Afghanistan: Taliban refuses delay in foreign troop withdrawal | DW News

we begin the day with the military might of a superpower and the frightened people in afghanistan both running out of time there are only eight days until the end of august the deadline for the u.s withdrawal from afghanistan today the pentagon said it is now using helicopters to surgically lift u.s citizens and afghan allies out of hiding in kabul in the hopes of airlifting them safely out of the country the evacuations are accelerating significantly the pentagon says in the last 24 hours some 11 000 personnel were transported from afghanistan to other countries with each passing day the security situation becomes riskier taliban forces become more unpredictable the german military reported that an afghan security officer was killed in fire fight on monday now this volatile and deadly mix is why leaders of the g7 group of nations plan to meet virtually on tuesday uk prime minister boris johnson will reportedly address the perception of retrenchment the picture of the u.s withdrawing with its allies leaving a vacuum that some fear will be filled with terrorist groups this comes as calls grow for the u.s to focus not only on the taliban in afghanistan but also on those who are supporting it in neighboring pakistan more on that in just a moment we begin tonight with the latest from the afghan capital people coming here risk their lives dozens have already died outside the gates to kabul airport thousands are still trying to leave afghanistan and crowd against the fences as international military personnel complete evacuations before the final u s withdrawal we are in communication with the taliban for the establishment and sustainment of several checkpoints to increase throughput and facilitate safe passage for individuals working to gain access to the airport the european union and the uk have called for an extension to the withdrawal deadline but the taliban responded with a warning that any delay would be met with unspecified consequences president biden announced this agreement that until 31st of august they would withdraw all their military forces so if they extend it that means they are extending occupation the situation at kabul airport erupted early monday morning into more violence one afghan soldier was killed when unknown assailants exchanged fire with local u.s and german military at the northern gate of the airport desperate afghans have had their families split apart or put their lives on the line to escape one woman gave birth aboard a u.s military plane just after it touched down at a german air base um once we arrived on the plane we realized that the baby had not delivered that the mom was still in labor and it was very close to delivery so we delivered the baby danger is present for those still in kabul there have been reports of the taliban carrying out a door-to-door manhunt instilling dread in many residents we want peace we want peace don't we we've had enough of war as kabul settles into life under taliban rule the question now is what kind of government will be formed and how will it impact the lives of afghans over twenty years after the militants last held power and my first guest tonight is mark jacobson he's an adviser to former u.s secretary of defense ashton carter he also served as deputy nato representative in afghanistan from 2009 to 2011. he joins me tonight from washington dc it's good to have you on the program i understand that you are helping to coordinate the evacuation operation in kabul we we know that the operation is accelerating significantly so talk to me if you can about numbers do we know how many u.s citizens are waiting to leave and do we know how many afghans are still waiting to get out first let me clarify something i'm one of thousands of people trying to help in fact there's a a virtual uh group of people in a coordination cell about a thousand of them who are doing everything uh from trying to get the right information to afghan and u.s and international citizens on the ground uh to quite literally helping them uh whether it's uh via you know phone texts whatever you have to to get them to the airport and get them into the gates there are thousands of american citizens still left in kabul um there are thousands of u.s green card holders uh limited so uh um they are permanent residents of the united states and you have tens of thousands of afghans who are at various points in the special immigrant visa process uh or who are in danger these are people who are being publicly targeted by the taliban journalists judges men women and children families of those who helped nato in the united states during the past 20 years and they are in incredible danger right now mr jenkins from the pentagon says it is now using helicopters to surgically remove americans and afghans from basically their hiding positions in kabul and bring them to where they can be transported out of the country do you know is this happening with assurances from the taliban that these choppers will not be fired upon i actually don't know about that what i know is that i am constantly on the phone with american families who say when is someone coming to get me american families with their afghan immediate family members who are saying no one has called us no one has spoken to us despite their information being given to the state department we know that this operation appears to be somewhat chaotic and it seems to be an ideal opportunity for would-be terrorists to pose as allies and to leave the country is that is that what this is well my concern is uh that you know the u.s president says that we're going to have everyone out by the 31st that means that you have to actually stop the civilian evacuations a couple of days early in order to get our troops out by the 31st um even if he extends that a couple of days i don't see how it's going to happen even for u.s citizens much less the green card holders it's going to split families up meaning that you'll have people who have passports and visas being able to get in and having to leave their brothers and sisters their mothers and fathers it's just it's criminal frankly do you know that what is being done to make sure that no one gets through who could pose a security threat in the future well i you know the the one part that i think is going well is uh that the the military has really locked down uh the area i mean in terms of security threats it's creating some of them uh what's happening is afghan men women and children are being crushed and killed some because of the lack of crowd control others are being beaten up by the taliban they're cases where children have been separated from their parents and the problem is they can't get inside the wire because the military forces down there have been told don't let anyone in without a blue passport and when they do um then you have situation i know there's a situation ongoing right now where there's uh small there are small children separated