Al Jazeera :
The Taliban will not agree to an extension of the evacuation mission from Afghanistan, a spokesman for the group told British news channel Sky News.
The move would mean “extending occupation” and that is “a red line”, Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban delegation in Doha, the capital of Qatar, said on Monday.
US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the “hard and painful” airlift of Americans and tens of thousands of others from Afghanistan’s capital is accelerating, but he would not rule out extending it beyond the August 31 deadline he set before the Taliban’s swift takeover.
The airport has been the scene of chaos since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital on August 15 as US and international forces try to evacuate citizens and vulnerable Afghans. A NATO official has said that at least 20 people have died in and around the airport in the past week.
An Afghan security guard has been killed in a firefight between unknown gunmen and Afghan forces at the north gate of Kabul airport, the German military said, as thousands thronged the airport, seeking to flee Taliban rule.
Three more people were injured in the gun battle on Monday morning that has also involved German and United States forces, the German military said on Twitter.
Germany is looking into ways to evacuate people from Afghanistan beyond the window of opportunity to fly them out of Kabul airport, a foreign ministry spokesman says.
“As long as the situation on the ground allows, we want to keep the air bridges active and evacuate people from Kabul airport,” the spokesman told a regular government news conference in Berlin.”However, we are already thinking beyond this period and are already trying to find solutions for the time after(wards),” he said, adding that Germany was talking with the Taliban about enabling as many people as possible to leave Afghanistan.
Qatar is working as an “impartial mediator” in dealings with the Taliban while aiding ongoing evacuations of foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans from the country, Qatar’s foreign minister said.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said the Gulf state – which hosted talks between the US and Taliban that culminated in the 2020 agreement to withdraw US and foreign troops as well as hold subsequent intra-Afghan peace talks – is using its unique position to stress to the Taliban the “importance of acting and behaving as an engaging party over there as part of the Afghan society”.
The Taliban have appointed an acting head of the Afghanistan central bank to help ease growing economic turmoil, more than a week after the Islamist movement seized the capital Kabul, a statement says.
Haji Mohammad Idris was named as acting governor of the central bank to help bring order to a war-crippled economy, which has been adrift for more than a week with banks closed and many government offices empty.
He was expected to help organise institutions and address the economic issues facing the population, a statement from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
Iran restarted exports of gasoline and gasoil to Afghanistan a few days ago, after receiving a request from the Taliban, Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union says.
“The Taliban sent messages to Iran saying ‘you can continue the exports of petroleum products’,” Hamid Hosseini, union board member and spokesperson in Tehran, told Reuters news agency, adding that some Iranian traders had been cautious due to security concerns.
Iranian exports began a few days ago, after the Taliban cut tariffs on imports of fuel from Iran up to 70 percent, Hosseini added.
The United Kingdom still wants to fly out thousands of people out from Afghanistan and has not set a hard deadline for when evacuations will end, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesperson says.
“We have not set a hard deadline for when the evacuation procedure will end,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to run our evacuation process as long as the security situation allows, like I said this will be a topic of discussion tomorrow, and we need to flexible in our approach.”
The US military flew approximately 10,400 people out of Kabul over 24 hours on Sunday, and 61 coalition planes helped evacuate approximately 5,900, a White House official said on Monday.
Since August 14, the US has airlifted 37,000 people out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, or helped with their evacuation, the official said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defence Minister Florence Parly are going to the Al-Dhafra air base in the United Arab Emirates on Monday to meet people involved in Afghan evacuation operations.
During their visit, the French ministers will also meet the country’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and they will discuss the situation in Afghanistan, added a statement from the French government.
Switzerland has been able to get around 100 people – including the first local staff working for the Swiss development agency – out of Afghanistan after Taliban fighters took control of the country, the Swiss foreign ministry says.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told leaders in Central Asia on Monday it was vital to avoid any spillover of “radical Islam” into the region from Afghanistan and to keep “Islamist extremists” at bay, the Kremlin said.
Putin, in comments at an online summit of regional leaders, also said it was important to keep a close eye on the Afghan drug trade, the Kremlin said.
At the meeting, Putin and Central Asian leaders voiced concerns that the ISIL (ISIS) armed group still had a foothold in Afghanistan and was a threat, the Kremlin said. The leaders agreed to coordinate joint action on Afghanistan, it said.
The Taliban will not agree to an extension of the evacuation mission from Afghanistan, a spokesman for the group told British news channel Sky News.
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” said Suhail Shaheen, a member of the Taliban delegation in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
“It’s a red line. [US] President [Joe] Biden announced that on August 31 they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it that means they are extending occupation while there is no need for that.”
He added: “It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction.”
