In the spotlight: the puzzle of evacuations in Afghanistan
Audio 04:57
American soldier at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on August 20, 2021. AFP - TAYLOR CRUL
By: Sébastien Duhamel Follow
13 mins
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While our international press review took a break for the summer, presses around the world continued to run.
They have already printed many lines on the subject, of course, since the capture of Kabul by the Taliban.
Today in newsstands around the world, it is the question of evacuations that we find everywhere.
In Belgium,
Le Soir
speaks to us of "
maximum pressure
", but despite "
an indescribable chaos at Kabul airport
", the Belgian evacuation operation called "
Red Kite
" managed this weekend to "
rise. in power
”.
More than 450 people already evacuated and operations should intensify this week, reports
Le Soir
.
In Germany,
the Süddetsche Zeitung site
also explains to us why this pressure is maximum with an event which is not surprising: “
There was a battle at the Kabul airport during which an Afghan security force been killed ”.
In addition to the Afghan forces, soldiers from the US military and the German armed forces were also involved. “
The incident happened at the north gate of the airport at 4:13 am local time
, reports the
Süddeütsche Zeitung
. However, the north gate is the one which
"leads precisely to the area of the airport from which the rescue flights depart.
», He specifies.
And this while the US government has warned of the threat of a possible attack by the Islamic State organization there.
Concern of the British press
The Times
notably relays the words of Defense Minister James Heappey made publicly this Sunday, August 22: "
Absolutely no one, unfortunately, can sit in front of a television camera, as loud as we want, and say that we can do it. everyone take out
.
"
The Times
so we learn that the Royal Air Force has extended the deadline for its final evacuation flight scheduled Tuesday 24 August, which should eventually take place"
on Friday or Saturday
"August 28th.
The Guardian
, like
The Daily Telegraph, also
points out that Prime Minister Boris Johnson should ask Joe Biden on this point.
This Tuesday, during a virtual summit of the G7, Boris Johnson will ask “
personally
” the American president to extend the presence of American troops at Kabul airport after August 31, the deadline however planned by Washington.
Critics Against Joe Biden
Extend is a possibility that Joe Biden has not ruled out even if he prefers to avoid it, he assures us. The American press logically echoes it. You can read or listen to the press review of our meeting in Haiti and the Americas on this point. But, in any case, Joe Biden is the subject of criticism. In Britain again, to begin with,
The Times is
relaying the words of former Prime Minister Tony Blair for whom the decision to withdraw American troops is based "
on a foolish political slogan aimed at ending endless wars
". In Spain,
El Pais
also notes that in the United States itself, some Democrats criticize Joe Biden. The latter have called for an investigation into the ins and outs of this decision, while the Republicans "
aspire to profit from it from the mid-term elections in 2022
".
Still in Spain, when La
Vanguardia
explains that the country will be the reception center for Afghans evacuated by the United States, thanks to an agreement between the Sanchez government and Washington,
La Razon
,
for his part,
gives
us a survey.
What do the Spaniards think of all this?
They are critical, to say the least: "
70.8% of them think that Biden should have kept American troops in Afghanistan and 86.4% more widely see that NATO has failed
."
But never mind, in terms of domestic policy,
El Pais
tells us that Prime Minister Sanchez is regaining strength with these questions of foreign policy and this link with Joe Biden.
Childbirth during these evacuations
And in this chaos of evacuations, life has still managed to find its way ... While the many newspapers, especially in Spain
El Pais
or
El Mundo,
tell us that the UN is now alerting on a possible humanitarian tragedy in Afghanistan, there is a
p
hoto to see
on the front page of
The Independent
, in Great Britain. And a caption that gives pleasure: “
An Afghan woman managed to give birth on an evacuation flight carrying people from Kabul to Germany
. "
The US Air Force C-17 plane was flying from the Middle East to Ramstein Air Base, near the French border, "
when the woman, whose name has not been released, began to give birth ”
.
This plane initially established an airlift, to deliver medical devices like oxygen, but she, this woman, finally delivers a baby to us.
At least something positive about this wave of darkness.
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