Netherlands, protests outside the base hosting evacuated Afghans
Afghanistan, the deadline for the withdrawal remains August 31st.
UN: "We will stay here alongside the people"
The Taliban: "Don't take our engineers and doctors away"
Afghanistan.
Gentiloni: "May the EU welcome even without unanimity"
Afghanistan, young Afghans to the Daily Telegraph: "Whipped by the Taliban for wearing jeans"
Afghanistan, hundreds of refugees arrive at the Sigonella military base
Afghanistan, Massoud: ready for inclusive government with the Taliban
Afghanistan, US weapons in the hands of the Taliban
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August 25, 2021
According to the BBC and other media, the number of people evacuated so far from Afghanistan from the US, UK and other countries after the Taliban takeover of Kabul has risen to at least 82,300.
In the last 24 hours, the US military has taken out nearly 20,000 displaced people, while London, second in the number of rescues, has reached a total of 10,000 since the beginning of operations.
The people considered most at risk - foreigners excluded - are however calculated at around 300,000 just by counting the former Afghan collaborators of the NATO mission.
Biden confirms the date of August 31st
"In these hours we are trying to evacuate as many people as possible from Afghanistan, there will be another 50 flights and we will finish the evacuation by 31 August". The US president, Joe Biden, thus closes the discussion on the extension of the withdrawal of American and NATO troops from the country. "We cannot afford further risks, and they are real risks of terrorist attacks" he said in the evening, after
the extraordinary G7 summit
convened by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which saw two fronts: on the one hand, the United States, in fact, firm in respect of agreements signed with the Taliban, on the other the EU which, with Great Britain, was asking to stay longer.
"The Taliban have taken steps to help get people out" of Afghanistan, Biden later said.
Dramatic situation at the Kabul airport
News from the camp yesterday morning told of a dramatic situation at the Kabul airport, with the Taliban preventing people from reaching the airport to be evacuated. Then, in the early afternoon, the surprise press conference of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, who just over half an hour from the start of the G7, returned the photograph of a country under control, "never before so Safe". "We are not chasing anyone"
Zabihullah Mujahid said, asking the US
"not to take away our doctors and our engineers"
. Words that echoed from Kabul, while the UN reported summary executions "of Afghan civilians and security forces" by the Taliban.
UN alarm, 60% of displaced people are children
Almost 60% of Afghans who were forced to leave their homes this year are children: according to data released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs ( Unocha) in Afghanistan, we read on the BBC. Since the beginning of May, more than 400,000 people have been registered as newly displaced due to intensified fighting across the country. In total, nearly 550,000 Afghans have been displaced this year.
The diplomatic front
Meanwhile the Russia-China axis is also moving, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin dedicated "to the situation that has arisen in Afghanistan".
The official Beijing media reported it.
Moscow considers the level of terrorist threat in Afghanistan high because members of the Islamic State terrorist group are present in the country.
"As for the terrorist attacks - said the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov - the only certain thing is that in addition to the Taliban, there are also members of ISIS
in Afghanistan.
They are not natives of the country, but they are real terrorists.
This is why the terrorist threat in Afghanistan is certainly very high ".
"The United Nations has worked with and for the Afghan people for decades. We remain in that country and will continue to stay there and do all we can for the safety of our personnel and to serve the Afghan people who have suffered greatly," he posted this morning. UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres.
From London, disappointed by the outcome of the G7 (Johnson reappeared on the international scene as a protagonist), it was learned today that the evacuation of Great Britain from Kabul should be completed within "24-36 hours". The British newspaper Guardian writes exclusively, citing British defense sources consulted at the end of the G7. According to these sources, the US military needs two or three days to complete its operations at the Afghan capital airport and British troops aim to close them at least 24 hours earlier than the US. The RAF planes, therefore, would have only a small window to evacuate people at risk from the takeover of power by the Taliban. In this way, the newspaper comments, thousands of Afghans risk being abandoned in the country.
"The number one condition we insist on is a safe passage beyond 31, so beyond the initial phase for those who want to leave Afghanistan" were the words of Boris Johnson at the end of the G7.
Dominic Raab, British foreign minister, said in these hours that the United Kingdom "would like to see the Kabul airport return to operation".
Even France, immediately alongside Great Britain in the request for an extension, accelerates: it is "very likely" that tomorrow it will conclude the evacuation operations of its citizens and partners from Afghanistan.
This was announced by the French Minister for European Affairs, Clement Beaune, during an interview with the broadcaster "CNews'.
As for Germany, Angela Merkel said she will continue to evacuate people from Afghanistan as long as she is responsible to do so, adding, however, that this is only possible as long as the United States is present.
The Alliance, the chancellor said today, underestimated the speed with which the Afghan army yielded and this happened "in a breathtaking time".
"The speed of this development has been underestimated. And this also from Germany. But Germany did not follow a special path at the beginning of the mission as now in the evacuation plans,"
Merkel said, referring to the Bundestag
.
Protests in the Netherlands
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands,
a protest by a group of 250 protesters
who wanted it took place
prevent Afghan refugees from entering a reception center. According to local media, the police had to intervene on Tuesday night to disperse the people gathered in front of a military camp in Harskamp, a village east of Utrecht. Around 800 refugees are expected in the reception center, where arrivals began last night. The military camp is one of four emergency reception centers created by the Dutch government.
The G7 meeting
The Taliban who came to power in Afghanistan "will be held accountable for their actions in preventing terrorism and respecting human rights, especially those of women". This was stated by the leaders of the G7 in the statement released at the end of the virtual emergency meeting dedicated to the Afghan situation. In the communiqué, the G7 warned that Afghanistan "must never again become a safe haven for terrorism and a source of terrorist attacks against other" countries.
Draghi: "Maintain contact channel even after August 31"
The evolution of the situation in Afghanistan, humanitarian aid, the management of migrants and the fight against terrorism were the main points of the speech by Prime Minister Mario Draghi during the extraordinary meeting of the G7, in which he thanked "all those which are helping to ensure the successful outcome of the evacuation operations in Kabul, in particular the US, British and German armies. " The goal, said Draghi, is to be able to safely conclude these operations by the end of August. In this regard, the Prime Minister underlined the need to "maintain a contact channel even after the deadline of 31 August and the possibility of transiting Afghanistan safely.