Chaos in Kabul: Biden does not rule out longer deployments

A week after the Taliban came to power, the situation in Afghanistan remains chaotic. Dramatic scenes take place at Kabul Airport. This could also delay the withdrawal of the Americans.

US President Joe Biden continues to hope to end the deployment of troops to rescue tens of thousands of people from Kabul on August 31st. In a speech in the White House, Biden said that he “hoped” that he would “not have to extend” the deployment at the Afghan capital’s airport. Biden did not rule out an extension of the mission. If allies ask the US government for an extension, “we’ll see what we can do,” said the president.

Biden has come under massive criticism for the return of the radical Islamic Taliban to power after he ordered the withdrawal of almost all US troops from Afghanistan. The USA and other Western countries are currently frantically trying to get their own citizens and Afghan local staff and families from Afghanistan to safety.

Biden said US forces and their coalition partners have flown nearly 28,000 people out of Kabul since the US evacuation mission began on August 14. Around 11,000 people were recently brought to safety via the airlift within 36 hours. But the president warned: “We still have a long way to go and a lot can go wrong.” Biden called the scenes at the airport “heartbreaking”. At the same time, he emphasized that the evacuation of thousands of people from Kabul would always have been “hard and painful”, regardless of when it began.

US government commits civil airlines to help

The situation at the airport is still chaotic. According to the German Brigadier General Jens Arlt, word got around among the people seeking refuge that some gates to the airport were initially closed for security reasons. But this small sign of slight relaxation is just a snapshot. The German embassy warns against coming to the airport: “At the moment it is generally safer to stay at home or in a sheltered place.” But thousands of Afghans are still trying to get out of the country.

During the evacuation of the German armed forces, another plane with 213 people in need of protection landed on board from Kabul in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Bundeswehr announced this on Monday night on “Twitter”. The A400M military transporter had brought relief supplies to Kabul Airport on the outbound flight. The Bundeswehr had previously flown out more than 2,500 people since the start of their evacuation campaign. Among them were about 1,850 Afghans, according to the Foreign Office on Sunday evening. In addition, more than 270 Germans and several hundred people from other countries were flown out.

As before, it is important for the western states to fly out as many of their citizens and local employees as possible as quickly as possible. Time is running out, which is why the US Department of Defense has now also asked civil airlines in the US for support. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin activated the first stage of a program in which he applied for 18 aircraft, the Pentagon announced.

Many aid organizations want to stay

Around 60 different nations are represented in Kabul. In order to ease the situation at Kabul airport, they are now looking for other ways to be able to fly people out. Everything in coordination with the Taliban, say the USA. Afghans are now supposed to gather elsewhere in the city in order to then get to the airport premises by helicopter or armored vehicles.

However, not all of the 150 international support organizations want to leave the country. Most of them want to stay – of the UN organizations even all of them – with around 300 foreign employees and around 3,000 local staff. Samantha Mort from UNICEF in Kabul said: “The Taliban have already asked us if we would like to stay and we want to. There are more than half a million internally displaced persons in the country. Half of the country needs humanitarian aid. We still need here the support of the international community. “

G7 meeting on Afghanistan on Tuesday

Next Tuesday they want to discuss the explosive situation in Afghanistan with the G7 countries. This was announced by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Britain currently chairs the group of leading western industrial nations. In addition to Germany and Great Britain, it also includes France, Italy, Canada, Japan and the USA. It is crucial that the international community work together to ensure safe evacuations and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, said Johnson.

According to the Defense Department, the British armed forces have flown 5,725 people from Afghanistan since August 13. More than 1,000 British military personnel are currently deployed in Kabul.

Taliban want to take over Pandjir

Meanwhile, the Taliban are planning to take over the last Afghan province that is not yet under their control. According to the Russian ambassador in Kabul, they are ready to negotiate with their opponents in Punjir. Ambassador Dmitri Zhirnov said on Russian state television that the Taliban had asked him to deliver a message to the leaders and the people of the Punjir Valley. The Taliban hoped to “find a peaceful solution to the situation, for example through a political agreement. The Taliban do not want bloodshed and are ready for dialogue.” Amrullah Saleh, who was Vice President of Afghanistan before the Taliban came to power and who now sees himself as the rightful president after President Ashraf Ghani’s flight, tweeted on Sunday evening German time that the Taliban had gathered forces near the access to Pandjir.

The province of Punjir could not be conquered by the Taliban during their first rule between 1996 and 2001. In addition to the bitter resistance of the Northern Alliance, this was also due to the geographical location – the entrance to the valley is narrow and easy to defend. While the Islamists have brought all other provinces under their control in the past few months, there have been only isolated attacks on Punjir.

With information from Silke Diettrich, ARD Studio New Delhi