Afghanistan: UK proposes to US to extend evacuations beyond final withdrawal on 31 August

Madrid, 22 (European Press)

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has suggested that the US extend the Kabul evacuation beyond the deadline for the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, set on August 31.

“Maybe the Americans can stay longer. In that case they will have our full support,” Wallace wrote in a column in the Daily Mail Sunday.

The 900 British soldiers would not be able to continue in Kabul without the support of the 6,000 American soldiers involved in the evacuation missions.

The minister stressed that “no country will be able to get everyone out at the specified time.” “If the calendar set by the United States is maintained to the end, then there is no time to waste to get as many people out of there waiting as possible,” he added.

At least seven people were killed in the past hours in the vicinity of the airport of the Afghan capital amid attempts by residents to leave the country after the occupation of the Taliban, as confirmed this Sunday by the British Ministry of Defense.

“Conditions on the ground are still very difficult, but we are doing our best to manage the situation in the safest way,” the ministry added in a statement compiled by Sky News.

The Ministry of Defense does not provide more information about the circumstances of these deaths, but sources from the “Post” identify at least four dead women, crushed by a human stampede during one of several episodes of the conflict.

Last Saturday, the US Embassy in Afghanistan advised US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport due to “potential security threats”.

That day, thousands of people tried to enter the airport again, frightened by the shots constantly heard around the facility.

Witnesses from Britain’s Sky News spoke of a particularly critical situation, on the “worst day so far” since the evacuations began.

Sources from the chain confirmed at the time that many Afghans waiting in the surrounding areas were already receiving medical care and that the shots in the surrounding areas were the work of military forces clearing the area to “reduce pressure on the front.” .

On Wednesday, 17 people were injured in a stampede at the entrance to the airport, and at least five people were killed on Monday when they stormed runways in an attempt to escape the country at all costs.