Joe Biden admitted last night the US may not be able to evacuate everyone it wants to from Afghanistan as he said he could not guarantee the outcome of the “most difficult and dangerous airlift in history”.
The US President said that there was “risk of loss” in the evacuation amid warnings that 100,000 Afghans could be left to face Taliban reprisals.
Nato officials begged the US to extend the August 31 deadline for getting people out of the Afghan capital, Kabul, as women were trampled in a crush outside the airport and it emerged some evacuation flights were leaving part empty.
“Make no mistake, this evacuation mission is dangerous,” Mr Biden said. “I cannot promise what the final outcome will be or that it will be without risk of loss”.
However, the president said he would mobilise “every resource necessary” to rescue all US citizens. “Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home,” he said.
Mr Biden insisted again that no Nato allies had disagreed with his decision to pull out and said he could not send more US “sons and daughters” to fight in Afghanistan. “I have seen no questioning of our credibility from our allies around the world. I have spoken with our Nato allies. The opposite, we’re acting with dispatch. It’s time to end this war,” he said.
However, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to point the finger at Washington yesterday over the debacle in Kabul.
“When the United States decides emphatically to withdraw in a way that they have, clearly we’re going to have to manage the consequences,” Mr Johnson said.
Asked whether he could get all Americans out by August 31, Mr Biden said: “I think we can get it done by then, but we’re going to make that judgment as we go.”
Mr Biden did not say what would happen to Afghans who had risked their lives helping US forces, as Taliban fighters went door-to-door searching for interpreters. A German charity yesterday said it had to shut safe houses it had set up to protect interpreters as they properties had become “death-traps”.
Reports of Taliban reprisals are growing, with an Afghan judge claiming that fighters had set a woman on fire after they disapproved of her cooking as they cemented control of the north.
Thousands of foreign citizens and their relatives are believed to still be inside Afghanistan, with many more Afghans who supported the the overseas military’s presence over 20 years seeking help.
However, around a quarter of seats on British military planes flying out of Kabul have been empty in recent days because of difficulties in getting people processed and to the flights.
There is also the looming threat that the Taliban could end their co-operation with Western forces. Asked how the coming days were going to play out, one senior UK defence figure gave a bleak assessment: “Not good. Eventually the Taliban will want their airport back.”
James Heappey, the British minister for the Armed Forces, admitted the UK could not dictate the timings, saying there could be as little as two days left to complete the evacuation, or as much as 10 days.
Paul Farthing, a former Royal Marine who became a charity director in Afghanistan, warned people would be “left behind” as he posted an image of his wife’s near-empty evacuation flight.
His wife Kaisa Markhus (30), later told how a woman tried to thrust a baby into her arms as she tried to escape from Kabul. She said: “Once on the plane, we waited on the tarmac for hours for people to get through. But eventually we had to take off. I just had a feeling of sadness because the flight was so empty.”
Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato Secretary-General, said the situation was “very dire and difficult”.
A Nato official said 18,000 people had been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over the capital last Sunday.
However, on Thursday the US evacuation stalled, with no planes taking off for eight hours. The US was flying those fleeing to Al Udeid air base in Qatar, but facilities there had reached their capacity of 8,000.
It was described as a “humanitarian disaster” with thousands crammed into a hangar with few toilets and little air conditioning. The US has decided instead to fly Afghans to destinations in Europe.
Jason Crow, a Democrat congressman who sits on the House intelligence committee, said 100,000 Afghans who helped the US could be left behind.
He said the Taliban were using files from Afghanistan’s intelligence agency to identify US sympathisers.
Meanwhile, it emerged that 23 staff at the US Embassy in Kabul had signed a classified cable to Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, on July 13. In it they warned the situation in Afghanistan could rapidly deteriorate and they feared a catastrophe. A State Department spokesman confirmed Mr Blinken had read the cable.
In addition, there was pressure on Mr Biden to sack his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. Mr Sullivan, who is the president’s closest adviser in the White House Situation Room, has in the last few days attempted to redirect blame from US forces to the Afghan military. Sources close to the White House say the president left much of the planning of the US drawdown to Mr Sullivan, whom he trusts “1,000pc”. (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021)