American President Joe Biden does not give in to pressure from the G7: the stars and stripes troops they will definitively leave Afghanistan by next Tuesday, August 31st, as per the ultimatum launched by the Taliban and reaffirmed at the press conference. Already while Biden was sitting at the virtual table with the other 7 big names, including the Italian premier Mario Draghi, the Pentagon had already been clear: at the press conference, the US Defense Chief, John Kirby, had made it clear that "there is no has been no change on the deadline of the mission in Afghanistan. We believe that the date of August 31st can be respected". “I think we have the ability to meet the August 31 date – explained Kirby -. On the evacuation front we continue to make progress, several thousand Americans have already been evacuated and in the US we will make more bases available to Afghan refugees. The goal is to take away 20 people by the end of the week”. Biden, while deciding to respect the date of August 31 for the definitive withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, has asked the Pentagon to prepare “contingency plans” to extend their stay in Kabul if necessary.
The urgently convened G7 asked instead to take more time to organize a more effective evacuation, taking into account in particular the tens of thousands of Afghan diplomats and refugees to be displaced. However, the pressures of the Taliban government were decisive, which in a press conference parallel to the G7 was peremptory: ultimatum highly confirmed on August 31, with the addition that "Afghans will not be allowed to leave the country. The Afghans will stay here", said the spokesman Zabihullah who reiterated: "No extensions to the August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of Western troops". Shortly before, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini had also intervened in Parliament: "All Italians and 2.700 Afghans have already been evacuated", guaranteed the 5 Star minister. "There is a deadline set by the American authorities, which guarantee the safety of Kabul airport and its safety", and at the moment it is on that date, precisely August 31st, that the repatriation activities must be concluded.
Including that ofAmbassador Vittorio Sandalli, who initially wanted to stay in Afghanistan: “All the diplomats who are still at Kabul airport are working on evacuation operations. Sandalli was the first to say he wanted to stay, but we made an operational assessment,” added Di Maio. Also Prime Minister Mario Draghi he confirmed the strategy when leaving the G7: "Safe evacuation by 31 August".
