Afghanistan live news: Biden expected to decide on extension of withdrawal soon as leaders prepare for G7 | World news

More information on the evacuations so far – and how many still remain, via AFP:

In the 12 hours leading up to 3:00 p.m. Monday (19:00 GMT), around 10,900 people were evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport, the official said, updating the figures given earlier today at the Pentagon.

The number of people displaced from Afghanistan since July, US flights have reached 53,000, including 48,000 since the start of intense airlift operations on August 14 as the Taliban entered Kabul.

Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said evacuees included “several thousand” US citizens and thousands of Afghans who worked for US forces, who had applied for or received immigrant visas. specialties, and Afghans considered threatened by Taliban attacks for their work in non-governmental organizations, the media and other jobs.

Kirby said the focus remains on completing the US evacuation operations before the August 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden to complete the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

This would require the withdrawal of the 5,800 American troops who have mainly directed 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 on Monday that evacuations on their part could continue after August 31, and said they wanted the US force to remain in place to assist the international airlift.

On Monday, 10,900 people were evacuated from Kabul by the United States and coalition forces, according to Vivian Salama, national security correspondent for the Wall Street Journal.

The Taliban warned on Monday that there would be “consequences” if the United States and its allies tried to stay in Afghanistan beyond next week, as Washington stepped up efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people desperate to flee, AFP reports.

Biden and his Group of Seven counterparts – several of whom urge him to leave soldiers at the airport to keep it open – will meet on Tuesday, with coordination on Afghanistan and how to deal with the die-hard Islamist Taliban in mind. of the agenda.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters the White House believed it could get all Americans out before the deadline – but insisted the vast majority of those 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 timeframe “would prolong the occupation.”

“If the United States or the United Kingdom asked for more time to continue the 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 of a cabinet until the last U.S. soldier left. Afghanistan.

On Twitter, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated Biden’s statement, made for the first time last week, saying that “any American who wants to go home will go home.”

Biden is expected to make a decision within the next 24 hours on extending the withdrawal deadline beyond August 31.

US President Joe Biden expected to decide within 24 hours whether or not to extend August 31 Afghanistan withdrawal period in order to give the Pentagon time to prepare, an administration official told Reuters on Monday.

Biden was still considering how to proceed, but some of his advisers were opposed to an extension of the opt-out deadline for security reasons, the official said. Biden could signal his intentions at a virtual meeting of G7 countries on Tuesday, the official said.

Reuters foreign policy correspondent Idrees Ali reports that administration officials told his colleague, White House reporter Steve Holland, that “some advisers are opposed to extending the 31 August for security reasons “.

Hello, my name is Helen Sullivan and I will bring you the latest news from Afghanistan for the next time.

Reuters reports that, according to a Biden administration official, the US president should decide within 24 hours whether to extend the August 31 withdrawal deadline to give the Pentagon time to prepare.

This is breaking news – we’ll have more on the story shortly.

You can contact me on Twitter @helenrsullivan.

In the meantime, here are the main recent developments:

• More than 4,226 Afghans, including embassy staff and their families, were evacuated as part of “Operation Pitting”, the military evacuation from the United Kingdom. The UK has so far evacuated 7,109 people out of Kabul. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said earlier in the evening that Britain’s efforts to evacuate people by air from Kabul were “reduced to hours now, not weeks”.
• Afghanistan could start to run out of food as early as September without emergency aid, 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 on hold due to restrictions at Kabul airport, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
• A spokesman for the US Pentagon said that in the past 24 hours 16,000 people were flown in 89 planes – a combination of military transport and commercial charter. The US military alone was responsible for transporting just under 11,000 people.
• Germany is exploring options to keep Kabul airport operating to allow evacuations beyond self-imposed US deadline of August 31t for withdrawing its presence in Afghanistan.