According to the official, small groups of Americans and other civilians will receive specific instructions. These instructions include movement to transit points from where they can be collected by the military. To discuss military operations, the official spoke under anonymity.
These changes are coming as the U.S. Embassy issued Saturday’s new security warning, telling citizens not travel to Kabul without a specific instruction from a U.S. government official. Officials refused to give more details about the IS threat, but called it significant. Officials said that there have not been any confirmed attacks.
The President Joe Biden’s August 31 deadline to withdraw all U.S. troops is rapidly approaching. He did not make any commitment to extend the deadline in his Friday remarks, but he did pledge to evacuate all Americans currently in Afghanistan and the thousands of Afghans who have contributed to the war effort since September 11, 2001. This promise would significantly increase the number of Americans that the U.S. evacuates.
Biden is facing growing criticism after videos of violence and pandemonium outside the airport are shown. Victims in Afghanistan who fear the Taliban’s retaliation make desperate pleas to not be forgotten.
Since long, the Islamic State group has been active in Afghanistan, carrying out waves after waves of terror attacks on the Shiite minority. In recent years, the group has been repeatedly attacked by U.S. drone strikes and Taliban attacks. Officials claim that some members of the group remain active in Afghanistan. The U.S. is concerned that it could reconstitute in an even larger manner as the country falls under the control of the Taliban.
Despite warnings from the U.S Embassy, people continue to gather outside Kabul’s concrete barriers clutching documents and occasionally looking stunned. They are also blocked from flying by razor wire coils.
The Taliban’s top political figure arrived in Kabul to discuss the formation of a new government. A Taliban official confirmed the presence of Mullah Abdul Gani Baradar who had returned from Qatar earlier this week. He spoke under condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to speak to the media. Baradar was the one who negotiated the 2020 peace agreement between the religious movement and the U.S. Officials are now expected to play a crucial role in negotiations between Taliban officials and the Afghan government.
According to Afghan officials, the Taliban said that they would not announce their government until the August 31 deadline for troop withdrawal.
Abdullah Abdullah tweeted that he met with Hamid Karzai, ex-President, Saturday to discuss security in Kabul. He “assured” that he would do all he could to ensure the safety of the citizens.
Although evacuations continued, some outgoing flights were not full due to the chaos at the airport. In a tweet, the German military stated that a plane leaving Kabul Saturday was carrying 205 people. Only seven and eight people were evacuated from two previous flights.
Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, stated that around 1,000 people were being evacuated each day due to “stabilization” at London’s airport. On Saturday, however, an ex-Marine who became a charity director in Afghanistan stated that the situation was not getting better but was only getting worse.
Paul Farthing stated to BBC radio that “we can’t leave the nation because we can’t get into an airport without putting ourselves at risk,”
Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor (Joint Staff deputy director for regional operation) told Pentagon reporters that 17,000 Afghans have been evacuated through Kabul’s airport since August 15. He said that about 2,500 of them were Americans. U.S. officials estimate that there are up to 15,000 Americans living in Afghanistan. However, they admit they don’t know the exact number. Taylor stated that about 3,800 civilians have been evacuated from Afghanistan by a combination U.S. military charter flights and U.S. military aircraft in the last day.
Screening and logistical problems at airports such as al-Udeid Air Base, Qatar have hampered evacuations. Officials from the United States claim they only have a limited number of screeners and are having difficulty working through glitches within the vetting system.
Taylor stated that Kabul’s airport is still open and that Americans are being processed if they reach the gates. However, John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, said that the threat picture changes every hour.
Kirby stated, “We know we are fighting against time and space.” “That’s where we are right now.”
U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken stated that 13 countries have already agreed to temporarily host at-risk Afghans. Twelve other countries have also agreed to be transit points for evacuees including Americans.
“We are tired. We are happy. “We are now in safe country,” one Afghan citizen said on arrival in Italy, along with 79 others, in a video released by the country’s defense ministry.
Many other Afghans are now asking the question: Where will they call home? Already, European leaders who fear a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis are signaling that fleeing Afghans who didn’t help Western forces during the war should stay in neighboring countries instead.
To remain in Afghanistan, you must adapt to the Taliban’s rule. They claim they want an inclusive, Islamic government and will give full amnesty for those who have worked for the U.S. or the Western-backed government. They are more moderate than they were during their last term of power, which was 1996 to 2001. They have also stated that they will respect women’s rights within Islamic law, but did not elaborate.
Many Afghans fear that the Taliban will return to their brutal rule of the late 1990s when they barred women from school and made it impossible for them to work outside the home. They also banned music and television, and chopped off the hands and executed suspected thieves.
“Today, some friends went to the court to work and the Taliban wouldn’t allow them in their offices. They displayed their guns and stated that they were not allowed to work in this government if they had worked in the previous one. This was according to a Kabul-based women activist who spoke on Saturday to The Associated Press. For fear of retaliation, she spoke under anonymity.
The activist was granted a Turkish visa, but had no way to get to the airport. He described the gap between Taliban’s words & actions as “very alarming.”
