Moscow, Aug 23 (UNI/Sputnik) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will push US President Joe Biden during the Tuesday G7 virtual meeting to delay the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, The Telegraph reports.
"The main focus of the G7 is on the long-term of Afghanistan but they will of course be discussing the current evacuation effort," a Downing Street source told the newspaper on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, Johnson announced that the leaders of G7 countries will have urgent talks on the situation in Afghanistan on August 24.
Later on Sunday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki confirmed Biden’s participation in the virtual meeting, adding that the talks will revolve around the issue of the evacuation of Americans and "vulnerable" Afghans and humanitarian assistance for refugees.
According to The Telegraph, British ministers have been pressing the US privately for days to consider delaying the withdrawal of troops in order to ease pressure on the Kabul airport.
Biden told reporters on Sunday that discussions were underway with US military officials about possibly extending the Afghanistan evacuation mission beyond the August 31 deadline.
Many countries have started evacuating their citizens and diplomatic personnel from Afghanistan after the Taliban entered Kabul on August 15. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani resigned and fled the country to prevent what he described as bloodshed that would occur if the militants had to fight for the city.
On Thursday, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that G7 foreign ministers were urging the Taliban to guarantee Afghans and foreigners safe passage from Kabul. Raab, who chaired a conference call of US, Canadian, French, German, Italian, and Japanese foreign ministers, said in a statement that the seven nations would continue efforts to evacuate vulnerable people from the Afghan capital.
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