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#Taliban spokesperson warns US President Joe Biden that extending the presence of troops in #Afghanistan beyond the deadline of 31st August would be equivalent to crossing the red line. He also warned that this would create serious repercussions for the west.#Kabul #Panjshir
— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat) August 23, 2021
Harrowing scenes in and around Kabul airport
The rush to leave Kabul has sparked harrowing scenes and left at least eight people dead — some were crushed to death and at least one, a youth football player, died after falling off a plane. The German defence ministry said Monday an Afghan man was killed and three others wounded in a dawn firefight between local guards and unknown assailants.
The Taliban, infamous for an ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law during their 1996-2001 rule, has repeatedly claimed to be different this time and declared an amnesty for government forces and officials.
But an intelligence document for the United Nations said militants were going door-to-door hunting former government officials and those who worked with US and NATO forces. In the capital, the former insurgents have enforced some sense of calm in a city long marred by violent crime, with their fighters patrolling the streets and manning checkpoints.
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With government offices still mostly closed, many Afghans are worried about being paid — but the Taliban announced the appointment of a central bank governor Monday to keep the wheels of finance moving.
The hardliners have also been looking to make their authority visible to all, ensuring the tri-coloured national flag is replaced with their white banner.
Over the weekend in Kabul, young men set up a roadside stand to sell Taliban flags, which bear in the black text the Muslim proclamation of faith and the regime’s formal name: “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”.
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US and allies need ‘Additional time’ for leaving Kabul
While Biden and his top aides, realising the commitment with Taliban, insist the airlift can be completed on time, the European Union and Britain are saying that is impossible.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Prime Minister Boris Johnson would raise the issue at the G7 virtual summit. “If their timetable extends even by a day or two, that will give us a day or two more to evacuate people,” Wallace told reporters in Scotland.
Germany said it was in talks with NATO allies and the Taliban to keep Kabul’s airport open for evacuations beyond August 31, while France said “additional time is needed to complete ongoing operations”.
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“We remain in close touch with allies and partners to coordinate the evacuation of their own citizens and their priority personnel,” Sullivan said at the White House.
Biden and his aides have acknowledged the tragic scenes at the airport, which have included babies and children being passed to soldiers over razor-wire fences and men clinging to the outside of departing planes, but say they are unavoidable.
“There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see,” Biden said Sunday.
A White House official said Monday that 10,900 people were evacuated over the past 12 hours (until 1900 GMT) from Kabul airport, taking to 48,000 the number relocated since the intensified airlift began on August 14.
Resistance against Taliban emerging in Panjshir Valley
Outside Kabul, there have been flickers of resistance against the Taliban.
Some ex-government troops have gathered in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital — long known as an anti-Taliban bastion. There were scattered reports of clashes overnight.
Taliban fighters are “stationed near Panjshir”, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted, adding the group was trying to resolve this issue “peacefully”.
One of the leaders of the movement in Panjshir, named the National Resistance Front, is the son of famed anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The NRF is prepared for a “long-term conflict” but is also still seeking to negotiate with the Taliban about an inclusive government, its spokesman Ali Maisam Nazary told AFP in an interview on the weekend.
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© AFP with additional input from GVS