As Taliban warns US to remove all forces, UK wants Biden to extend deadline beyond Aug 31

Britain is requesting the United States to prolong its rescue operation in Kabul past the August 31 deadline which has been decided, claiming that if the Americans do not do so, then the other nations would be forced to halt their own efforts to assist civilians escaping the Taliban control. 

The Group of Seven (G7) leaders from seven different nations namely the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom are going to conduct an emergency summit meeting on Tuesday, headed by the United Kingdom in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to urge President Joe Biden about the evacuation matter.

Reasons behind the UK urging the US to stay beyond the deadline

Certain UK military commanders have suggested that even if the Americans depart, Britain should not remove its soldiers from the Kabul airport to help the evacuation mission go smoothly. However, stating a harsh truth the Defence Minister James Heappey said on Monday that the procedure which the Americans are using to support the evacuation process, there would be no international airlift without like that. 

Tomorrow, whether the US can be convinced to continue the evacuation operation post 31st August or not, is a question for the prime minister at the G-7 meeting, he added. He also said that a Taliban agreement would be required for a prolongation. In the summit, the G7 group of nations will discuss mainly emphasising Afghanistan's long-term future, along with the highlights of the ongoing Kabul evacuations processes.   

US remarks on the Kabul evacuations

On the other hand, Biden hasn't excluded off continuing the airlift past the August 31 date he set before the Taliban's quick seizure of Afghanistan, but he expressed hope that it wouldn't be required. Biden further said that US soldiers had increased the boundary around Hamid Karzai International Airport in order to increase the speed of the evacuation attempts and that the Taliban had agreed to cooperate in the operation. 

On contrary, the UK government officials have stated that there is no definite timeline for the UK's departure, yet, it is believed that without US soldiers on the ground, the remaining coalition forces will be unable to control the region. Over 1,000 British Armed Forces, troops are stationed in Kabul. 

The UK is even looking at the fact that how centres may be established in Afghanistan's neighbouring nations to assist people who have served with British soldiers in getting to the UK after aircraft out of Kabul which isn't longer viable. In the previous ten days, British soldiers have rescued more than 5,700 individuals from Kabul, mostly British nationals and Afghans, with 1,821 individuals during the last 24 hours. 

Meanwhile, UK is urging the US to continue the evacuation, the Taliban warned that there would be repercussions if the US and its partners extended their stay in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. A Taliban spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen said on Sky News that If the United States or the United Kingdom wanted more time to continue evacuations, their answer is no.

(Image Credit: AP)