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New Delhi : Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday (August 24) said they would not agree to an extension of a looming deadline to evacuate Afghans from Kabul airport. He warned Western forces against extending the August 31 deadline for airlifts out of the country. Mujahid also asked the United States to stop evacuating skilled Afghans or face consequences.
“We ask them to stop this process,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul. He also laid out a series of demands during a live broadcast as the US-led troops ramped up operations to get thousands of people out of Kabul. Further, Mujahid said female Afghan government workers should stay home until security conditions in the country improve.
The Taliban spokesman also denied reports that they are conducting house to house searches to find targets for reprisals, saying: “We have forgotten everything in the past.” Mujahid repeated that the Taliban wanted good diplomatic relations with other countries and wanted foreign embassies to remain open.
This comes after European nations said they would not be able to airlift at-risk Afghans before the 31 August cut-off. The US President Joe Biden had said he would stick to the schedule, but faced growing pressure to negotiate more time for the evacuations. However, the Taliban has warned they would not allow the US to extend the deadline for a complete withdrawal. “They have planes, they have the airport, they should get their citizens and contractors out of here,” said Mujahid.
Earlier, Germany also said Western allies simply cannot fly every Afghan who needs protection out of Kabul before the cut-off date. “Even if (the evacuation) goes on until August 31 or even a few days longer, it will not be enough to allow those who we, or the United States, want to fly out,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Bild TV.
(With inputs from AFP)
