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London (dpa) – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK will use \u201cevery hour\u201d left to evacuate people from Afghanistan as he declined to rule out British troops having to leave by the end of Friday.<\/p>\nLondon (dpa) – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK will use \u201cevery hour\u201d left to evacuate people from Afghanistan as he declined to rule out British troops having to leave by the end of Friday.<\/p>\n
US President Joe Biden rejected calls from Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other allies to delay his August 31 exit date, citing the heightened security risks to troops.<\/p>\n
The move means the clock is quickly running down on the UK evacuation operation at Kabul airport, with British troops expected to have to leave ahead of their American counterparts.<\/p>\n
Mr Raab said Britain is working \u201cas fast as we can\u201d to maximise the number of people who can flee, saying 2,000 have been evacuated in the previous 24 hours.<\/p>\n
He declined to state when the last British flight will leave Kabul, amid suggestions that the UK operation will have to end as soon as Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe military planners are working through the limited time they need to draw down their personnel and equipment and so they will firm up those details,\u201d he told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today programme when asked about that date.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will use every hour and day we\u2019ve got to maximise that throughput to get as many of those residual cases out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to keep going for every day and every hour that we\u2019ve got left.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister had hoped to persuade Mr Biden to maintain his forces on the ground to allow the evacuation effort more time during an emergency meeting of G7 leaders on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
But the US President said staying longer would raise the risk of attack by so-called Islamic State (IS) affiliates and straining a \u201ctenuous\u201d working relationship with the Taliban.<\/p>\n
Having swept to power last week in the wake of America\u2019s major withdrawal of troops, the Taliban has warned evacuations \u201cwill not be allowed\u201d after August 31.<\/p>\n
The group suggested foreign forces remaining past the deadline would cross a \u201cred line\u201d that will \u201cprovoke a reaction\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ministry of Defence figures put the number of people evacuated by the UK since August 13 at 9,226, but there are thousands feared to be remaining.<\/p>\n
The MoD declined to comment on reports in the Guardian, which cite defence sources, that the evacuation could end within 24 to 36 hours.<\/p>\n
The newspaper said that the US military requires two to three days to close its operations in Kabul, and that British troops aim to be at least 24 hours ahead of that, with the Americans providing security at their airport.<\/p>\n
Mr Johnson said after the virtual summit that leaders had agreed the \u201cnumber one condition\u201d up to and after the deadline was that the Taliban must grant \u201csafe passage for those who want to come out\u201d.<\/p>\n
A joint statement from leaders of the G7 countries \u2013 also including Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan \u2013 reaffirmed their commitment to the people of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legitimacy of any future government depends on the approach it now takes to uphold its international obligations and commitments to ensure a stable Afghanistan,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the foreign secretary was forced to defend remaining on holiday in Crete as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan on their path back to power.<\/p>\n
Mr Raab has defied calls to quit over his widely-criticised decision, but said \u201cof course with the benefit of hindsight I wouldn\u2019t have gone away\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stuff about me being lounging around on the beach all day is just nonsense,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe stuff about me paddleboarding, nonsense, the sea was actually closed, it was a red notice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London (dpa) – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK will use \u201cevery hour\u201d left to evacuate people from Afghanistan as he declined to rule out British troops having to leave by the end of Friday. US President Joe Biden rejected calls from Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other allies to delay his August<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[343],"tags":[427],"class_list":{"0":"post-157599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-actualidad","8":"tag-news"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t