UK has 'hours now, not weeks' to evacuate people from Afghanistan

UK has 'hours now, not weeks' to evacuate people from Afghanistan
August 23, 2021, 10:29 am

Ben wallace

According to the BBC, the UK defence secretary has said UK has "hours now, not weeks" to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

Ben Wallace said troops would leave Kabul's airport when the US withdraws, which is due to happen on 31 August.

The BBC reported that Boris Johnson will ask US President Joe Biden at an emergency meeting of G7 world leaders on Tuesday for an extension of that deadline in order to allow more flights.

However, the Taliban doesn't support a deadline extension. According to the spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, an extension would mean extending Afghanistan's occupation, and warned of consequences if that were to change.

According to the BBC, Mr Wallace said he had spoken to his US counterpart and that the American withdrawal "will take away the framework" for the evacuation operations.

"I don't think there is any likelihood of staying on after the United States," he said.

"We are really down to hours now, not weeks. We have to make sure we exploit every minute to get people out."

His comments come after the armed forces minister said it was "not realistic" to replace US forces in time.

According to minister James Heappey, the UK "will get out as many as we possibly can" but there was a "hard reality that we won't be able to get out everybody that we want to".

He said the airlift was not the only route out of Afghanistan, adding there was a "second phase" to the resettlement programme planned for when the UK fully withdraws from Kabul.

Under this phase, Afghans will be able to have resettlement claims processed at refugee camps or UK embassies in countries neighbouring Afghanistan.

Mr Heappey added that the Taliban had been an "effective partner" in the evacuation - but the UK was "taking nothing for granted" with the militants.

It should be noted that the Foreign Office said it had sent five additional members of staff to Kabul to help with the evacuation, bringing the total number of its staff there to 19.

Source: BBC

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