Biden news live G7 allies to pressure president on Afghanistan withdrawal deadline

Afghanistan: Extension to the evacuation deadline 'unlikely', defence secretary Ben Wallace admits

Joe Biden is under pressure to extend the presence of American armed forces in Afghanistan as allied nations rush to help people escape the Taliban.

Following the rapid collapse of the Afghan military and government, which his administration failed to foresee, Mr Biden will face demands from the UK, France and others to hold Kabul airport past 31 August and allow further evacuation flights.

A G7 virtual summit is due to take place today, after which the president will give an address on the crisis.

Show latest update 1629794018Inside the UK’s evacuation operation

Safi Abdullah Hidaytullah, a 67-year-old retired academic seated on one of the UK’s evacuation flights, says he is unlikely to ever see Afghanistan again.

“I am sad about that, but I am glad that young people are getting away. They’ll have no life here with what is going to happen with the Taliban â€" they look to the past, not the future. That is their way.”

The Independent’s defence correspondent Kim Sengupta talks to him and other Afghans, as well as British soldiers working on evacuations from Kabul airport.

Here is his report:

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 09:331629793231French evacuations to stop when US withdraws

The French government has confirmed that its evacuation efforts in Kabul will stop when the US withdraws.

This comes after British politicians likewise acknowledged that UK troops will not remain without American support.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 09:201629792511Scenes at Kabul airport

Here’s journalist Charlie Faulkner with an update from Kabul airport on Tuesday:

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 09:081629791726Deploying more troops to Afghanistan ‘not the solution', says defence secretary

Flying thousands more British troops to Kabul airport is not the answer, defence secretary Ben Wallace has said.

The Tory frontbencher told the BBC: “It’s not about effectively whether I could fly in thousands of troops and secure the airport. Yes, I could do that, I could probably secure the airport for a few months, or maybe a year or two.

“But for what purpose? For them to be shot at, attacked, people not to get to the airport and to trigger just a permanent fight? I don’t think that is a solution.”

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 08:551629790561Taliban would have to agree to evacuation extension, says Tugendhat

The Taliban and not just the US would need to back an extension of the evacuation deadline, the chair of the foreign affairs committee has said.

Tory MP Tom Tugendhat, who served as an army officer in Afghanistan, stressed that the British operation in Afghanistan would end when the US withdraws.

“We can ask the Americans if they’re willing to stand with us. If they’re not then we can’t secure the perimeter and we can’t manage air traffic control, so if the Americans decide to go now I’m afraid that is it. But we can ask,” he said.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 08:361629789130PM needs to ‘step up’ after years of ‘trashing alliances’, says Nandy

Boris Johnson needs to “step up” in Afghanistan and the region after years of “trashing our alliances”, the shadow foreign secretary has said.

Speaking about the situation in Afghanistan, Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast that the government must do more to help.

The Labour frontbencher said that the UK should support countries in the region like Pakistan, which are “seeing huge numbers of people crossing the border at the moment”.

“To keep those borders open we need the world’s wealthiest countries to step up and say, ‘We will support you, this will not be your problem alone when this refugee crisis is over’,” she added.

She said the G7 talks later matter because “this group of countries alone can make that commitment”.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 08:121629788257Boris Johnson to chair G7 on Afghanistan crisis

Boris Johnson will chair a G7 meeting later today on the Afghanistan crisis.

“I will ask our friends and allies to stand by the Afghan people and step up support for refugees and humanitarian aid,” he said.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 07:571629787231Evacuations being conducted on ‘war footing’, says Nato diplomat

Evacuations from Kabul airport are being conducted on a “war footing”, with a week to go until a US troop withdrawal deadline, a Nato diplomat has said.

The unnamed official also told Reuters that situation was calmer than it has been outside the airport, but added that better crowd control was still needed.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 07:401629786523Evacuation extension ‘unlikely’, admits British defence secretary

It is “unlikely” that the evacuations from Kabul will be extended beyond the 31 August deadline, the British defence secretary has said.

Speaking to Sky News about the possibility of an extension, Ben Wallace said: “I think it is unlikely. If you look at the public statements of president Biden, I think it is unlikely, but it is definitely worth us all trying and we will.”

He added that the security risk will “go up” as the deadline approaches.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 07:2816297857968,600 people evacuated by UK from Kabul

The UK has evacuated around 8,600 people from Afghanistan in under two weeks as part of Operation Pitting.

Speaking to Sky News, defence minister Ben Wallace admitted that “we’re not going to get everybody out of the country. The good news is however that we’ve evacuated over 2,000 people in the last 24 hours.”

“It means we’ve evacuated 8,600 people since the beginning of this on August 14.”

There are currently 1,000 British troops in the country helping with the evacuations.

The Ministry of Defence said Britain will continue this work as long as the security situation allows.

Rory Sullivan24 August 2021 07:16

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