Afghanistan, Pentagon in Biden: “On extension evacuation must decide today”

Joe Biden must decide by today whether to extend the evacuation operations from Afghanistan beyond the August 31st deadline. This is what the US military is asking the president, according to a defense official told CNN. The military advisers reported in these hours to the White House that in order to allow not only the safe evacuation of American and Afghan civilians, but also of the 5,800 US soldiers present in Kabul and their equipment, the decision on a possible extension of the deadline end of August must be taken in the next few hours. If Biden opts for a postponement, then the military will try to evacuate as many people as possible from Kabul for “a few days” before starting the withdrawal of US forces, possibly later this week. The military ultimatum to the president came after the Taliban confirmed their request that US troops leave Afghanistan by 31 August. Until yesterday, according to CNN, President Biden had not yet decided whether to exceed the August 31 deadline, despite the contrary opinion of many of his advisers, who fear that a possible postponement could create problems for the security situation on the ground. For days, US intelligence has been monitoring potential terrorist threats and “persistent” information referring to the risks associated with the possibility of Kabul airport becoming the target of groups such as Isis-K and other extremist organizations. EVACUATIONS – A total of about 21,600 people evacuated from Kabul from 3 am Edt (Eastern Daylight Time) on August 23 to 3 am Edt on August 24. This was announced by a White House official, explaining that about 12,700 people were evacuated out of 37 American military aircraft (32 C-17s and 5 C-130s), while 57 coalition planes carried 8,900 people away from Kabul. The US has evacuated approximately 58,700 people from Afghanistan since August 14, according to the official. SECRET MEETING BETWEEN CIA DIRECTOR AND TALEBAN LEADER – The director of the CIA, William Burns, on Monday in Kabul had a secret meeting with the ‘de facto’ leader of the Taliban, Abdul Ghani Baradar. To reveal what, if confirmed, would be the most important meeting between the Taliban and the Biden administration since the fall of Kabul into the hands of the insurgents, were US officials aware of the matter and who asked to remain anonymous. Joe Biden to send Burns, a veteran of foreign policy and the most decorated diplomat in his cabinet, arrives in the midst of a frantic attempt to evacuate thousands of people from Kabul International Airport, which the US president calls “one of the most difficult air bridges.” in history “. The CIA did not want to comment on the news of the meeting with the Taliban, but the discussions probably concerned the imminent deadline of August 31 for the US army set by the new ‘masters’ of Afghanistan to conclude the operations evacuation.