WASHINGTON: US president Joe Biden sticks to withdrawal deadline as Taliban asks Washington to stop urging highly skilled Afghans to leave.
About 16,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, according to the Pentagon, as US troops lead an increasingly desperate effort to airlift thousands more before the Taliban’s ‘red line’ for Western forces to leave the country.
President Biden said Washington is on pace to finish evacuations from Afghanistan by August 31, but left open the chance of extending the deadline, saying reaching that goal depends on cooperation from the country’s new Taliban rulers.
“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Biden said at the White House on Tuesday. “Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”
US forces have helped evacuate 70,700 people since August 14, he said.
In Kabul, the Taliban said earlier on Tuesday that all foreign evacuations from the country must be completed by August 31.
A spokesman for the group also urged Washington to stop taking “Afghan experts” such as engineers and doctors out of the country.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile said the Group of Seven nations will not recognize a Taliban government unless it guarantees people can leave the country if they wish, both before and after the August deadline.
Read more: Taliban warns of ‘consequences’ if US delays troop withdrawal
