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Allies Ask Biden For Extended Evac Timeline, Taliban Threaten "Consequences"
Published 3 years ago
US allies, realizing there is no way they can evacuate all of their countrymen and host nation allies out of Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline, are pressuring President Biden to extend the extraction timeline, which has been met by threats from the Taliban.
“If they extend it, that means they are extending occupation,” a Taliban spokesman told Sky News. “If they are intent on continuing the occupation, it will provoke a reaction.” Considering the Taliban have the airport entirely surrounded and are within small arms range of every aircraft using it, the Taliban threats put Biden in a serious catch22 of an already botched withdrawal. The Taliban likely have multiple contingency plans and equipment in place that would include the coordinated use of explosive vests and SVBIEDs.
A report from The Washington Post stated that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will propose new sanctions on the Taliban and push Biden to extend the evacuation operation. The UK's military effort is wholly reliant on US aircraft, and a withdrawal by the US will mean and end to the UK's operation as well.
Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron told Biden in a call that we had a “collective moral responsibility” to the at-risk Afghan allies and “We cannot abandon them.”
Unconfirmed reports suggest the Biden administration is asking the Taliban to allow for a short extension of the withdrawal, to September 11, 2021, and that short window would be used to extract US citizens and not Afghan counterparts. Troubling: The US doesn't know how many Americans are yet stranded in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, our social media inboxes are being hit with desperate Afghan-Americans relaying messages from their stranded family members in Kabul who have travel credentials but are not willing to bring their families through Taliban checkpoints and have received no correspondence from the embassy. It's looking bleak for many.
