Biden says Aug. 31 Afghan pullout depends on Taliban co-operation
G7 agrees on conditions to deal with Taliban going forward
The latest:
- Pentagon working on contingency plan to Aug. 31 withdrawal 'should it be necessary,' Biden says.
- Canadian forces to remain as long as security permits, Trudeau says.
- G7 leaders agree on conditions to deal with Taliban, but disappointed in timing of U.S. withdrawal.
- Special forces working outside of Kabul airport to escort Canadians, Afghans onto flights to Canada.
- Violence, poverty and terrorism: Afghanistan fears a bleak, unpredictable future under the Taliban.
U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States is on pace to finish evacuations from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, but left open the chance of the deadline being extended, saying reaching that goal is dependent on continued co-operation from the country's new Taliban rulers.
The Taliban said earlier on Tuesday that all foreign evacuations from the country must be completed by Aug. 31.
In remarks at the White House, Biden said the United States was racing to meet that deadline as concerns mount over the threat of militant attacks.
"The sooner we can finish, the better," Biden said. "Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops."
Continued coordination with the Taliban remains crucial to meeting the deadline, he said, but he called it a "tenuous situation" with a "serious risk of breaking down as time goes on."
WATCH | U.S. warns Taliban to stay out of the way ahead of Aug. 31 withdrawal:
Biden said he asked the Pentagon and the State Department to develop contingency plans to push past the deadline should that prove necessary.
Also Tuesday, two members of U.S. Congress flew unannounced into Kabul airport in the middle of the ongoing chaotic evacuation, stunning State Department and U.S. military personnel who had to divert resources to provide security and information to the lawmakers, U.S. officials said.
Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts, and Republican Rep. Peter Meijer of Michigan flew in and out on charter aircraft and were on the ground at the Kabul airport for several hours.
"As Members of Congress, we have a duty to provide oversight on the executive branch,"' the two said in a statement.
Canada to remain as long as it is safe
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the virtual G7 meeting with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S.
After the meeting, Trudeau said Canada will remain in Afghanistan beyond Aug. 31 to help evacuate more Canadians and eligible Afghans if the security situation permits.
"I emphasized that Canada is ready to stay beyond the 31st deadline if it's at all possible, because we want to save as many people as possible and Canadians are ready to work to try and do that," Trudeau said.
The hardline Islamist Taliban told the thousands of Afghans crowding into the airport in the hope of boarding flights that 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 Aug. 15.
The Pentagon said several hundred U.S. troops had departed Kabul under a previously scheduled move but that it would not affect evacuation efforts.
The U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed as the United States and its allies withdrew troops two decades after they ousted the Taliban in the weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by al-Qaeda militants, whose leaders had found safe haven in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
WATCH | Has the Taliban changed?
The Taliban has appointed a former Guantanamo detainee, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, as acting defence minister, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel said, citing a Taliban source.
The executive director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, said relations between Afghanistan's new government and the rest of the world need to be worked out fast because the combination of conflict, drought and the COVID-19 pandemic meant that 14 million Afghans could soon face starvation.
Guantanamo detainee appointed minister
Many Afghans fear reprisals and a return to a harsh version of sharia law that the Taliban enforced when in power from 1996 to 2001, in particular the repression of women.
Mujahid said there was no list of people targeted for reprisals and the group was trying to come up with a procedure so women could return to work.
UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said the United Nations would be watching closely.
"A fundamental red line will be the Taliban's treatment of women and girls," she told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Bachelet on Tuesday called for strong action to investigate reports of rights abuses.
"At this critical moment, the people of Afghanistan look to the Human Rights Council to defend and protect their rights," she said.
Bachelet cited reports of "summary executions" of civilians and former security forces who were no longer fighting, the recruitment of child soldiers, and restrictions on the rights of women to move around freely and of girls to go to school. She cited repression of peaceful protests and expressions of dissent.
Bachelet did not specify what timeframe she was referring to or the source of her reports.
Days earlier, a Norway-based private intelligence group said it obtained evidence that the Taliban have rounded up Afghans on a list of people they believe worked in key roles with the previous Afghan administration or with U.S.-led forces.
Many Afghans are in hiding, saying they fear such reprisals.
With files from Reuters