He said on the one hand that the Taliban had stopped Afghans from going to the airport for fear that people might be killed in a stampede, but on the other that the evacuation was taking out experts such as engineers and doctors.

“We ask [the Americans] to stop this process,” he said. “This country needs their expertise. They should not be taken to other countries.”

Joe Biden reportedly told fellow G7 leaders this morning that his administration is confident it can meet the August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation mission in Kabul.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mr. Biden on Tuesday told other world leaders at a virtual summit of the Group of Seven nations that the U.S. is on pace to meet the Aug. 31 deadline, according to U.S. officials, but he has asked his national-security team to develop contingency plans in case the deadline needs to be pushed back.

The officials noted that the evacuations are contingent on a number of factors, including cooperation from the Taliban.

Democratic congressman Jason Crow, another veteran of the war in Afghanistan, is pushing Joe Biden to extend the August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation mission in Kabul.

Crow acknowledged the evacuation operation is a “very complicated, very high-risk mission,” but the Colorado lawmaker argued the US military has an obligation to ensure all American citizens and Afghan allies are able to get out of the country.

“If we aren’t willing to use the US military to protect US citizens and our partners and our friends, then what will we use our military for?” Crow told reporters.

“This falls squarely within the wheelhouse of why we have the biggest, strongest military in the world, and that is to protect our people.”

Today so far

Here’s where the day stands so far:

  • Joe Biden held a virtual G7 meeting on the situation in Afghanistan, as evacuation efforts continue in Kabul. The US has helped evacuate more than 20,000 people out of Afghanistan since yesterday morning, according to the White House.
  • British Prime Minister Boris Johnson indicated he failed to convince Biden to extend the August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation mission. Johnson had been pushing for the evacuations to continue into September, but the prime minister sounded resigned to the current timeline after the G7 meeting. “You’ve heard what the president of the United States has had to say. You’ve heard what the Taliban have said,” Johnson told reporters. “We’re confident we can get thousands more out, but the situation at the airport is not getting any better.”
  • CIA director William Burns reportedly met secretly with the head of the Taliban yesterday in Kabul. The meeting marks the highest-level diplomatic encounter between the US and the Taliban since the militant group took control of the capital city.

The blog will have more coming up, so stay tuned.

After keeping us in suspense for about an hour and a half, the White House said Joe Biden’s remarks on Afghanistan will now start at 2 pm ET, two hours later than originally scheduled.

So the speech is starting in about 30 minutes apparently, and the blog will have more updates when it happens. Stay tuned.

Republican congressman Dan Crenshaw, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, fiercely criticized Joe Biden for refusing to extend the August 31 deadline for evacuations from Kabul.

“The world just witnessed the President of the United States take orders from a band of barbaric terrorists while ignoring the pleas of our international allies and American citizens he will leave behind,” the Texas congressman said on Twitter. “Joe Biden is a coward.”

And we are still waiting for Biden’s remarks on the situation in Afghanistan, which were scheduled to start about 90 minutes ago. Stay tuned.

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.

This could prove contentious for the Taliban, with its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid using a press conference on Tuesday to say Afghans should stop going to Kabul airport immediately.

Asked if he had failed to secure an extension beyond 31 August, Johnson dodged the direct question to instead praise what he called an “extraordinary airlift”.

However, he obliquely accepted that an extension had not been possible: “You’ve heard what the president of the United States has had to say. 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 confident we can get thousands more out, but the situation at the airport is not getting any better.”

There is still no sign of Joe Biden, who was originally scheduled to deliver remarks on the situation in Afghanistan about an hour ago.

The White House has said that the daily briefing has been delayed by an hour and 45 minutes, which might give some indication of how late Biden is running.

Stay tuned.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said yesterday that the White House is confident in its ability to evacuate all US citizens out of Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline.

“In the days remaining, we believe we have the wherewithal to get out the American citizens who want to leave Kabul,” Sullivan said at the White House briefing yesterday.

When multiple reporters pressed Sullivan on the exact timeline of the evacuation mission, he replied, “As I’ve said before, as the president has said before, we believe that we have time between now and the 31st to get out any American who wants to get out.”

But that answer does not address America’s Afghan allies who may be left behind after the evacuation mission is complete, putting them at risk of suffering Taliban retribution for working with the US and its allies.

Biden plans to stick with August 31 deadline for Kabul evacuations - reports

Joe Biden reportedly plans to adhere to the August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation mission in Kabul, despite demands from other global leaders to continue the operation into next month.

CNN reports:

Biden has decided, in consultation with his national security team, to stick with the August 31 deadline for withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, according to a senior administration official.

Biden made the decision mindful of the security risks in remaining the country longer, the official said, and he has asked for contingency plans in case he determines at a later date the US needs to remain in the country for longer. ...

Biden’s aides expected him to discuss the airlift, and potentially explain his decision to leave at the end of the month, on a morning video conference with the heads of the world’s leading democracies.

Senior US officials, including House intelligence committee chairman Adam Schiff, had voiced skepticism that the military would be able to evacuate all American citizens and Afghan allies by the end of the month.

Biden is expected to deliver remarks on the situation in Afghanistan at any moment, and he may explain his thinking behind sticking to the deadline. Stay tuned.

The virtual G7 meeting on Afghanistan ended after about two hours, the White House told the press pool.

The White House did not allow reporters in for the start of the meeting, but the president’s team did share a photo shortly after the discussion wrapped up:

Joe Biden spoke for several minutes at the start of the G7 meeting, and the president is scheduled to deliver remarks on the ongoing evacuations from Kabul in about five minutes.

Stay tuned.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the 500 to 600 Afghan commandos now at the airport, 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.

