It is a race against the clock for the United States, as well as its allies, in the increasingly chaotic and deadly attempt to evacuate civilians from Taliban-held Afghanistan, with the EU warning that it may be “impossible” to get everyone out in time.
Thousands were trying to leave Afghanistan six days after the Taliban took power, in what has been labeled one of the most perilous airlifts in history. People are dying as they wait hours and days in the heat and crowds outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, which is controlled by the United States of America.
At least three bodies wrapped in white tarpaulins were filmed outside the airport. Nobody knew what had happened to them or how they had perished. The video was the latest in a string of heart-breaking images, including a baby being lifted over a wall at the airport and people clinging to boarding planes.
Children and their parents were squeezed between a barbed wire that encircled an unofficial no man’s land that separated the Taliban from American troops. As a result of heavy traffic, the roads leading to the airport were congested.
John Kirby Pentagon spokesman indicated a feeling of urgency as the military plans to complete the evacuations by August 31. He said that he is aware that they are all fighting against time and space.
According to the chief of the European Union Policy, Josep Borrell, the US wishes to evacuate almost 60,000 people by the end of this month (August) which is practically and mathematically impossible.
Due to potential security dangers around the airport, the United States recommended its citizens still in Afghanistan stay away from the airport unless otherwise instructed. Afterward, a White House official confirmed that Biden’s aides had briefed him on “counterterrorism operations” in Afghanistan, including those against the Islamic State group, which is still active in Kabul.
The Pentagon on Saturday (21 August) said that 17,000 people have been taken out including 2,500 Americans, since the operation began on August 14.
On Saturday (21 August), the Taliban leaders gathered themselves outside the airport to begin an inclusive government. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of the group is in Kabul to have government talks.
Panjshir Valley
The only holdout against the Taliban is the steep Panjshir Valley. This week, the son of Panjshir’s late anti-Taliban commander, Ahmad Shah Massoud, called for a new resistance movement.
Pro-Taliban social media feeds shared a video of Khalil Haqqani of the Haqqani network claiming Massoud’s kid had “expressed allegiance” to the new Islamic emirate on Saturday. However, Massoud has not issued a remark.
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, on Saturday (21 August) who led Britain and the United States into Afghanistan in 2001, called the US withdrawal’s motivations “imbecilic” and “motivated not by grand strategy but by politics.”
The Taliban have sworn to run the country differently than they did from 1996 to 2001 when they were notorious for their ultra-fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, and they have committed not to seek vengeance on Afghans who cooperated with the US-backed government.
