President Biden said Tuesday that the United States intended to withdraw completely from Afghanistan at the end of the month as planned, rebuffing pleas from Britain, France and other NATO allies to keep troops in Kabul and hastening the end of a frantic evacuation that has become a grim coda to two decades of war.Even as Mr. Biden spoke from the White House, officials said the United States had already begun to reduce its military presence at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, sending about 300 of the 5,800 Marines and soldiers home in anticipation of the conclusion of their rescue mission within a week.“The sooner we can finish, the better,” the president said, hours after informing world leaders of his intentions during an emergency virtual meeting. Citing the threat from an Islamic State affiliate known as ISIS-K and operating in Afghanistan, he said that “every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport, attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians.”But Mr. Biden did not close the door to extending what has become an immense evacuation effort. He said that he had asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans in case it became necessary to stay longer.“I’m determined to ensure that we complete our mission,” he said.The president said that more than 70,000 people had been ferried out of harm’s way since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban swept into power in Kabul; on Tuesday, the Pentagon reported its biggest number of daily evacuations from the Kabul airport so far, saying it had airlifted 21,600 people out of the country over 24 hours.ImagePresident Biden said the United States had removed 75,900 people since the end of July, two weeks before the Taliban seized Kabul.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe fast-approaching American withdrawal coincided with a threat by the Taliban to stop Afghans from traveling to the airport, which crowds have mobbed for days, under pitiless sun and at risk of brutal attacks by militants. It was an ominous sign that for the thousands of people still desperate to leave, the window may already be slamming shut.The rapidly unfolding developments came as the world leaders pledged unity in the face of the changing landscape in Afghanistan and the C.I.A. director met secretly with the Taliban’s leader. But the flurry of diplomacy failed to alter a harrowing dynamic: The Taliban are tightening their grip, the Americans are leaving and the options for countries scrambling to extract their citizens and Afghan allies are dwindling.Even though the pace of evacuations has accelerated in recent days, the number of people airlifted out is well below the total number of Americans, foreign citizens and Afghan allies who are trying to leave the country. And the timetable for civilian evacuations is probably significantly shorter than a week.The Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, said it would take several days to remove all of the 5,800 troops who are securing Kabul’s airport, as well as their equipment. At some point in the coming days, the military’s focus will shift from evacuations to the drawdown.As crowds continued to throng the airport, the Taliban sought to assert their authority over a country they conquered in lightning fashion. A spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Taliban militants would block Afghans from the airport for their own safety and reiterated that the United States must leave by Aug. 31.“The road that ends at the Kabul airport has been blocked,” Mr. Mujahid said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Foreigners can go through it, but Afghans are not allowed to take the road.”For the first time, the Taliban warned women to stay off the streets and not to go to their jobs — also ostensibly for their own safety and only as a temporary measure. It was a chilling portent of the harsh repression that the Taliban imposed on women and girls the last time they ruled Afghanistan.“We are worried our forces, who are new and have not yet been trained very well, may mistreat women,” Mr. Mujahid said. “Until we have a new procedure, they should stay home. They won’t be counted as absent, and their salaries will be paid in their homes.”ImageZabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said Taliban militants would block Afghans from the airport for their own safety and reiterated that the United States must leave by Aug. 31.Credit...Jim Huylebroek for The New York TimesThe White House has conducted its own outreach to the Taliban, dispatching the C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, to Kabul this week for talks with the Taliban leadership, according to American officials familiar with his visit.Mr. Burns, a longtime diplomat who conducted secret nuclear talks with Iran during theBy: Mark Landler and Michael D. Shear
Title: Biden Sticks to Afghan Deadline, Resisting Pleas to Extend Evacuation
Sourced From: www.nytimes.com/2021/08/24/world/asia/biden-afghanistan-withdrawal-evacuation.html
Published Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2021 00:06:01 +0000
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