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Afghanistan: Evacs hit single-day high; CIA director meets Taliban leader

by News Desk August 24, 2021

President Biden has declined to extend the August 31 deadline at the G7 meeting after being pressed to think otherwise. He has reportedly made the decision after consulting his national security team.

G7 leaders have told the Taliban to allow a safe passage to Afghans wishing to leave the country even after the August 31 deadline.

This comes after the Taliban spokesperson in a press conference earlier today showed his displeasure over Afghans leaving the country and also highlighted the Taliban mood on this development. He said they won’t allow any Afghans to leave the country, but also reiterated that they have all been forgiven.

The Taliban have already held checkpoints that lead to the airport and only those with foreign passports, green cards and visas are allowed to get through.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia is closely monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and has no plans to get involved militarily. Russia had also declined to mediate between the Northern Alliance resistance and the Taliban in a deadlock at the Panjsher Valley.

Northern Alliance and Anti-Taliban Resistance forces captured three districts leading to their stronghold and announced their desire to peacefully reach to an agreement but also warned they were ready to fight if needed. Since then, the Taliban sent their fighters and surrounded the Valley while retaking the district they had lost. Nothing much has been heard and if the talks fail then violence can erupt at any time.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby has said US forces can destroy weapons and other military equipment from the Kabul airport before finally leaving the premises.

Since there are no Afghan forces left and the Afghan intelligence squad that has been working at the airport is unlikely to be trusted, US military might destroy their equipment that they would have otherwise left behind. After Afghan forces surrendered before the Taliban throughout the country, millions of rounds of ammunition, thousands of weapons, hundreds of aircrafts went into the hands of the Taliban.

Approximately 4 million people displaced in Afghanistan, according to the UN.

The organization has urged the Taliban to ensure the safety and rights of young girls and women, and also safeguard the international commitments they made on protecting human rights.

The G7 leaders are discussing whether or not to recognize the Taliban government after they forcefully took over Afghanistan and created one of the worst humanitarian crisis. However, they did go on to pardon everyone, including their adversaries and those who worked against them with foreign forces.

Other reports highlighted the wrongs done by the Taliban after their promises of forgiveness, but as the deadline is growing close and with China already trying to woo the Taliban, G7 leaders and the rest of the World is under pressure to either stay in a future market that China might get control over with the help of other neighbors, or go harsh on the Taliban in order to get them to be lenient towards women and young girls.

So far no country has announced to recognize the Taliban government, but China along with other regional players has hinted towards keeping close relations with the Taliban, eyeing the lithium mines and other precious metals that the they would have control over.

China, like most regional players is waiting for another country to make the first move in terms of recognizing the Taliban government. Siding with the Taliban first could be fatal at this point as the appearance of more resistances would sabotage their interest and security, and make the Xinjiang region even more volatile. Not recognizing the Taliban government soon enough is another gamble as they won’t forget and the relations would be poor or strictly business to business after much scrutiny.

All regional players want to go smooth with the Taliban, but they forget that once in power the Taliban too would have an interest. Afghanistan’s interest. Fearing this, all regional players are trying to control that from happening, while getting what they want done from the Taliban before they develop that sense.

CIA Director William Burns met with a top Taliban leader on Monday as US allies are seemingly going to ask Biden to extend the August 31 deadline which the Taliban have already objected.

The secret meeting was first reported by The Washington Post, and Mullah Baradar, the Taliban co-founder and deputy leader represented them. It was also the the first direct talks held between the US and the Taliban since the latter reached and captured Kabul in under 10 days. The meeting has said to have brought a broad set of issues to the table and also brought both the US and the Taliban towards an understanding relating to the evacuation process and its supposed extension.

The United States military has evacuated 12,700 people from Afghanistan, this being another single-day record as evacuations have picked up pace since the August 31 deadline is edging closer.

Close to 64,000 people have been evacuated so far since July and 12,700 a day is so far the highest number of single-day evacuations by the US military.

The pace is a stark increase from the Biden Administration’s assessments as the G7 members are looking to Biden under pressure in hopes of getting him to extend the August 31 deadline.