Western nations fought on Friday to accelerate the pace of evacuations from Afghanistan after reports of retaliation from the Taliban, as US President Joe Biden insisted that the chaos that followed the withdrawal of US troops it had not diminished Washington's international credibility. Faced with a torrent of criticism https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bidens-afghanistan-policy-counts-issue-fading-importance-war-weary-americans-2021-08-20 at home and in the Foreigner for his Biden said that as many Americans as they wanted would be evacuated and that about 18,000 people had been airlifted since July.
"I have not seen any doubts about our credibility from our allies," Biden told reporters after delivering a speech from the White House. "... I haven't seen that. In fact, the exact opposite I have ... we are acting fast, we are acting, committing ourselves to what we said we would do." US evacuation flights from Kabul airport had stopped for more than six hours on Friday as US authorities searched for countries willing to accept people fleeing Afghanistan, but resumed later that day.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described the situation outside Kabul airport as "very serious and difficult" as several member countries lobbied for evacuations to continue beyond Biden's August 31 deadline. Biden said he could not predict what the end result would be in Afghanistan, where the United States has already led a 20-year war with its allies. But he promised to work with other countries to establish "tough conditions" for any cooperation or recognition from the Taliban, based on their human rights record.
"They are looking to gain some legitimacy, they are going to have to figure out how they are going to retain that country," he said. "And there will be some tough conditions, tough conditions that we will apply that will depend on ... how well you treat women and girls, how you treat your citizens." Thousands of Afghans desperate with papers, children and some belongings packed into the Kabul airport, where armed Taliban members urged those without travel documents to return home. In and around the https://tmsnrt.rs/3stVpcj airport, at least 12 people have died since Sunday, NATO and Taliban officials said.
Former government officials told heartbreaking stories about how they hid from the Taliban as gunmen went door to door. A family of 16 described running to the bathroom, with the lights off and the children's mouths covered, fearing for their lives https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/cowering-bathroom-some-afghans- dread-taliban-knock-door-2021-08-20 with the militants at their doorstep. "Those who may be in danger do not have a clear way out," said the spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Shabia Mantoo, urging neighboring countries to keep their borders open.
The speed with which the Islamist group conquered Afghanistan, while foreign troops withdrew, surprised even its own leaders and left power voids. Biden reiterated his claim that the Afghan army, financed and armed by the United States, was expected to put up more resistance.
"The overwhelming consensus was that ... (the Afghan government forces) weren't going to collapse. The Afghan forces, they weren't going to leave. They weren't just going to give up, lay down their weapons and take off," Biden said. The Taliban called for unity, asking imams in Friday prayers to persuade people not to leave. Residents of Kabul and four other cities said attendance was low, although prayers were uneventful.
PROTESTS, "DESPITE A TALIBAN GUN" A witness said several people were killed in the eastern city of Asadabad on Thursday when the Taliban fired on a protest. There were similar displays of defiance in two other eastern cities, Jalalabad and Khost, coinciding with the celebrations of Afghanistan's independence in 1919 from British control.
"The Taliban are facing the new reality in Afghanistan that Afghans are not the same Afghans as 20 years ago," Barakat Rahmati, Afghanistan's deputy ambassador to Qatar, told Reuters. "Afghans, including men and women, held protests in Kabul despite the fact that a Taliban gun was pointed at them. They are holding protests against injustice. They are defending their identity and their flag."
The US State Department announced that nearly a dozen countries, from Europe to the Middle East, would allow flights to land with people evacuated from Kabul. In Britain, the media said several top officials were on vacation when the debacle broke out and that spy chiefs could face questioning for intelligence failures. Chancellor Dominic Raab https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/uks-raab-defends-response-afghanistan-crisis-says-reporting-inaccurate-2021-08-20 responded that the government had been working "tirelessly" in evacuations.
Germany said on Friday it would send helicopters to help, amid reports that one of its citizens had been injured. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that other countries should not impose their own values. Beijing https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/senior-chinese-diplomat-says-afghanistan-should-not-be-geopolitical-battleground-2021-08-19, too, said the world should support, not pressure, Afghanistan.
The Taliban ruled with an iron fist between 1996 and 2001, enforcing a harsh version of Islamic law, before being toppled by US-led forces for harboring al Qaeda militants behind the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. On this occasion they seek to present a more moderate face.
The group said it wants peace https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-show-conciliatory-face-first-kabul-news-conference-2021-08-17, will not take revenge on the enemies and will respect women's rights https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/times-have-changed-some-afghan-women-defiant-taliban-return-2021-08-17 within the Islamic law. There are immediate fears for the Afghan economy, with the slowdown in foreign aid and subsidies, funds and assets trapped abroad, and the prediction of a decline in GDP. Hundreds of bureaucrats are unpaid for two months, a Taliban official said.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
