As the clock runs down on a spectacular airlift of people escaping Taliban rule ahead of a full American exit, Poland and Belgium terminated their evacuations from Afghanistan, while other European governments vowed Wednesday to continue for as long as possible.
President Joe Biden stated he will meet his August 31 timetable for completing the US pullout, as the Taliban demanded, adding to the already dangerous operation of flying people out of Kabul.
European allies pushed for extra time but were unsuccessful, and they may be obliged to stop their evacuations before the last American troops leave. Several countries have not stated when they plan to cease their operations, maybe in the hopes of avoiding another deadly crash at an airport, which is one of the country's last exit points.
Nearly 20 years after being ejected in a US-led invasion in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, which al-Qaida plotted while being harbored by the group, the Taliban reclaimed control of Afghanistan. Many Afghans have fled the nation as a result of their return to power, fearing retaliation or a return to the terrible rule they established when they last ruled the country.
Thousands of individuals are believed to be attempting to flee, and it is unclear whether they will all be able to do so before the end of the month. However, if Biden decides to remain longer, combat between the Taliban and the Western troops in charge of the airlift could resurface.
“These evacuations are a true race against time due to extreme tension on the ground... and the scheduled departure of American forces,” French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday. He predicted that his country's evacuation would be completed "a few hours, maybe a few days" before the Americans.
When the Taliban take control of the airport after August 31, they stated they would allow normal commercial aviation traffic to resume, but it's uncertain whether airlines would be willing to fly into a Taliban-controlled airport.
With the deadline looming, Poland's deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, announced on Wednesday that the country has evacuated its final batch after conferring with US and British officials.
“After a thorough review of the security situation, we can no longer risk the lives of our diplomats and soldiers,” Przydacz added.
According to Przydacz, a contingent of troops will remain for a short time to wind up operations. Over a dozen planes have been utilized by Poland to transport hundreds of evacuees to Warsaw. Others went on to visit other nations.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced hours later that the country's evacuation flights from Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, to Pakistan had come to a stop. He tweeted that the government made the decision “in light of the evolving situation in Afghanistan and in consultation with its European partners.”
In the days ahead, De Croo stated, “Belgium will continue to repatriate to our country those people who were evacuated.” In recent days, more than 1,100 people have been airlifted to Belgium.
Last week, the Czech Republic proclaimed its own evacuation mission complete, and Hungary announced that it will cease operations soon.
Around 19,000 individuals were evacuated from Kabul in the last 24 hours, according to the White House. Since the Taliban took possession in mid-August, the US has evacuated or assisted in the evacuation of about 82,300 civilians, according to the report.
As many as 1,500 Americans may be awaiting evacuation, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, implying that a portion of the US-led airlift could be completed by Tuesday's deadline. When the airlift began on Aug. 14, the State Department estimated that around 6,000 Americans wanted to leave Afghanistan, and about 4,500 of them have been evacuated so far, according to Blinken.
The military would “continue to evacuate needed populations all the way to the end,” according to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby. But, he warned, there would have to be a balance in the final days and hours, as the 5,400 troops in Kabul and critical systems must also be withdrawn.
Life has been slow to return to normal in Kabul, but many people, particularly women, are remaining inside out of fear of the Taliban or the general insecurity.
Many city workers have yet to return to work, according to Kabul Mayor Dawood Sultanzoy, and normal operations are being hampered by the lack of skilled personnel. He did say, however, that the city has begun to remove the blast walls that have been commonplace in recent years as the Taliban and other armed groups have carried out bombings and other attacks against the Western-backed government.
The Taliban claim that the decades-long conflict is concluded and that there will be no retaliation strikes against anyone who opposes them. Many Afghans, however, hold the Taliban in low regard, and there have been accusations of summary executions and other abuses in Taliban-controlled areas. Many others fear a return to the Taliban's strict Islamic rule in the 1990s when women were generally kept at home.
The world has been riveted by chaos at the Kabul airport since the Taliban conquered most of Afghanistan a couple of days earlier this month. Last week, Afghans surged onto the tarmac, and others clung to a US military transport plane as it took off, eventually dying. A terrified stampede killed at least seven individuals that day, and another seven died the next day.
Thousands of people have flocked to the airport in the days following, and the US and its allies have sought to expedite the evacuation by flying them out before their paperwork is completed and transporting them to transit locations. A group of 51 migrants arrived in Uganda on Wednesday, making it the first African country to serve as a transit stop.
European countries, notably American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pushed for a longer evacuation window. Despite an emergency online summit of the Group of Seven nations, Biden has adhered to the August date.
As a result, European countries had no choice but to meet the deadline.
