Biden: US extended security zone in Kabul 1:47
Washington (CNN) -
Leaders of major U.S. allies plan to pressure President Joe Biden to extend the deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan during a meeting Tuesday morning. as reported by officials familiar with the matter.
The virtual meeting of the Group of 7 (G7) will be the first international forum in which Biden will speak collectively with major European allies about the Afghanistan crisis, which has sparked anger and anxiety in foreign capitals over its chaotic execution.
Before the talks, US and Western officials discussed expected pressure from other leaders on Biden to keep troops in Kabul beyond the August 31 deadline.
Biden has made no public commitment to this, which worries some allies who fear there will not be enough time to get its citizens and Afghan allies who collaborated in the war out of the country.
The Taliban sentenced to death the brother of the Afghan translator who aided US troops, according to letters obtained by CNN
But the administration must decide on Tuesday whether it will try to extend the evacuation mission in Afghanistan beyond Aug. 31, according to a defense official directly familiar with the discussions.
The military is advising the White House that the decision must be made on Tuesday to allow enough time to withdraw the 5,800 soldiers currently on the ground, as well as their equipment and weapons.
If the president agrees, the military is planning "a few more days" to try to evacuate as many people as possible before the withdrawal of US forces begins, possibly later this week.
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Overnight, the pace of evacuations accelerated dramatically, according to the White House.
An official said Monday morning that approximately 10,400 people had been evacuated from Kabul in the past 24 hours on 28 different US military flights, more than double the previous day's figures.
The official said another 5,900 people were evacuated on coalition planes.
Afghanistan: US evacuates on commercial flights 0:41
Yet even as the evacuation effort is picking up speed, US allies continue to fear that chaos or a terrorist attack could again hamper progress.
The United States is closely monitoring ISIS threats outside Kabul International Airport, with a shootout involving US, German and Afghan forces taking part on Monday, engaging unknown attackers, according to the US Operations Command. German Joint Forces.
Biden indicated during a rare appearance Sunday at the White House that the possibility of staying in the country longer was being discussed, but said his goal remained for the military to leave on Aug. 31.
"Our hope is that we do not have to extend, but I suspect that there will be discussions about the degree of progress of the process," he said.
The Taliban, however, have indicated that they consider the August 31 date to be firm, complicating any decision on whether to keep US forces on the ground beyond the deadline.
Biden said Sunday that it "remains to be seen" whether the United States asks the Taliban directly about the possibility of remaining in the country until next month.
The Pentagon says they are aware of the Taliban's declaration that the US must withdraw all forces by August 31, and that they currently continue to plan to meet that deadline.
Joe Biden responds to criticism for Afghanistan 1:16
"That is the mission that the commander in chief has assigned us and that is what we are trying to execute," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters.
However, Kirby added that "if there is a need to discuss extending that deadline, then we will absolutely have that discussion at the appropriate time with the commander-in-chief."
Tuesday's effort to pressure Biden to extend the term is expected to be led by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is the current G7 chairman under his rotating leadership.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are also expected to exert pressure.
Macron, in a phone call with Biden last week, told the US president that the West had a "moral responsibility" towards Afghans who need protection and share his values.
"We cannot abandon them," Macron told Biden, according to a reading of the call from the Elysee presidential palace.
Kabul fell a week ago.
This is what happened in Afghanistan
Biden has also discussed the schedule in individual phone calls with Johnson, Merkel and Italy's Mario Draghi, but has not made a firm commitment to staying in Kabul beyond the end of the month, the officials said.
At a closed-door meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Friday, several European allies publicly raised their desire to keep the military beyond August 31 in order to get more people out of Afghanistan, said one. person familiar with the meeting.
The United States did not commit.
"The United States has declared that the deadline ends on August 31," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference after the meeting.
Biden predicted Sunday that he would not be able to offer any firm commitments if his counterparts ask him to extend the deadline.
"I'll tell them we'll see what we can do," he said.
G7Joe Biden