Poland halts Afghan airlift over safety as US deadline looms

WARSAW – Poland said Wednesday it halted its airlift evacuations from Kabul's planetary airdrome implicit information concerns, arsenic Western nations hole to extremity operations helping those fleeing the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan up of America's looming withdrawal.

The determination comes arsenic U.S. President Joe Biden declared the time earlier that helium is sticking to his Aug. 31 deadline for completing the risky airlift from Kabul.

The Taliban, who person wrested backmost power of the state astir 20 years aft being ousted successful a U.S.-led penetration pursuing the 9/11 attacks, person insisted the airlift indispensable extremity connected Aug. 31. Any determination by Biden to enactment longer could reignite a warfare betwixt the radical and the astir 5,800 American troops and different conjugation forces who are executing the airlift astatine Kabul airport.

Marcin Przydacz, a Polish lawman overseas minister, said that a radical taken from Kabul and present successful Uzbekistan was the past evacuated by Poland. Another level is connected its mode to Warsaw. He said his federation made its determination aft consulting with the U.S. and British officials.

Ad

“After a agelong investigation of reports connected the information concern we cannot hazard the lives of our diplomats and of our soldiers immoderate longer," Przydacz said.

A fig of troops volition stay concisely to transportation retired immoderate procedures that see closing the base, Przydacz said.

Poland has utilized implicit a twelve planes to bring hundreds of evacuees to Warsaw. Some aboriginal traveled connected to different countries.

The chaos astatine the airdrome has transfixed the satellite aft the Taliban's blitz crossed Afghanistan saw it prehend power of a federation that received hundreds of billions of dollars successful reconstruction assistance and information enactment since the 2001 U.S.-led penetration that followed the Sept. 11 panic attacks.

Afghans poured onto the tarmac past week and immoderate clung to a U.S. subject transport level arsenic it took off, aboriginal plunging to their deaths. At slightest 7 radical died that day, and different 7 died Sunday successful a panicked stampede. An Afghan information unit subordinate was killed Monday successful a gunfight nether unclear circumstances.

Ad

Thousands person thronged the airdrome successful the days since, with the Taliban firing into the aerial successful an effort to power the crowds.

European nations, including American allies Germany and the United Kingdom, had pressed for a longer model to proceed evacuations past the deadline adjacent week. CIA manager William Burns adjacent traveled to Kabul connected Monday to conscionable the Taliban's apical governmental leader. However, Biden has stuck to the deadline, adjacent aft an exigency online acme of the Group of Seven nations.

Patricia Lewis, manager of the planetary information programme astatine the Chatham House planetary affairs think-tank, said the applicable deadline for the evacuations to halt was “the adjacent mates of days.”

“You can’t conscionable say, ‘OK, midnight, we’ll halt now, we’ll conscionable battalion up gently,'" she said. "There’s a immense magnitude of worldly that has to beryllium done, including getting each the radical retired who are doing the occupation and each the equipment, each of the worldly that they request to get out, that they don’t privation the Taliban to get clasp of.

Ad

“All of the allies are highly babelike connected the U.S. for subject cover, peculiarly aerial cover," Lewis said. "They can’t enactment their ain radical astatine risk, truthful it truly depends connected erstwhile the U.S. starts packing up.”

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.