Biden: Adherence to the date of removal from Afghanistan depends on the attitude of the Taliban – SME.sk

WASHINGTON. The first American troops to evacuate from the country began to withdraw from Afghanistan on Tuesday. It happened on the day the President of the United States Joe Biden confirmed that he did not intend to extend the deadline of 31 August for the expulsion of US military personnel from Afghanistan.

For television CNN this was stated by two unnamed representatives from the environment of the American Ministry of Defense. They did not say how many troops had already left Afghanistan, but assured that the start of the evacuation did not affect the evacuation of people from Kabul Airport.

A small part of the soldiers

The Pentagon said Monday that approximately 5,800 U.S. troops are operating at Kabul International Airport to oversee the safety of evacuation flights.

“The reduction (the number of US forces) does not yet affect the mission,” said one CNN official.

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According to him, the decision on what military personnel is needed to carry out the mission is in the competence of the operation commander and depends on several factors, such as the number of open departure gates or the number of people arriving at the airport.

The whole mission can be carried out with a smaller number of soldiers, and therefore with less security risk.

According to CNN, only a small part of the evacuation troops have left Afghanistan so far. The number of evacuates is expected to increase in the coming days, and at the same time the number of American soldiers leaving the country will increase.

Biden’s speech

In a speech at the White House on Tuesday, Biden said the United States was “on track” to withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan and end the evacuation of people from Kabul by August 31. According to him, every day there is a growing risk that members of the US military in Kabul will become the target of attacks by the so-called Islamic State and other terrorist groups.

He stressed, however, that whether the relocation could be completed by the end of August would depend on Taliban cooperation, which he said must allow people access to Kabul airport and not disrupt evacuation operations.

In the current precarious situation, Joe Biden has instructed the Foreign and Defense Ministries to draw up alternative removal schedules in case this is necessary. The Taliban rejects any postponement of US troops’ departure from the country and warns that such a move would have unspecified “consequences.

In his speech, the US president said that since August 14, the United States has helped evacuate more than 70,700 people from Afghanistan.