“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,” Taylor said.

Joe Biden spoke for seven minutes at the start of the virtual G7 meeting this morning, the White House told the press pool.

The other meeting attendees are British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Several of the president’s top advisers, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan and secretary of state Antony Blinken, were also present for the meeting.

'No change to the timeline' of Kabul evacuation mission, Pentagon says

The Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, has insisted that the working deadline for evacuation of all Americans from Afghanistan 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.

“There’s been no change to the timeline of the mission which is to have this completed by the end of the month,” Kirby said.

“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.”

Kirby would not provide an exact number when asked how many Americans have been evacuated out of Afghanistan, simply saying that “several thousand” US citizens had already left the country.

The Pentagon has said Afghans with special immigrant visas have begun flying out of Germany after being screened at Ramstein Air Base.

Maj Gen Hank Taylor said that 800 SIV holders 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.

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, where they will stay until their immigration paperwork is done and a place can be found for their resettlement.

Three babies born so far amid Kabul evacuations, Pentagon says

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.

Major General 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.

The White House confirmed the virtual G7 meeting began at 9:45 am ET, about 15 minutes after its scheduled start time.

In the meeting, Joe Biden will likely be pressed on extending the August 31 deadline to complete the Kabul evacuation mission, as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for.

However, the Taliban said today that there would be “no extensions” allowed, even as senior US officials warn the military is unlikely to complete its mission by the end of the month.

House Democrats have reportedly reached a deal to advance their budget framework and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, according to multiple reports.

The deal comes after Democrats spent hours yesterday arguing over which piece of legislation should be prioritized in the House.

Politico reports:

Democratic leaders are finalizing a deal that would clear the way for passage of the $3.5 trillion budget framework and set a House vote on the bipartisan infrastructure deal for Sept. 27, an offer they hope ends a weeks-long standoff with moderates.

After several hours of furious negotiating Monday night, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team are finishing the compromise, which they hope to put on the floor as soon as Tuesday afternoon. Democratic members believed a deal was imminent, based on Pelosi’s tone, but the caucus will meet Tuesday morning to discuss the contours of the agreement.

‘I’m sorry that we couldn’t land the plane last night, and that you all had to wait. But that’s just part of the legislative progress,’ Pelosi said Tuesday morning. ‘I think we’re close to landing the plane.’

The blog will be watching the House floor to see if Pelosi can seal this deal. Stay tuned.

In case you missed it last night: The House intelligence committee chairman said he does not believe the US will meet its August 31 deadline in Kabul.

Democratic congressman Adam Schiff spoke to reporters shortly after his committee received a classified briefing on the evacuation mission in Afghanistan.

Asked whether he believes the US will meet the deadline to complete the mission, Schiff said, “I think it’s possible, but I think it’s very unlikely.”

He added, “Given the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, the number of SIVs, the number of others who are members of the Afghan press, civil society leaders, women leaders — it’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month.”

Schiff said he was “encouraged” by the increased rate of evacuations from Kabul, but he argued that the “logistical difficulties of moving people to the airport” made the deadline rather unrealistic.

The Taliban said it would not allow the US and its allies to extend their 31 August deadline to complete the evacuation mission in Kabul.

The AP reports:

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says his group will accept ‘no extensions’ to the deadline. He says life is returning to normal in the country but chaos at the airport remains a problem. Many Afghans are desperate to flee the Taliban takeover of the country.

The Taliban had previously said they considered a deadline extension to be a “red line,” but prominent leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have said they believe more time will be necessary to complete the mission.

Johnson is participating in this morning’s virtual G7 meeting, which will almost certainly include a discussion about extending the deadline. Stay tuned.

Updated

Top US spy reportedly meets Taliban leader in Kabul amid evacuation chaos

The top US spy, the CIA director William Burns, reportedly 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 a 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.

More than 20,000 people evacuated from Kabul in 24 hours, US says

More than 20,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since yesterday morning, according to the latest update from the Biden administration.

“From August 23 at 3:00 AM EDT to August 24 at 3:00 AM EDT, a total of approximately 21,600 people were evacuated from Kabul,” a White House official told the press pool this morning.

“This is the result of 37 US military flights (32 C-17s and 5 C-130s) which carried approximately 12,700 evacuees, and 57 coalition flights which carried 8,900 people.

“Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 58,700 people. Since the end of July, we have re-located approximately 63,900 people.”

The pace of evacuations has steadily climbed over the past several days, but there are ongoing concerns that the US and its allies will not be able to evacuate all of their Afghan partners before the August 31 deadline to complete the mission.

Biden holds G7 meeting after facing allies' criticism over Afghanistan

Greetings from Washington, live blog readers.

Joe Biden is holding a virtual meeting this morning with the other members of the G7 to discuss the ongoing evacuation mission in Kabul.

The meeting comes after some of the members have criticized Biden over his handling of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Covid-19 response and the vaccination program at the White House.
Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Covid-19 response and the vaccination program at the White House. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

German chancellor Angela Merkel has reportedly said she considers the troop withdrawal to be “bitter”, expressing concern that it will likely put the rights of Afghan women and girls at risk.

In a call with Biden last week, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, made an impassioned plea for evacuating Nato’s Afghan allies, according to the Élysée Palace’s readout of the conversation.

Macron described the evacuation of Afghan allies as a “moral responsibility”, a phrase that was mysteriously omitted from the US readout of the call.

And the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is pushing Biden to extend the 31 August deadline to complete the evacuation mission.

Biden has signaled he is open to that idea, but he has not committed to a deadline extension, which the Taliban has described as a “red line”.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be a rather tense meeting for Biden and his counterparts. The blog will have more details coming up, so stay tuned.

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