Afghanistan crisis updates | August 24, 2021

The G7, chaired by UK Prime Minister Borris Johnson, is set to hold an emergency meeting to discuss Afghan situation. Evacuations continue in full swing.

Following the capture of power by the Taliban in now war-torn Afghanistan, the Group of Seven (G7) leaders from the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are set to conduct an emergency meeting to continue to stand by the Afghan people and step up support for refugees and humanitarian aid.
 

Here are the latest developments:

Taliban will be judged by deeds, not words, says Boris Johnson ahead of G7 meet

The Taliban will be judged by its deeds rather than words, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said ahead of chairing an emergency G7 virtual meet to coordinate international response to the Afghan crisis.

Downing Street said that during the meeting Tuesday, the UK PM will call on Group of Seven (G7) leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States to continue to stand by the Afghan people and step up support for refugees and humanitarian aid.

According to a Downing Street communique, the G7 is expected to reiterate its commitment to safeguarding the gains made in Afghanistan over the last 20 years – in particular on girls’ education and the rights of women and minorities.

The meeting will take place by video conference and the NATO and UN Secretaries-General have also been invited to join the discussion.

It comes as the Taliban issued a stark warning that it would not entertain any suggestion of an extension to the August 31 deadline for the US-led NATO troops to exit Kabul. – PTI

India evacuates 77 persons from Afghanistan, more flights expected

A special flight of Air India arrived here on Tuesday morning carrying 77 stranded persons from Kabul, including 46 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus. The passengers brought three Shri Guru Granth Sahib from various Gurudwaras in Afghanistan. The travellers were evacuated on Monday from Kabul in an Indian Air Force flight and spent the night at Dushanbe before being airlifted in a special Air India flight.

Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan and the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri received the Sikh holy books at the Delhi airport.

India is likely to operate a few more flights to evacuate Afghan and stranded Indian citizens in the coming days, said Mr. Chandhoke. Kabul continued to remain tense with hundreds of people pouring in from various parts of Afghanistan at the airport which remains under the control of the U.S. forces.

India has maintained focus on evacuating Sikhs and Hindus while also helping some of the lawmakers and officials associated with the government of President Ashraf Ghani. – Kallol Bhattacherjee

AI 1956, A special flight of Air India, enroute to Delhi from Dushanbe carrying 78 passengers, including 25 Indian nationals.  | Photo Credit: Twitter-Arindam Bagchi@MEAIndia

India evacuates 77 persons from Afghanistan, more flights expected

Other G7 leaders to press Biden to extend Kabul evacuation deadline

U.S. President Joe Biden will face pressure to extend an August 31 deadline to evacuate thousands seeking to flee the Taliban in Afghanistan when he meets Group of Seven (G7) leaders at a virtual meeting on Tuesday.

Western nations are struggling to bring home their own citizens and desperate Afghans massing at Kabul airport are seeking to flee the country fearing reprisals after Taliban militants seized control just over a week ago.

It has led to chaotic scenes at the airport, with some 20 people killed in stampedes and shootings, amid a panic to catch flights out of the country before the United States and its allies pull out their troops.

The manner of the withdrawal, 20 years after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban following the September 11, 2001, attacks, has strained tensions between Washington and other Western capitals, where there has been dismay at its timing and how it has been carried out. – Reuters

 

 

Taliban rule presents aid agencies with moral, fiscal dilemma

As foreign governments, aid institutions and companies scramble to evacuate staff from Afghanistan, a crucial question is emerging: should they engage with the ruling Taliban or abandon years of investment in the country and 38 million Afghans?

For foreign aid agencies the situation presents "a paradox," said Robert Crews, a Stanford University history professor and author of the 2015 book "Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation."

"If you are an aid worker at a state hospital, you are serving a regime whose legitimacy is in the balance," he said. "But if everybody goes home, will the state collapse?"

Afghanistan’s government budget is 70% to 80% funded by international donors, including the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said Michael McKinley, who served as ambassador to Afghanistan in 2015 and 2016.

The country faces economic collapse without that aid.

While foreign governments and aid groups evacuate thousands of people, they’re leaving billions of dollars in projects hanging in the balance, much of it through the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. – Reuters

 

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