President Biden (Video screenshot)
President Biden has agreed with a Pentagon recommendation not to extend the Aug. 31 Afghanistan withdrawal deadline amid the effort to evacuate Americans and their Afghan allies, according to an administration official who spoke with Reuters.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, meanwhile, said Tuesday the Taliban will accept "no extensions" to the deadline.
The Pentagon said Tuesday the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will go from 6,000 to "zero" at the Aug. 31 deadline.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is among U.S. leaders urging the president to extend the deadline.
"Extend the deadline, get outside the perimeter, make sure that every single American who wants to leave is able to get out with our assistance and our Afghan allies," McConnell said in a Fox News interview Tuesday.
"The Taliban should not be allowed to tell us how long we are there to get our personnel out. That's our decision, not theirs," he said.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, was more blunt.
"The only proper response from America to these dirty savage terrorists should be: Go f*** yourself," he tweeted on Monday.
The only proper response from America to these dirty savage terrorists should be:
Go f*** yourself. https://t.co/n6Ip9V3Vwh
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) August 23, 2021
Leaders of the Group of Seven nations planned to meet later Tuesday to discuss possibly extending the airlift past the deadline despite the Taliban's "red line" warning.
Britain’s defense minister, Ben Wallace, called the deadline a "mistake." German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said most local staff haven't left the country.
The Taliban are no longer allowing Afghans to go to Kabul airport to try and leave the country, spokesman says https://t.co/kdGktE9tEd
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2021
The Washington Post reported the director of the CIA, William Burns met Monday with the Taliban’s top political leader in Kabul, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, amid reports of repression by the Taliban. The CIA worked with Pakistani forces to arrest Baradar in 2010. He was freed from a Pakistani prison in 2018 through a Trump administration agreement ahead of peace talks.
On Tuesday, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said she had credible reports of "summary executions" by the Taliban of civilians and former Afghan security forces, the recruitment of child soldiers, restrictions on the rights of women, and the repression of peaceful protests and dissnt.
"At this critical moment, the people of Afghanistan look to the Human Rights Council to defend and protect their rights," she said.
"I urge this council to take bold and vigorous action, commensurate with the gravity of this crisis, by establishing a dedicated mechanism to closely monitor the evolving human rights situation in Afghanistan."
Bachelet's reference to a "mechanism," the Associated Press explained, was to the appointment of a commission of inquiry, special rapporteur or fact-finding mission on the situation in Afghanistan.
However, a draft resolution by the council, the AP said, "stopped far short of intensified scrutiny — and appeared to push back any deeper look at the rights situation until next year."
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