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The White House has not completely closed the door to the departure of US troops in Afghanistan beyond the August 31 deadline.
“During a meeting this morning with the leaders of the G7, the president made it known that our mission in Kabul will end on the basis of the achievement of our objectives,” White House press secretary said on Tuesday. , Jen Psaki.
Psaki added that the current evacuation effort was “on track to be completed by August 31,” but also warned that ground troops were facing “increasing threats from ISIS-K” as the mission evolves.
US TROOPS SHOULD START WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN FRIDAY TO MEET DEADLINE
“[C]Completion of the mission by August 31 depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access of the evacuees to the airport, ”Psaki said. “In addition, the president has asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to adjust the schedule if that become necessary.”
Psaki did not specify when exactly the August 31 deadline would go into effect. At a press conference on Tuesday, a reporter asked him if the deadline would go into effect at midnight on August 31, Eastern United States time or Afghanistan time. “That’s a really great question,” Psaki said. She made a commitment to “get back to you on that”.
Psaki also confirmed that the evacuations will stop before August 31 to allow the military to withdraw to meet the deadline.
The news comes as Fox News was the first to report on Tuesday that some US troops already have started to withdraw from Afghanistan.
“Things are gone,” an official said of the start of the withdrawal. “We can still defend the airport.
But the official stressed that the forces still on the ground have the capacity to “bring out the Americans who want to evacuate”.
Earlier Tuesday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the White House “is still aiming towards the end of the month” to completely withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
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“We continue to make progress every day to get Americans out – as well as special immigrant visa applicants and vulnerable Afghans -” he said. “We remain committed to getting all the Americans who want to go out, to get them out. We still think – certainly now that we’ve been able to increase the capacity and the flow – we think we have the capacity to do so. month.”
The Pentagon added that the number of US troops in the country will drop to “zero” by the agreed deadline.
Fox News’ Tyler o’neil contributed to this report.
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