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According to the former Secretary of Defense, British troops have only 48 hours to evacuate civilians from Afghanistan if they withdraw by the August 31 deadline.
Talk to TelegraphSir David Richards said he was “quite confident” that logistics would only allow civilian rescue operations for two more days to give the British troops time to withdraw.
However, the former Chief of Defense said he was confident that he would continue to “sneak in with others who arrived late with theirs.”
This assessment follows yesterday’s G7 meeting when allies failed to persuade US President Joe Biden to keep the US military securing Kabul Airport overdue.
Prior to the G7 meeting, the Taliban warned again that it would not tolerate overdue foreign troops and said it was firmly holding the streets around the airport to prevent Afghan citizens from arriving at the airport. ..
Kabul Airport is the only route abroad for evacuees fleeing for fear of retaliation by the Taliban to assist foreign troops or to assist Taliban enemies.
France’s European Minister for Europe, Clement Beaune, told C News TV today that the operation to evacuate French citizens and partners from Afghanistan is likely to end on Thursday.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab states that “almost all” single-national British citizens who wanted to return are now leaving Afghanistan.
He declined to say when the last evacuation flight would leave Kabul.
“Military planners are working in the limited time required to reduce personnel and equipment, so we will finalize those details,” he said on BBC Radio 4 when asked about that date. I told the Today Program.
“Use the time and days needed to maximize throughput every day to eliminate as many of these remaining cases as possible.”
A total of 10,291 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since August 13, according to the report. Last number From Downing Street. More than 5,500 of them are Afghans and their families.
US President Joe Biden said the danger was increasing as US troops in Afghanistan pressed for a complete evacuation by the August 31 deadline.
Russia began evacuating more than 500 people from Afghanistan on August 25, the first airlift since the onset of the crisis.
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan is a security headache for Moscow, which sees Central Asia as part of its southern defense and fears the radical Islamism that pervades the region.
PA and Reuters contributed to this report.
Simon Veazey
Freelance reporter
Simon Veazey is a UK-based journalist who has been reporting on the Epoch Times since 2006 on a variety of beats, from detailed coverage of British and European politics to web-based writing of the latest news.
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