from their parents parents got inside the the airport and the children are outside the airport so security is good for that but it's not the right type of situation for ensuring a good flow of people into the airport today the taliban said that if the u.s and its allies remain in kabul beyond august 31st that there will be consequences how do you understand that well i think they're trying to make a military threat but what i would say is the president the pentagon uh chairman of the joint chiefs of staff the secretary of defense have been very clear about uh the fact that there is this incredible military uh that will do what it can and use a force if it has to you know incredible air power they keep talking about um you know what i i don't think that we should listen to the taliban when it comes to the safety of men women and children many of whom have fought by us side by side some of those people who fought have saved the lives of u.s lives of the us soldiers and i don't think the united states should be going out with its tail between its legs fine the president has made the decision on withdrawal but then you do it right and you don't let the taliban dictate what is going to happen to people who are about to lose their lives that's not what the nation i fought for is about mark jacobson we're going to be following this story mr jacobson please come back and talk with us again as this story develops we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you you're welcome what role does pakistan play in afghanistan ruled by the taliban once again my next guest served as pakistan's ambassador to the united states from 2008 to 2011. he's now the director for south and central asia at the hudson institute in washington d.c hussein haqqani's latest book is reimagining pakistan transforming a dysfunctional nuclear power it takes a look at pakistan's past its current failings and it offers suggestions for the country's future ambassador it's good to have you on the day i'd like to start by listening to what pakistan's prime minister had to say just a day after the taliban seized power in kabul take a listen mental slavery is worse than actual slavery it's more difficult to free your mind from mental slavery in afghanistan they've just broken the shackles of slavery but the chains of mental slavery remain the chains of mental slavery how do you understand that ambassador was that just a slip of the tongue or does he really welcome the taliban takeover mr imran khan has a long history of supporting the taliban i hope you know that his opponents in pakistan have often called him taliban khan for that reason he has expressed admiration for their system of justice for their core beliefs and i think he is definitely saying that the taliban have succeeded in something that he would like to do which is to totally break with the west ironically this is a man whose claim to fame is having been a playboy in the west and having excelled at a game that originated in britain not in what is today pakistan would the taliban would be marching through the streets of kabul tonight without pakistan's shelter and support these past 20 years pakistanis would like us all to believe that they would have but the truth remains that everybody else in the world agrees that they wouldn't be able to do that pakistan did support the taliban when they were in power the last time and pakistan after 9 11 decided to support the americans but when general musharraf announced that support he said i am giving up the taliban in afghanistan only because we want to continue our conflict with india moving forward a couple of years later general musharraf admitted that he continued to support the taliban the second taliban amir was killed in pakistan the current taliban leadership i went to negotiate in doha with the americans on pakistani planes so i think that it's time for pakistan to acknowledge that it did support the taliban and its reason for doing so was to deny india any influence in afghanistan it did not have anything to do with the united states per se but it has had consequences for american policy that were particularly detrimental ambassador did you support former u.s president donald trump's decision to negotiate with the taliban i have been consistently opposed to the process of negotiation with the taliban my argument was premised on the fact that the moment you start talking to an insurgent group you give the sigh in signal that those who are already in power will not be able to remain in power and that results in desertions and that is exactly what happened i also argued that if the issue is the withdrawal of american troops that withdrawal should be negotiated between the iran government and the united states not between the united states and the taliban you've been quoted as saying that all is not lost in afghanistan is exemplified by the willingness of afghan civilians to form militias to resist the taliban the u.s armed various iraqi militias against isis and there is no reason why a similar approach cannot be adopted in afghanistan you were quoted or you wrote this about two months ago do you still believe that considering what's happened in the last two weeks well the united states has definitely abandoned the afghans there is a very narrow view of the world currently prevalent in washington d.c president biden thinks that afghanistan is not important to the us at the same time we must remember that millions of afghans do not like the taliban they do not agree with their worldview and eventually there is going to be resistance to the taliban the u.s can support it or that resistance can succeed or perish on its own what should the us what stance should the u.s take now regarding pakistan moving forward do you think the u.s president the state department the secretary of state can they trust anything that comes out of the mouths of the leaders of pakistan well for 20 years americans have had a dilemma with pakistan this was the case when i served the government of pakistan this was the case before this is the case now pakistan has what it considers to be its national interest which relates exclusively to its terrible or bad relationship with india and in the process pakistani leaders have often told what have been nothing but lies or half truths to the americans so i will not be surprised if in this particular phase americans do not trust pakistan at all but eventually america has to deal with pakistan and the way forward would be for both sides to try and figure out how to talk to each other honestly if they can say nakani former pakistani ambassador to the united states ambassador we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you you're welcome

Channel: DW News

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Keywords: DW News, Afghanistan, Kabul, Taliban, Bundeswehr, German Army, US forces in Afghanistan, war in Afghanistan

Id: vrEungA6CTM

Length: 15min 21sec (921 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021