Boris Johnson, the British Prime Minister, is set to persuade US President Joe Biden to keep American troops in Afghanistan until the August 31 pullout date, but the Taliban have said they will not accept any extension.
According to briefings to journalists by No. 10 Downing Street, Johnson would press the American president for extra time to evacuate during an emergency summit of G7 countries on Tuesday. The meeting takes place as tens of thousands of people assemble around Kabul airport in a last-ditch effort to flee Taliban authority.
Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, told Sky News that the deadline constituted a "red line."
“If the United States or the United Kingdom wanted more time to continue evacuations, the answer is no,” he said. “Or there would be repercussions.”
The presence of US soldiers and Taliban cooperation, according to British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, made evacuations possible.
“If there is no way to extend [the deadline] — either because there isn't an international appetite for it or, more likely, because the Taliban won't let us — then we need to stick to our plans to leave by August 31,” he told BBC Breakfast.
Britain's Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said late Sunday that the Americans have already been invited to stay longer. “One thing I think we've all learned in the last week or so is that the timelines we plan around aren't always completely in our control. The more time we have, the more people we can evacuate, and that's what we're aiming for,” he said on BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.
Biden stated on Sunday that talks about extending the US military presence in Afghanistan are underway, but that “our hope is that we won't have to.” The US has already stated that it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of August. He went on to say that US forces had increased the perimeter surrounding Kabul airport to help with evacuations and that the Taliban had cooperated.
Afghanistan will be the exclusive focus of the G7 summit. The United Kingdom will also push other G7 countries to consider imposing penalties on the Taliban if they continue to violate human rights or allow Afghanistan to become a refuge for terrorists.
