In Kabul, a fearful wait for United States to deliver on evacuation vow

Tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan nervously waited Saturday to see whether the United States would keep President Joe Biden’s new promise to evacuate all Americans and all Afghans who supported the war effort. Meanwhile, the Taliban leader arrived in Kabul to speak with the group’s leadership about forming a new government.

Time is running out before Biden’s August 31 deadline to withdraw most of the remaining US troops, and the president made no commitment to an extension on Friday night. It faces increasing criticism as videos show pandemia and the occasional violence outside the airport, and vulnerable Afghans who fear Taliban retaliation desperately ask not to be left behind.

The Gulf nation of Bahrain announced on Saturday that it would allow flights to use its transit facilities for evacuation, an option designed to ease pressure after the US faced problems affecting its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base on Friday quickly filled in Qatar.

The backlog forced the flights from Kabul International Airport to stop for several hours. The United Arab Emirates meanwhile announced that it would take in up to 5,000 Afghans to other countries before they leave.

Tens of thousands of Afghan translators and others as well as their close family members are looking for an evacuation after the shockingly quick takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in just over a week. The fall of Kabul marked the final chapter of America’s longest war, which began after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who negotiated the 2020 peace agreement between the religious movement and the United States, is in Kabul to meet with the group’s leadership, said a Taliban official on condition of anonymity as he was not allowed to join speaking to the media. Baradar’s presence is significant because he has often had conversations with former Afghan leaders such as ex-President Hamid Karzai.

Afghan officials, familiar with the many talks in the capital, say the Taliban announced that they would not announce their government until the August 31 deadline for troop withdrawal.

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the ousted government, tweeted that he and Karzai met with the incumbent Taliban governor for Kabul on Saturday, who assured us that he would do everything possible to keep people safe in the city.

On Friday, a defense official said about 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes, guarded by a temporary U.S. military operation that grows to 6,000 soldiers. About 2,000 people were flown on each of the previous two days.

Officials also confirmed that US military helicopters flew over Kabul airport to evacuate 169 Americans. Nobody knows how many US citizens will remain in Afghanistan, but estimates put it as high as 15,000.

So far, 13 countries have agreed to take in vulnerable Afghans, at least temporarily, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Another 12 have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others. About 300 evacuees arrived from Qatar on Friday evening at the US Air Force Base Ramstein in Germany, a transit point for people who are being brought to the US, the American military said.

But for many other Afghans the question arises as to where they will finally call home. European heads of state and government fearing a recurrence of the 2015 migration crisis are already signaling that Afghans fleeing who did not help Western forces during the war should instead stay in neighboring countries. The desperate scenes of people clinging to planes taking off from Kabul Airport have only added to Europe’s concerns.

Remaining in Afghanistan means adapting to life under the Taliban, who say they seek an inclusive, Islamic government, give full amnesty to those who have worked for the US and the Western-backed government, and claim they have have become more moderate since they last came to power in 1996 to 2001. They say they respect women’s rights within the norms of Islamic law without going into detail.

But many Afghans fear a return to harsh Taliban rule in the late 1990s, when the group banned women from going to school or working outside the home, banned television and music, cut off the hands of suspected thieves and carried out public executions.