Washington – US President Joe Biden said that he still hopes to finalize the dramatic evacuation of tens of thousands of people from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan by August 31, as Taliban blamed Washington for harrowing scenes of chaos and despair at the airport in Kabul.
One week after the militant group made a stunning return to power, terrified Afghans kept trying to flee, skeptical of Taliban promises of a softer version of their brutal 1996-2001 rule.
Biden had previously set August 31 as the date to complete the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But the United States and its allies have been unable to cope with huge numbers of people trying to get on evacuation flights, leaving Kabul airport in disarray and the European Union warning it may be “impossible” to get everyone out before the deadline.
Speaking in the White House according to AFP, Biden said his “hope is we will not have to extend”.
“We’ll see what we can do,” he added when asked by reporters what his reply was to foreign leaders asking for more time.
“We have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong,” Biden said, citing the threat of attacks by the Islamic State group in particular.
He acknowledged the searing scenes at the US-controlled Hamid Karzai International airport, which have included babies and children being passed to soldiers over razor-wire fences and men clinging to the outside of departing planes.
But he said they were part of the cost of departure.
“There is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see,” he said.
Biden spoke after the Taliban, who have been holding talks with elders and politicians to set up their government, slammed the chaotic evacuation.
“America, with all its power and facilities… has failed to bring order to the airport. There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport,” Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi said.
Britain’s defence ministry said that seven people had died in the crowds, without giving further details.
A journalist, who was among a group of fleeing media workers and academics fortunate enough to reach the airport on Sunday, described desperate scenes of people surrounding their bus on the way in.
“They were showing us their passports and shouting ‘take us with you… please take us with you’,” the journalist told AFP.
“The Taliban fighter in the truck ahead of us had to shoot in the air to make them go away.”
