Recasts lead, provides militant
Afghan soldier killed in conflict with unknown assailants
Biden says evacuation ‘arduous, painful’
Taliban says no extension to Aug. 31 deadline sought but
WHO cannot ship provides due to airport disruption
KABUL/WASHINGTON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – With 1000’s of determined Afghans and foreigners crowding into Kabul’s airport within the hope of fleeing Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers, stress grew on U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday to increase the deadline for the evacuation operation.
Biden on Sunday warned that the evacuation was going to be “arduous and painful” and he stated loads might nonetheless go fallacious. U.S. troops would possibly keep past their Aug. 31 deadline to supervise the evacuation, he stated.
That concern was underlined on Monday morning when a firefight erupted on the airport on Monday between Afghan guards and unidentified gunmen. German and U.S. forces have been additionally concerned, the Germany army stated.
Britain and France have been amongst these calling for the deadline to be eased. However a Taliban official stated international forces had not sought an extension and it will not be granted if they’d.
And an area Taliban militant, chatting with a big crowd in Kabul on Monday, urged Afghans to stay within the nation.
“The place has our honour gone to? The place has our dignity gone to?” the unidentified militant stated. “We won’t let the Individuals proceed to be right here. They must go away this place. Whether or not it’s a gun or a pen, we are going to combat to our final breath.”
The Taliban seized energy simply over every week in the past as america and its allies have been withdrawing troops after a 20-year conflict launched within the weeks after the Sept. 11 assaults on america by al Qaeda militants in 2001.
Panicked Afghans and foreigners have thronged the airport for days, clamouring to catch a flight out earlier than the U.S.-led forces full their pullout by the top of the month.
They concern reprisals and a return to a harsh model of Islamic regulation that the Sunni Muslim group enforced when it held energy from 1996 to 2001.
Twenty individuals have been killed within the chaos, most in shootings and stampedes, as U.S. and worldwide forces attempt to deliver order. One member of the Afghan forces was killed and a number of other wounded in Monday’s conflict, the U.S. army stated.
Germany stated on Monday it had airlifted virtually 3,000 individuals originating from 43 nations from Kabul airport, together with about 1,800 Afghans.
The Taliban have deployed fighters outdoors the airport, the place they’ve additionally tried to assist implement some sort of order.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
Biden stated the safety state of affairs in Afghanistan was altering quickly and remained harmful.
“Let me be clear, the evacuation of 1000’s from Kabul goes to be arduous and painful” and would have been “regardless of when it started”, Biden stated in a briefing on the White Home on Sunday.
“We’ve got a protracted approach to go and loads might nonetheless go fallacious.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge Biden this week to increase the deadline. His spokesperson stated Britain nonetheless wished to fly out 1000’s of individuals.
“We are going to proceed to run our evacuation course of so long as the safety state of affairs permits, the spokesperson stated, including that it will not be doable for British evacuations to proceed as soon as U.S. troops go away.
France’s international minister stated on Monday extra time was wanted past Aug. 31 to finish evacuations from Afghanistan. “We’re involved in regards to the Aug. 31 deadline set by america,” Jean-Yves Le Drian stated.
The chaos on the airport can be disrupting shipments of help stepping into to Afghanistan.
The World Well being Group stated 500 tonnes of medical provides as a result of be delivered this week have been caught as a result of Kabul airport was closed to industrial flights, Richard Brennan, WHO regional emergency director for the Jap Mediterranean Area, informed Reuters.
He stated the WHO was calling for empty planes to divert to its storage hub in Dubai to gather the provides on their approach to choose up evacuees in Afghanistan.
Leaders of the Taliban, who’ve sought to indicate a extra average face since capturing Kabul, have begun talks on forming a authorities, whereas their forces concentrate on the final pockets of opposition.
Taliban fighters had re-taken three districts within the northern province of Baghlan which opposition forces briefly captured and had surrounded opposition forces within the Panjshir valley, an outdated stronghold of Taliban opponents northeast of Kabul.
“The enemy is underneath siege in Panjshir,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated on Twitter.
Anti-Taliban chief Ahmad Massoud stated on Sunday he hoped to carry talks with the Taliban however his forces in Panjshir — remnants of military items, particular forces and militiamen — have been able to combat.
Zabihullah additionally stated the Taliban wished to “clear up the issue via talks”.
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GRAPHIC: Chaos in Kabulhttps://tmsnrt.rs/3stVpcj
GRAPHIC: What’s flying over Kabul?https://graphics.reuters.com/AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT/KABUL-AIRPORT/zjpqkkwmypx/index.html
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(Reporting by Kabul bureau, Rupam Jain, Caroline Copley, Michelle Nichols, Simon Lewis, Ju-min Park, Emma Farge; Writing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel; Enhancing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Nick Macfie and Angus MacSwan)
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