Britain’s evacuation from Kabul is expected to end within “24 to 36 hours”, potentially abandoning thousands of Afghans, defence sources said as the increasingly bullish Taliban moved to prevent them travelling to the airport to flee.
The US president, Joe Biden, rejected pleas from the UK for the humanitarian airlift to continue beyond 31 August at a virtual meeting of G7 leaders on Tuesday, triggering claims from Conservative MPs that the “special relationship” is over and that US-UK relations were “about to enter their lowest point since Suez”.
After the G7, UK defence sources told the Guardian that the US military is believed to need two to three days to close down its operations at Kabul airport, and British troops want to be at least 24 hours ahead of that – leaving a small window for RAF flights evacuating those at risk from the Taliban’s takeover. All western forces are set to leave within days.
Read more at The Guardian.
{Matzav.com}
