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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has decided not to extend his August 31 deadline to complete the evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from Afghanistan, an administration official said on Tuesday.
Biden made the decision after consulting with his national security team. Weighing the risks of keeping forces on the ground beyond the deadline, he chose to complete the mission by next Tuesday, a deadline he had set long before the Taliban completed their capture. control of Afghanistan on August 15.
Biden has asked his national security team to create contingency plans in case a situation arises where the deadline should be extended slightly, the official said.
The United States increased its 24-hour airlift for evacuees from Afghanistan to its highest level yet on Tuesday. Biden had considered extending the self-imposed deadline, given the continuing security threats from extremist groups in the Afghan capital, the Taliban’s resistance to an extension and the prospect that all Americans and Afghan allies at risk cannot be evacuated by next Tuesday.
U.S. European allies as well as U.S. lawmakers, veterans groups and refugee organizations urge Biden to continue evacuations for as long as necessary to get all foreigners, Afghan allies and others most out. threatened by the Taliban.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Tuesday that his group would not agree to “any extension” of the deadline at a press conference in Kabul.
Later Tuesday, Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said the military will need “at least several days” to fully withdraw its several thousand troops and equipment from Kabul. He said the commanders were still aiming to leave by Aug.31. He said there was enough time to get all Americans out, but was less specific about completing the evacuation of all Afghans at risk.
“We believe we have the capacity to do this by the end of the month,” he said, referring to the unspecified number of US citizens seeking to leave. He said several hundred people were evacuated on Monday and “several thousand” had come out since the airlift began. It wouldn’t be more precise.
Allies of the United States and other countries are also conducting evacuations and should cease operations and leave before American troops do.
About 21,600 people were safely evacuated from Taliban-held Afghanistan during the 24-hour period that ended Tuesday morning, the White House said. This compares to about 16,000 the day before.
Thirty-seven US military flights – 32 C-17s and 5 C-130s – carried around 12,700 evacuees. An additional 8,900 people flew on 57 US Allied flights.
Amid the tense operation to get the people out of the country, CIA Director William Burns secretly traveled to Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban’s top politician Abdul Ghani Baradar, said a US official at the Associated Press.
The Washington Post first reported on the Burns meeting. The US official later confirmed the PA meeting.
A 2020 deal reached by President Donald Trump and the Taliban initially set a deadline in May for US troops to withdraw completely from Afghanistan, after nearly 20 years of war there. Biden extended the deadline to August 31, but is adamant he also wants to end the US military role in Afghanistan, and dismisses criticism of the sudden takeover of the country by the Taliban this month and the collapse of the supported government. by the United States and military.
The United States risks further Taliban attacks if its forces stay past the August 31 deadline.
The senior US military commander at Kabul airport, Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, communicated with Taliban commanders daily in an effort to facilitate the evacuation, but the last known contact between the military and Baradar was when General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, traveled to Doha, Qatar, to meet with him and other Taliban officials last December.
As access to the airport is still dangerous, American helicopter crews made exits beyond the walls of the airport to retrieve the evacuees, including 16 Americans on Monday.
President Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told the White House on Monday that talks with the Taliban continue as the administration seeks additional ways to safely move more Americans and others. at Kabul airport by the end of August.
He said that ultimately it will be his own decision whether or not to continue the military-led evacuation operations beyond August 31.
California Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters after a committee briefing on Monday’s withdrawal from Afghanistan that “it was hard for me to imagine” completing the bridges by the end of the month. He also said it was clear that there had been “a number of warnings” to the administration of “a very rapid takeover” by the Taliban.
After more than a week of evacuations plagued by major obstacles, including Taliban forces and overwhelming crowds that make approaching the airport difficult and dangerous, the number of people flown in has reached – and exceeded – the US forecast for the first time.
The Pentagon said it has added a fourth US military base, in New Jersey, to three more – in Virginia, Texas and Wisconsin – that are ready to temporarily house incoming Afghans. Major General Hank Williams, deputy director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for regional operations, told reporters that there are now around 1,200 Afghans at these military bases. The four bases combined are capable of accommodating up to 25,000 evacuees, Kirby said.
Afghan evacuees continued to arrive at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington. Exhaustion darkens the faces of many adults. A reporter asked a man how he felt in the United States. “We are safe,” replied the man.
An older woman sank with relief in a gifted wheelchair, and a little girl carried by an older boy shaded her eyes to look curiously around. The race to evacuate left many arrivals carrying only a purse or purse, or a plastic bag containing their belongings.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who will meet Biden virtually on Tuesday at a G-7 leaders’ summit on chaotic withdrawal, was to press Biden for an extension to get as many foreigners and Afghan allies out as possible possible.
Since August 14, the United States has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of more than 58,000 people.
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Associated Press editors Nomaan Merchant, Darlene Superville, Aamer Madhani, Lolita C. Baldor, Hope Yen, Alexandra Jaffe, James LaPorta, Jonathan Lemire, Matthew Lee, and Dan Huff contributed to this report.
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