Afghanistan: Taliban announce they are returning to Kabul, Westerners under pressure

A US military helicopter is pictured flying over the US Embassy in Kabul on August 15, 2021. AFP - WAKIL KOHSAR

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The Taliban announced this Sunday, August 15 that they are returning to Kabul, indicates a spokesman for the Taliban, after a military campaign of astonishing speed.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has left the country, according to former Vice President Abdullah Abdullah.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. Embassy staff are on their way to the airport.

Other countries, such as Germany, Italy and Canada, have announced the closure of their embassies and / or the evacuation of diplomatic personnel.

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►France: priority to the safety of French people still there

The French president is monitoring the deterioration of the situation in Afghanistan hour by hour.

This is what the Élysée communicates.

He indicated that the immediate and absolute priority in the coming hours was the security of the French people who were there, and who were called to leave Afghanistan, as well as French and Afghan personnel.

And he says he also maintains capacities to protect Afghans who worked for the French army, as well as journalists, human rights activists, artists and particularly threatened Afghan personalities.

►Boris Johnson calls crisis meeting and Parliament

On the British side, faced with the rapid and inexorable advance of the Taliban, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a new government crisis meeting on Sunday and will convene Parliament on Wednesday.

The British who also sent a reinforcement of 600 men to help the evacuation of their British nationals.

Blinken rejects any parallel between the situation in Afghanistan and Saigon

The head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken rejected on CNN Sunday, August 15 any comparison between the situation in Kabul and the fall of Saigon in Vietnam in 1975, reaffirming that the United States had " 

reached the objectives

 " of the war in Afghanistan.

“ 

We went to Afghanistan 20 years ago with a mission and that mission was to settle the scores of those who attacked us on 9/11.

We have accomplished this mission.

 As for the staff of the American embassy in Kabul, they were transferred urgently to the airport in the Afghan capital, where thousands of American soldiers were dispatched.

Albania "ready" to welcome Afghan refugees targeted by the Taliban

Albania said it was ready on Sunday to welcome hundreds of Afghan refugees, including women leaders, officials and others threatened by the Taliban, as Islamist insurgents are at the gates of Kabul.

"

Albania, a member of NATO is ready to shoulder its share of the burden, 

" Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a reaction posted on his Facebook page on Sunday.

Edi Rama confirmed that "

Washington has already asked Albania to examine the possibility of serving as a transit country for a number of Afghan political immigrants whose final destination would be the United States

".

But, long before the request of the American authorities, Mr. Rama asserted that Albania had received calls from other international organizations for "

the temporary accommodation in Albania of hundreds of people from intellectual circles and women activists. Afghan women on the Taliban execution lists

”.

► NATO: a political solution "more urgent than ever"

NATO said on Sunday that it was " 

more urgent than ever 

" to find a political solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.

This is what a NATO official told Agence France-Presse.

NATO is constantly monitoring the development of the situation in Afghanistan,

 " assured the same official.

“ 

We are helping to keep Kabul airport functioning so that Afghanistan can stay connected to the rest of the world.

We also maintain our diplomatic presence in Kabul.

The safety of our staff is our top priority and we adapt to changes,

 ”he also indicated.

►Also read: Afghanistan: the Taliban want a peaceful transition

Russia does not plan to evacuate embassy in Kabul

Russia does not plan to evacuate its embassy in Kabul, while Taliban fighters are at the gates of the Afghan capital, a senior Russian official said on Sunday.

"

No evacuation is planned,

" said Zamir Kabulov, the Kremlin's envoy for Afghanistan quoted by the Interfax agency, stressing that he was "

in direct contact

" with the Russian ambassador in Kabul whose staff continued to work. in "

calm

" at the embassy.

Russia is one of the countries that have received guarantees from the Taliban regarding the security of their embassies, Kabulov said. “

We received these guarantees quite some time ago. Russia was not the only one to have received them,

”he said, quoted by the Ria Novosti agency. Mr. Kabulov also said that Russia was ready to work with a "

transitional government

" in Afghanistan, but that it "

does not recognize

" for the moment the Taliban as legitimate authorities.

The spokesman for the Russian embassy in Kabul, Nikita Ichtchenko, for his part declared on Russian television that the situation in the Afghan capital was "

tense

", but without fighting.

From what we know, the Afghan parties have political contacts.

The embassy is not threatened and an evacuation is not necessary,

”he said.

On the other hand, Moscow says it is working to bring together the UN Security Council.

The situation requires immediate intervention by the UN Security Council to avoid another humanitarian catastrophe, an increased threat to security and stability in the region.

This is what the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian Parliament Leonid Slutsky said.

But for now, we do not know what this meeting could bring as the advance of the Taliban is inexorable and difficult to contain.

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