Courtesy: Twitter
Taliban spokesman
NEW YORK (77WABC) – “The United States should not encourage the evacuation of Afghan citizens. We need our citizens.” That is what Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, spoke to reporters regarding the U-S withdrawal. Mujahid said his group would also accept “no extensions” to the deadline.
“This was already not according to the agreement,” Mujahid said Tuesday regarding the latest deadline. “They have opportunity, they [US] have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them.” The U.S. has so far evacuated thousands of Afghans, with a particular focus on the special immigrant visa applicants.
Tuesday about the U.S. withdrawal deadline of Aug. 31. Despite the evacuation process ramping up, many more people still need to be evacuated, and President Joe Biden has said he’s contemplating extending the deadline. The Taliban, however, has vowed not to let that happen.
CIA Director William Burns met with the Taliban’s leader Ghani Baradar in Kabul recently regarding the evacuation of Americans and its allies from the region. The meeting between the Taliban and CIA is the first high-level contact it’s had since the Taliban took over.
President Biden told world leaders during a meeting of the Group of 7 nations that he is aiming to get American troops out of Afghanistan by his Aug. 31 deadline but cited a threat as to sticking to the August 31st deadline. Biden added that there was still a possibility of extending the evacuation mission.
“We are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid adds it would be a “violation” of the agreement to allow evacuations of foreign nationals beyond 31 August
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— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2021
