Taliban issue death sentence for brother of Afghan translator who helped US troops, according to letters obtained by CNN https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/23/politics/taliban-death-threat-afghan-translator-letters/index.html
The world wants an extension but even then , permission has to be obtained from the Taliban first……and there are fears that they may refuse. That's how fucked up the Trump deal with the Taliban is. UK's Johnson to push Biden for Afghan deadline extension "Even though they are the seven most powerful people on the planet they don't get to take that decision in isolation. The Taliban get a vote as well and that's why we're continuing to work towards the 31st," Heappey told LBC radi But the Taliban would need to give its approval, meaning British forces could not count on an extension, he said. "Even if the political will in London, Washington, Paris, Berlin is for an extension, the Taliban may say no," he said. LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge U.S. President Joe Biden this week to extend the evacuation deadline from Afghanistan, but even if one is agreed, the West will also need the approval of the Taliban, a defence minister said. Johnson will host a virtual meeting of leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies on Tuesday to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan where thousands of people have descended on Kabul airport in a bid to flee the Taliban. James Heappey, minister for the armed forces, said Britain was pushing for the deadline to be pushed beyond Aug. 31 after it identified thousands of people, including Afghan citizens, that it wants to help evacuate.
The art of the deal: Meet the US envoy behind the Taliban's return Zalmay Khalilzad spent years as Washington's point man for talks with the Taliban Kabul (AFP) - If one individual could bring peace to Afghanistan, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad touted himself as the man for the job. In the end, however, the seasoned diplomat has overseen the demise of the republic he so painstakingly assembled. The 70-year-old Afghan-American envoy spent years as Washington's point man for talks with the Taliban that paved the way for the deal to see the US end its longest war and exit Afghanistan. That milestone came after more than a year of intense shuttle diplomacy during which Khalilzad visited foreign capitals, attended summits at glitzy hotels, and gave speeches at prestigious think tanks. The Taliban were ready to discuss a compromise, he assured his audiences. Once a prolific social media voice, Khalilzad has gone silent since the Taliban returned to power following the collapse of the US-backed government in the face of an overwhelming blitzkrieg. The State Department said last week the envoy remained in Qatar, working the phones in hopes of encouraging a diplomatic settlement. But the deal he had hoped could end the war had actually unleashed disaster. Husain Haqqani, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said Khalilzad told successive US presidents eager to withdraw their troops that he had a peace deal, but it was in fact a surrender. "He negotiated poorly, emboldened the Taliban, and pretended that talks would yield a power-sharing agreement even though the Taliban had no intention to share power," Haqqani told AFP. Storied career Khalilzad took control of the US-Afghan portfolio in 2018 after the Trump administration named him a special envoy overseeing negotiations with the Taliban. The new assignment followed a storied career. Khalilzad had shaped embryonic governments in Afghanistan and Iraq following successive US invasions, gaining a reputation for bringing disparate groups to the table. Washington's decision to pursue talks followed years of rising violence in Kabul where the Taliban unleashed chaos by sending waves of suicide bombers into the Afghan capital. Khalilzad secured the release of the Taliban's co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar from Pakistan's custody to kickstart the initiative, with the two sides cobbling together an agreement charting the US withdrawal after nearly two decades of conflict. During months of negotiations in Qatar, Khalilzad was said to have developed a close rapport with the Taliban delegation. Pictures published online showed the gregarious envoy sharing laughs and smiles with insurgent negotiators, stirring resentment in Afghanistan where the war raged. But when the US withdrawal deal was finally signed in February 2020 at a lavish ceremony in Doha, Khalilzad had secured mostly nebulous assurances from the Taliban about any future peace. "Khalilzad prised... just one strong commitment –- that they would not attack the US and 'its allies'," wrote Kate Clark of the Afghanistan Analysts Network in a new report. More vague were promises from the Taliban to abandon Al-Qaeda and other international jihadist groups, and to begin talking to the Afghan government. Little time or space In hindsight, the agreement appears to have been little more than a string of American concessions. The US was leaving Afghanistan without a ceasefire and had not even established a framework for a future peace process that would be vital for locking down a settlement to end the war. Rather than securing compromises from the Taliban in the months following the deal, Khalilzad piled more pressure on the Afghan government -- strong-arming the palace into releasing thousands of insurgent prisoners who immediately bolstered the militant ranks. To add to Kabul's woes, the agreement effectively set off a countdown, with the US promising to pull all of its remaining troops from Afghanistan by May 2021 -- a deadline later extended until September. The Afghan government was left with little time or space to manoeuvre. US President Joe Biden's decision in April to follow through with the withdrawal lit the final fuse, sparking an all-out offensive by the Taliban that overthrew the Afghan government by force on August 15. Two days earlier, US lawmaker Michael Waltz -- an Afghan veteran -- sent a letter to Biden pillorying Khalilzad's performance. Khalilzad "has provided you with poor counsel and his diplomatic strategy has failed spectacularly", he wrote. "In light of this catastrophe, Ambassador (Khalilzad) should resign immediately or be relieved from his position." That same day, Khalilzad sent out his last tweet -- begging the Taliban to pull back its fighters as they converged on Kabul. "We demand an immediate end to attacks against cities, urge a political settlement, and warn that a government imposed by force will be a pariah state," the envoy wrote. By then, it was too late.
“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” the Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen said on Monday. Staying beyond the agreed deadline of 31 August would be “extending occupation”, he added.
That shit's so disingenuous. You got Pompeo meeting w/Taliban on Donnie's orders and leaving the Afghan government out of the conversation. You got Trump's Miller guy lobbying USCIS/DHS to restrict/reduce/sabotage Afghan refugee pleas.
Biden is the President -- he owns this botched withdrawal that left so many Afghans who assisted the U.S. at risk.
Biden is President now.....but prior to Aug13 everyone was under the impression Trump was going to be reinstated.
WH: "Irresponsible" To Say Americans Are "Stranded" In Afghanistan, "They Are Not" White House press secretary Jen Psaki bristled Monday when asked by FNC's Peter Doocy about Americans "stranded" in Afghanistan. "I think it's irresponsible to say that Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home," he said. "We have evacuated over 42,000 citizens... We are not going to abandon Americans who want to come home." https://www.realclearpolitics.com/v...ay_americans_are_stranded_in_afghanistan.html