Afghanistan: Taliban pledge to let Americans and Afghans leave after August 31

Published on : 08/26/2021 – 00:11

• Taliban pledge to let Americans and Afghans leave at risk after August 31

The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken assured Wednesday August 25 that the Taliban are committed to let leave the Americans and the Afghans at risk still in the country after August 31.

“There is no deadline for our work to help possible American nationals who might want to leave”, “as well as the many Afghans who have been with us during all these years”, he insisted. , suggesting that American troops could leave even if evacuation candidates are still there.

He did not say how their departure would be organized, however, as US forces are due to leave the country by the end of the month – a deadline confirmed by US President Joe Biden on Tuesday.

Germany had said earlier that it had received assurances from the Taliban that Afghans could leave their country on commercial flights after the final withdrawal of American troops on August 31.

• Update on evacuations

Some 88,000 people have been evacuated since the airlift was set up on August 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul, the White House said. Some “58,000 to 60,000” left Afghanistan by the sole act of the United States, according to General Hank Taylor of the United States General Staff.

The operations have further intensified in recent hours: nearly 19,000 people, in total, were exfiltrated in 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, including 11,200 by the United States and 7,800 by other countries.

There are still up to 1,500 Americans to evacuate from Afghanistan, while 4,500 others have been able to leave since the airlift began on August 14.

• Belgium ends evacuations, Turkey withdraws troops

Belgium announced that the evacuations of its nationals and the Afghans it protected had ceased on Wednesday evening, and France warned that if the date of August 31 was maintained, its airlift would cease as early as Thursday evening.

Turkey, for its part, announced the withdrawal of its soldiers, who along with the American military were guarding Kabul airport.

• Berlin encourages dialogue with the Taliban

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that the international community should continue “to dialogue with the Taliban” to preserve the gains of recent years.

For their part, the Russian and Chinese presidents, Vladimir Poutine and Xi Jinping, have announced that they want to strengthen their cooperation against “the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking coming from Afghanistan”.

• The Afghan born on board an American military plane named Reach, code name of the device

A little Afghan girl born on a US military plane that evacuated her parents to the base in Ramstein, Germany, has been named Reach, codenamed for the device, the commander of US forces in Europe revealed on Wednesday. General Tod Wolters.

With AFP