As the Taliban closes in on the last bastion of the US in Afghanistan -- Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport -- Joe Biden and his NATO allies are battling against the clock to fly out all foreign nationals and Afghan asylum seekers from the country. Kabul’s airport remains the only location from which flights are operating in and out of the country at the moment. But the window to get the foreigners and Afghans out of the country is rapidly shrinking.

US President Joe Biden confirmed on August 24 that US troops will not be staying past the August 31 deadline of troop withdrawal. With actual evacuations coming to a close several days before that, potentially thousands of asylum seekers are going to be left behind.

Why August 31 of all dates?

The date for withdrawal of all US forces along with remaining NATO forces was decided under former president Donald Trump during the several rounds of negotiations with the Taliban that resulted in the signing of the Doha Agreement. The US acquiesced to pulling out all military presence from Afghanistan in return for the Taliban not providing any shelter to known terrorist organisations like ISIS, al-Qaeda and others in their territory. The Taliban was also kept away from the US list of terror lists.

Under Trump, the date of the withdrawal was set on May 1, 2021. After President Biden won the American presidential elections, it was not yet known whether the agreement would hold. But President Biden announced in April that the date of withdrawal would be extended by four months. He promised that American and NATO forces "will be out of Afghanistan before we mark the 20th anniversary of that heinous attack on September 11th."

The extension was needed to pull out key staff and personnel, equipment, civilian contractors who worked with the western forces, and the remaining troops on the grounds.

"Our military mission in Afghanistan will conclude on August 31st," President Biden had added later.

What went wrong?

The extension was sought also partly to prepare the Afghan government and forces so that they could organise independent operations against the Taliban. The Taliban forces were in an informal ceasefire with the Afghan army during the negotiations, but in May, less than three weeks after President Biden’s announcement, the insurgency group launched a new all-out offensive.

Western intelligence, governments and experts predicted that the Afghan National Army would manage to hold off the Taliban advance for months, at the very least. But the Taliban managed to arrive in Kabul before the Americans could even leave.

The rapid collapse of the Afghan armed forces and the escape of ex-president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani threw the withdrawal plans out of gear. Instead of the supposed months -- during which forces would have methodically withdrawn from Afghanistan followed by the migration of Afghan allies through Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) -- foreign nations now had just two weeks to complete all necessary evacuations. All through a single airport in a single city.

Deadline looms

Since August 15, when the Taliban took control of Kabul, more than 70,000 individuals have been airlifted out of the country. However, it is not yet clear how many more can be taken out before airlift operations cease. Evacuees include foreign nationals, Afghans who had been working with NATO and US operations, and those Afghans who could potentially be targets of Taliban violence if they remained in the country.

Even as thousands still throng around the airport’s perimeter, the time for airlifts is coming to a close, fast. While the official date of the pullout is August 31, the actual operations would have to end sooner as the last few days would be devoted to bringing back equipment, key personnel and remaining soldiers on the ground. With American forces leaving, the NATO allies would be forced to depart as well. The NATO nations have called for an extension of the deadline, but the Taliban has refused to allow any foreign armed presence beyond the assigned date.

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In the face of rapidly closing evacuation operations, the reality is setting in -- of thousands of people being left behind. While the Taliban has made commitments that the group would allow Afghans wishing to leave the country to do so through official channels after the government is set up, it has declared that for now only foreign nationals, and not Afghans, can leave the country. Hope for the Afghans is fast fading, along with the last of the Western forces.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Aug 25, 2021 6:42 PM IST