CIA Director William J. Burns met secretly with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday. This information was published on Tuesday by the Washington Post, which explains that, at this meeting, the head of the US intelligence agency and the Taliban are said to have negotiated about the current deadline for the evacuation of all US troops in Afghanistan. The deadline is set for August 31st.
However, some of the US partners have already expressed their belief that they will need more time to evacuate all the Afghans who collaborated with them. This meeting comes just the day after US President Joe Biden himself did not close the door on delaying the final withdrawal date, saying that "We hope we don't have to do it".
G-7 meeting
UK prime minister Boris Johnson called for an emergency meeting of the G-7 on Tuesday to discuss the issue. The aim of some of these countries is to convince the United States that the evacuation period should be extended. The G-7 includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
However, the Taliban have already expressed their outright opposition to extending the date for American departure from the country. A spokesman for the fundamentalists said on Monday that failure to meet the deadline for evacuating troops would be "crossing a red line", that they would not accept "any extension" and that any attempt could lead to a "reaction".
Tense evacuations
Operations to evacuate the Afghans are proving to be very complicated due to the tension at Kabul airport. In addition, one of the spokespersons for the fundamentalists said on Tuesday that they would not allow any more Afghans to leave, and asked them not to go to the airfield or try to leave the country. He also said that women "must stay at home for now, for safety reasons".
The decision not to allow any more citizens into the airport is being blamed on the "large number of people" and the chaos at the airport.
UN warns of "horrific data" on human rights violations
The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, warned that between January 1st and June 30th of this year, there was an increase of almost 50% in civilian deaths. At the same time, she detailed that they have information of summary executions and violations of women's rights, as well as recruitment of children as soldiers. Bachelet warned that "a fundamental red line will be the Taliban's treatment of women and girls" and urged them to respect human rights.
The Commissioner for Human Rights also said that "many people fear reprisals by the Taliban against those who worked with the government or the international community, those who worked to promote human rights or justice, and those whose lifestyles or opinions are perceived to be opposed to Taliban ideology".