After G7 leaders failed to convince President Biden to extend the August 31st Afghanistan withdrawal deadline, several G7 countries now say their evacuations will be completed before the end of the month.
A French official said Wednesday that France’s evacuation mission will “very [probably]” end on Thursday, days before August 31st. About 2,000 Afghans have been flown to France, along with 100 French citizens.
The UK, the country that led the charge to pressure Biden to extend the deadline, is also preparing to complete its evacuation mission in the next day or two. British defense officials told the Guardian on Tuesday that the UK’s evacuation operation will be over within “24 to 36 hours” and the last of the British troops will leave by Friday or Saturday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that Germany’s Kabul evacuations will “end in a few days.”
While the European countries are lamenting that they couldn’t evacuate more Afghans, a German diplomat negotiating with the Taliban in Doha said he has received assurances that Afghans with the proper paperwork will be able to board commercial flights after August 31st.
“Director Stanekzai assured me that Afghans with legal documents will continue to have the opportunity to travel on commercial flights after August 31st,” said Ambassador Markus Potzel, referring to Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who heads the Taliban’s political office in Doha.
The Taliban have said they would not allow foreign troops to remain in Kabul after August 31st. Extending the deadline would have only risked a possible escalation, and the US and its allies appear to be on track to complete the evacuation by then. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said since August 14th, 82,300 people have been airlifted out of Kabul, and he estimates that there are 1,500 Americans left.