Taliban warning: don’t extend ‘red line’ August 31 withdrawal deadline

The Taliban has told western forces that there will be consequences if they seek to extend the ‘red line’ August 31 deadline to withdraw.

Taliban fighters in a vehicle patrol the streets of Kabul. Picture: AFP

The Taliban has told western forces that there will be consequences if they seek to extend the “red line” August 31 deadline to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Monday: “It’s a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that.”

He added: “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences. It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction.”

Britain, France and Germany were pushing the United States to extend their presence in Kabul to allow more time for locals to get through the Taliban checkpoints surrounding the airport and board refugee evacuation flights.

A G7 emergency meeting on Tuesday afternoon London time is expected to put pressure on US president Joe Biden to keep the US military presence for a few more days or weeks.

Britain was planning for a final round of airlifts tomorrow if the US can’t or won’t extend the deadline, so that there is enough time to remove the 1000 British troops and embassy staff still on the ground.

Mr Biden has so far hedged his bets, saying he hopes not to to have to extend the current deadline and vowed that any American who wants to get home will get home.

Western allies are continuing to airlift vulnerable Afghans from Kabul despite continuing mayhem outside the airport gates. One man was shot dead in return fire from German and US military officers overnight Monday.

There have also been coordinated efforts to extract people who have papers to leave, with the military organising special bus pickup points in the city.

German special forces even conducted an early morning operation to extract a German teenager and her family from outside of the airport cordon yesterday.

But the UK defence minister Ben Wallace warned there were only “hours not weeks” left as the UK scheduled nine emergency flights from Kabul on Tuesday.

“I don’t think there is any likelihood of staying on after the United States,” Mr Wallace said.

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

The UK has moved more than 6000 people and hopes to get 12,000 out before leaving Kabul.

The US has also intensified its airlifts, with 10,400 people on flights that left overnight Sunday.