According to Reuters, the Taliban have asked Turkey for technical help in running the airport after the departure of foreign forces, but has said the country cannot have any military presence. Turkey said it would start withdrawing the last few hundred soldiers it has posted at the airport. Russia evacuated more than 500 people on four military planes on Wednesday – its first airlift operation since evacuations began, which marks a shift in Russia’s stance on Afghanistan. She added that Germany would “continue the evacuation operation for as long as possible,” without specifying when operations would end.Ġ0:55 Afghanistan evacuations enter ‘most hectic, dangerous phase’ – video ![]() ![]() “That the overall deployment literally stands and falls with the stance of the militarily strongest member of the alliance, the US, was always clear to us,” German chancellor Angela Merkel said in a speech to parliament on Wednesday. Other European nations, including American allies Germany and the UK, had pressed for a longer window but Biden’s decision to stick to the 31 August deadline left them with no choice but to plan according to the deadline. Belgium, Poland and Czech Republic have already ended evacuations from Kabul.įrance’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, indicated it was “very probable” that its operations to evacuate its citizens and partners would end on Thursday. “They have a responsibility to hold to that commitment and provide safe passage for anyone who wishes to leave the country,” Blinken told reporters.īut US allies who were part of the coalition in Afghanistan have been winding up their own evacuations. Washington said the Taliban had made assurances that Americans, “at-risk” Afghans and people from other nations would be allowed to leave even after Tuesday’s deadline for US troops to depart. “It’s 100% up to the Afghans to take these risks and try to fight their way out,” said Sunil Varghese, policy director with the International Refugee Assistance Project.Īt least 20 people have died in desperate scrambles in and around the airport, as many continue to question why evacuations were not better planned for. On Wednesday, several of the Americans working phones and pulling strings to get out former Afghan colleagues, women’s advocates, journalists and other vulnerable Afghans told the Associated Press they had seen little concrete US action so far to get those Afghans past Taliban checkpoints and through US-controlled airport gates to promised evacuation flights. Untold thousands of at-risk Afghans, however, still are struggling to get into the airport. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that as many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan, a figure that suggests the US may accomplish its highest priority for the Kabul airlift – rescuing US citizens– ahead of President Joe Biden’s deadline of Tuesday next week, despite growing concerns about terror threats targeting the airport. Securing passengers for the huge military transport planes Washington and its allies have been flying out of the airport every day has become an increasingly difficult and desperate task, as crowds, including distraught families, struggle to access the Taliban-ringed airport. The diplomat said evacuation flights would pick up on Thursday after slowing down on Wednesday. New Zealand’s foreign affairs ministry also announced on Thursday morning that the country was no longer accepting applications from Afghan nationals for resettlement in New Zealand.Įarly on Thursday, hours after the warnings, huge crowds continued to throng the gates of the airport, an unnamed western diplomat at the airport told Reuters. ![]() Wellington officials added: “The window to evacuate people out of Afghanistan is rapidly closing, and we cannot assist all those we are seeking to evacuate.” ![]() Wallace, in a briefing to MPs, also signalled there were few places left on British rescue flights, which have evacuated more than 11,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan less than two weeks ago.Įarlier, UK defence sources voiced particular concerns about the risk of a suicide bombing by the group Isis-K, an Islamic State-affiliated group.Īustralia and New Zealand issued identical guidance to the UK Foreign Office. The British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said earlier that Afghans who want to flee to the UK may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation. It added: “if you can leave Afghanistan safely by other means, you should do so immediately”. If you are in the area of the airport, move away to a safe location and await further advice.” Do not travel to Kabul Hamid Karzai international airport. On Wednesday night the UK Foreign Office urged people not to travel to the airport, saying: “There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attack.
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