The Taliban will not agree to an extension of the August 31 deadline for the United States to withdraw troops and a delay will bring consequences, a spokesman told Sky News.
“You can say it’s a red line,” spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in an interview. “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations — the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”
Earlier on Monday, Britain said it would urge the United States at a virtual G7 summit to extend an end-of-the-month deadline to complete evacuations of Western citizens and Afghan colleagues from Kabul.
US President Joe Biden has set an August 31 deadline for the chaotic airlift organised by thousands of temporarily deployed US troops but has left the door open to an extension if needed.
Armed forces minister James Heappey and other UK officials told British media that they would push for an extension at Tuesday’s online leaders meeting of the G7 group of wealthy nations while acknowledging that the Taliban would have a crucial say now that they control Afghanistan.
Heappey said it is a “hard reality” that the evacuations from Afghanistan’s capital could only be maintained beyond August 31 if led by the United States.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by The Edge Media staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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