Taliban warns of ‘consequences’ if US delays withdrawing its troops

Bloomberg

The US military is speaking with the Taliban several times a day, as the group warn of “consequences” if the US delays withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan past an end of month
deadline.
“It’s a red line,” Qatar-based Taliban spokesman and negotiator Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Sky News. If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations “the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” he added.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will push US President Joe Biden to delay the departure of US troops beyond the deadline to allow for more and safer evacuations of foreign nationals and their Afghan staff, a person familiar with the matter said.
Johnson has called for a virtual meeting of Group of Seven leaders on Tuesday to discuss the crisis. Biden has hinted the US may extend the deadline as Americans struggle to reach Kabul’s
airport.
On the ground, some militants wanted by Islamabad have been freed from jail in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s interior minister said. The
militants are from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that has previously carried out attacks in Pakistan. And an Iranian official said Afghan local officials have asked traders to increase supplies of fuel as they grapple with a spike in gasoline prices triggered by the Taliban’s seizure of power.
American military officials are talking with the Taliban “several times a day” to coordinate evacuation efforts at the Kabul airport, according to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.
Operations at the airport “does involve communication and de-conflication with the Taliban,” Kirby said, adding that US officials have seen the statements from the Taliban about August 31 being a “red line” for the group.
“I think we all understand that view,” Kirby said, declining to comment about extending the deadline beyond saying that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden will discuss options when the time comes.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the government in Berlin is holding talks with the US and Turkey to plan for extending civilian operations at Kabul airport after the departure of US troops to enable further evacuations. This includes current negotiations with the Taliban.
Maas said an early-morning firefight that killed an Afghan security personnel and involved German troops showed how dangerous the situation at the airport is.
“The situation at the airport has only grown more chaotic over the last few hours,” Maas told reporters in Berlin on Monday. “The situation remains dangerous.”
US military flights have evacuated approximately 10,400 people from Kabul in the past 24 hours, a White House official said. In addition, 61 coalition aircraft evacuated approximately 5,900 people.
The UK has evacuated 1,821 people in eight flights from Kabul over the past 24 hours, with nine more flights planned over the next day, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told ITV’s Good Morning Britain show.