Taliban warn of 'consequences' as US ramps up evacuation
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban warned Monday there would be "consequences" if the United States and its allies try to remain in Afghanistan beyond next week, as Washington ramped up its efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of people desperate to flee.
Thousands of troops have poured back into the country to oversee the chaotic airlift of foreigners and Afghans from Kabul airport, and pressure is mounting on US President Joe Biden to extend an August 31 deadline for full withdrawal.
Biden and his Group of Seven counterparts — several of whom are pushing him to leave soldiers at the airport to keep it open — will meet Tuesday, with coordination on Afghanistan and how to handle the hardline Islamist Taliban atop the agenda.
"The goal is to get as many people out as fast as possible," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
"The focus is on trying to do this as best we can, by the end of the month."
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that the White House believes it can get all Americans out by the deadline — but insisted the large majority of those being evacuated each day were Afghan nationals.
So far, the Taliban have shown no willingness to compromise.
Spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News that any foreign military presence beyond the agreed deadline would be "extending occupation".
"If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no... there would be consequences," he said.
The Taliban are currently working on forming a government, but two sources within the movement told AFP there would be no announcements on a cabinet until the last US soldier has left Afghanistan.
Harrowing scenes
The rush to leave Kabul has sparked harrowing scenes and left at least eight people dead — some were crushed to death and at least one, a youth football player, died after falling off a plane.
The German defence ministry said Monday an Afghan man was killed and three others wounded in a dawn firefight between local guards and unknown assailants.
The Taliban, infamous for an ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law during their 1996-2001 rule, have repeatedly claimed to be different this time and declared an amnesty for government forces and officials.
But an intelligence document for the United Nations said militants were going door-to-door hunting former government officials and those who worked with US and NATO forces.
In the capital, the former insurgents have enforced some sense of calm in a city long marred by violent crime, with their fighters patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints.
With government offices still mostly closed, many Afghans are worried about being paid — but the Taliban announced the appointment of a central bank governor Monday to keep the wheels of finance moving.
The hardliners have also been looking to make their authority visible to all, ensuring the tri-coloured national flag is replaced with their white banner.
Over the weekend in Kabul, young men set up a roadside stand to sell Taliban flags, which bear in black text the Muslim proclamation of faith and the regime's formal name: "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan".
'Additional time is needed'
While Biden and his top aides insist the airlift can be completed on time, the European Union and Britain are saying that is impossible.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Prime Minister Boris Johnson would raise the issue at the G7 virtual summit.
"If their timetable extends even by a day or two, that will give us a day or two more to evacuate people," Wallace told reporters in Scotland.
Germany said it was in talks with NATO allies and the Taliban to keep Kabul's airport open for evacuations beyond August 31, while France said "additional time is needed to complete ongoing operations".
"We remain in close touch with allies and partners to coordinate the evacuation of their own citizens and their priority personnel," Sullivan said at the White House.
Biden and his aides have acknowledged the tragic scenes at the airport, which have included babies and children being passed to soldiers over razor-wire fences and men clinging to the outside of departing planes, but say they are unavoidable.
"There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see," Biden said Sunday.
A White House official said Monday that 10,900 people were evacuated over the past 12 hours (until 1900 GMT) from Kabul airport, taking to 48,000 the number relocated since the intensified airlift began on August 14.
Resistance
Outside Kabul, there have been flickers of resistance against the Taliban.
Some ex-government troops have gathered in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital — long known as an anti-Taliban bastion. There were scattered reports of clashes overnight.
Taliban fighters are "stationed near Panjshir", spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, adding the group was trying to resolve this issue "peacefully".
One of the leaders of the movement in Panjshir, named the National Resistance Front, is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The NRF is prepared for a "long-term conflict" but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary told AFP in an interview on the weekend.
Get the latest news as Taliban gains control of Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera/AFP
Afghanistan's supreme leader said Sunday the country's women were being saved from "traditional oppressions" by the adoption of Islamic governance and their status as "free and dignified human beings" restored.
In a statement marking this week's Eid al-Adha holiday, Hibatullah Akhundzada -- who rarely appears in public and rules by decree from the Taliban's birthplace in Kandahar -- said steps had been taken to provide women with a "comfortable and prosperous life according to Islamic Sharia".
The United Nations expressed "deep concern" last week that women were being deprived of their rights under Afghanistan's Taliban government and warned of systematic gender apartheid.
Since returning to power in August 2021, Taliban authorities have stopped girls and women from attending high school or university, banned them from parks, gyms and public baths, and ordered them to cover up when leaving home.
They have also barred them from working for the UN or NGOs, while most female government employees have been dismissed from their jobs or are being paid to stay at home.
However, Akhundzada said "necessary steps have been taken for the betterment of women as half of the society".
"All institutions have been obliged to help women in securing marriage, inheritance and other rights," his statement read. — AFP
UN chief Antonio Guterres will gather international envoys at a secret location in Doha on Monday in an increasingly desperate bid to find ways to influence Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. — AFP
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Thursday calling on Taliban authorities to "swiftly reverse" all restrictive measures against women, condemning in particular its ban on Afghan women working for the United Nations.
The resolution, unanimously adopted by all 15 Council members, said the ban announced in early April "undermines human rights and humanitarian principles."
More broadly, the Council called on the Taliban government to "swiftly reverse the policies and practices that restrict the enjoyment by women and girls of their human rights and fundamental freedoms."
It cited access to education, employment, freedom of movement, and "women's full, equal and meaningful participation in public life."
The Council also urged "all States and organizations to use their influence" to "promote an urgent reversal of these policies and practices." — AFP
G7 foreign ministers on Tuesday demanded the "immediate reversal" of a ban on women in Afghanistan working for non-governmental organisations and the United Nations.
"We call for the immediate reversal of unacceptable decisions restricting human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the latest bans prohibiting Afghan women from working for NGOs and the UN," the top diplomats said in a statement after two days of talks in Japan.
The group also slammed the Taliban authorities' "systematic abuses of human rights of women and girls and discrimination against the members of religious and ethnic minorities".
Taliban authorities triggered international outrage this month after extending a December ban on Afghan women working for non-governmental organisations to include the UN.
They have rejected criticism over the move, saying it is an internal issue that should be "respected by all sides." — AFP
The United Nations is being forced to make an "appalling choice" over whether to continue operations in Afghanistan while the Taliban government bans women from working for the organisation, the world body says.
Under their austere interpretation of Islam, Taliban authorities have imposed a slew of restrictions on Afghan women since seizing power in 2021, including banning them from higher education and many government jobs.
In December, they banned Afghan women from working for domestic and foreign non-governmental organisations, and on April 4 extended that to UN offices across the country.
In a statement Tuesday, the UN mission in Afghanistan said the ban was "unlawful under international law, including the UN Charter, and for that reason the United Nations cannot comply".
"Through this ban, the Taliban de facto authorities seek to force the United Nations into having to make an appalling choice between staying and delivering in support of the Afghan people and standing by the norms and principles we are duty-bound to uphold," it said. — AFP
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