One House Democrat has revealed top U.S. diplomatic and military officials have suggested completing evacuations from Kabul’s chief airport by the August 31 deadline could be too tall a task.
The Hill reports:
“There has been and remains an overwhelming bipartisan consensus that this cannot be done by August 31,” Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee who served as a senior State Department official during the Obama administration, said following a classified briefing for House lawmakers. Malinowski said the officials who briefed the lawmakers, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, indicated the Aug. 31 deadline was unrealistic. He said Blinken, Austin and Milley are “being very candid actually. The practical problem is — and they’re not disputing any of this — is that you can’t do this by August 31… they’re not sugarcoating any of this.”
Malinowski’s comments come as President Joe Biden is expected to confirm that he will stick to the deadline after the Taliban warned that extending it would render “consequences.”
“It’s a red line. President Biden announced that on 31 August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that,” Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Tuesday.
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences. It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction,” he added.
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban in Qatar, attends the Intra Afghan Dialogue talks in the Qatari capital Doha on July 7, 2019. – Dozens of powerful Afghans met with a Taliban delegation on July 7, amid separate talks between the US and the insurgents seeking to end 18 years of war. The separate intra-Afghan talks are attended by around 60 delegates, including political figures, women and other Afghan stakeholders. The Taliban, who have steadfastly refused to negotiate with the government of President Ashraf Ghani, have stressed that those attending are only doing so in a “personal capacity”. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo credit should read KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
HAMID KARZAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, AFGHANISTAN – AUGUST 22: This handout image shows A Marine with the 24th Marine Expeditionary unit (MEU) passes out water to evacuees during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Aug. 22. U.S. service members are assisting the Department of State with a Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) in Afghanistan. (Photo by Sgt. Isaiah Campbell / U.S. Marine Corps via Getty Images)
Several Democrats have voiced opposition to Biden bending to the Taliban’s will, urging the president to extend the evacuation deadline.
“It’s clear that the sentiment in the room on both sides of the aisle is that we need to move off this 8/31 deadline and there doesn’t seem to be any kind of reassurance that we can get what needs to be done by then, from the briefers or from our side,” she said. “Hopefully the president’s going to move off that deadline,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) said.
An internal government document reveals only 3,376 U.S. citizens have been airlifted out of Kabul as of Saturday, Yahoo News said. The Department of Defense remains unable to provide an exact figure on how many Americans are still stranded in the war-torn country.
In this handout provided by the U.S. Air Force, an air crew assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron assists evacuees aboard a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 21, 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Taylor Crul/U.S. Air Force via Getty Images)
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