TRAPPED IN HELL
Taliban threaten there’ll be ‘consequences if withdrawal delayed’ as UK in race to evacuate 12,000 desperate Afghans
THE Taliban has warned "there will be consequences" if NATO troops aren't withdrawn by August 31 as the UK races to airlift 12,000 desperate Afghans.
Taliban spokesperson Dr Suhail Shaheen said Western troops would be crossing a "red line" if they stayed beyond the end of August deadline.
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Shaheen told The Sun: "All forces should withdraw on the timeline they announced – 31 August.";
He insisted people could still flee the country once commercial flights reopen.
“They can evacuate anyone through commercial flights, with visas issued by the concerned country,” Shaheen added.
But stranded Afghans warned they will be barred from getting visas because most of the western embassies have closed.
According to , Shaheen also said that "if the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations - the answer is no. Or there would be consequences."
"It will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation it will provoke a reaction," he added.
This comes as James Heappey, Britain's armed forces minister, warned this morning that Kabul would turn into a warzone if US and British forces go against the Taliban's wishes.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kabul evacuation effort is "down to hours now, not weeks" as he conceded the UK's involvement will end when the US leaves.
"It's really important for people to understand the United States have over 6,000 people in Kabul airport and when they withdraw that will take away the framework ... and we will have to go as well.
"We are really down to hours now, not weeks, and we have to make sure we exploit every minute to get people out."
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He added it was in the Taliban's interest to allow Afghans to flee even after NATO troops have left.
"It's in the Taliban's interest to keep the country open, there are border crossing points into Islamabad and in Pakistan to some of the other neighbouring countries that are open.
"I would think the Taliban want the airport to function and that means in the not too distant future, people that are eligible will be able to leave the country and make their way either overland or, indeed, on flights to the Emirates and other parts of the world which has been the norm up to date."
Meanwhile Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon urged against a "cut-and-run" operation in Afghanistan.
"I think it is deeply regrettable that the current situation we're seeing unfold right now has been allowed to develop in the way that it has, but we have to go forward from where we are right now," she said.
"The world has a massive responsibility towards people in Afghanistan and it's really important that that responsibility is lived up to."
No 10 said "discussions on the ground" had been held with the Taliban over extending the deadline evacuations, but that officials were still working towards a deadline of the end of the month.
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "Given the Americans are providing the vast bulk of security and facilitating the functioning of the airport in Kabul, and given we have previously spoken to other Nato countries about staying and that didn't prove to be a viable option, we are going to need to leave the airport at the same time as the Americans."
They added that although the Government was working towards an August 31 deadline, he said: "No firm date has been set in terms of when our evacuation procedure ends.
"We will continue to run our evacuation process as long as the security situation allows.";
The UK will double its airlifts in Kabul to 12,000 this week as Boris Johnson pleads with US president Joe Biden to extend the withdrawal deadline.
Prime Minister Johnson will hold a virtual meeting of world leaders tomorrow to push for more time to save fleeing Afghans.
Nearly 6,000 Britons, Afghan staff and their families have now been airlifted out by the RAF - but there are now plans to fly out a further 6,000.
Heappey said 1,800 eligible eligible citizens and 2,275 local allies had been identified, but more were coming forward all the time.
"We will get out as many as we possibly can," he told Sky news.
He added that the "hard reality" was that without US support there would be international airlifts past August 31.
Britain says its forces have evacuated more than 5,700 people chiefly U.K. citizens and Afghans from Kabul in the last 10 days, 1,821 of them in the past 24 hours.
TERROR WARNING
This comes as paratroopers were yesterday seen yards away from the Taliban at Kabul airport.
Brit troops were searching the thousands of Afghans desperate to leave while armed Taliban kept watch.
Troops are reportedly relying on the jihadi militants to keep peace at Kabul airport as evacuations attempts continue.
One Taliban fighter even jumped onto a sea container with his AK-47 to keep watch as Paras processed refugees and provided food, water and first aid.
This comes as tension flared up after a firefight broke out between an unidentified gunmen, NATO troops and Afghan guards at Kabul airport.
One Afghan guard was killed and three others were injured in the battle which involved US and German forces, the German military said on Twitter.
The report does not say if the Afghan was a Taliban fighter.
This follows the deaths of seven people, including a toddler, who were crushed to death in a stampede at Kabul airport as desperate families attempt to flee the Taliban.
Harrowing scenes - described as some of the worst since the Taliban took over - occurred on Saturday as there was a horrific crush and stampede outside the airport as crowds surged amid gunfire.
Men, women and children were crushed together in 31C heat - many without provisions - as there were reports of people collapsing from exhaustion and asphyxiation, The Ministry of Defence confirmed.
One mum, a former interpreter, revealed her two-year-old daughter was trampled to death as the family attempted to get to the airport, reports the .
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Meanwhile, another Afghan woman - named only as Sara - told she had witnessed at least 15 people - including children shot dead since the Taliban took power last Sunday.
Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay described the "utterly horrendous scenes" and "absolute pandemonium" at the airport as he witnesses people "crushed to death".
British and US troops were "firing into the air" to try make people step back, while the shouts for "medics and stretchers is almost continuous", Ramsey explained.
NATO estimates around 20 people have been killed during evacuation operations around Kabul Airport.
UTTER CHAOS
British paratroopers are desperately trying to manage to chaos at the airport amid fears the evacuation mission could collapse in days - with the West in a race against time to evacuate its citizens and refugees.
Images released by the Ministry of Defence show a packed RAF plane whose passengers included citizens from Afghanistan eligible to settle in Britain as four women were crushed to death in chaotic scenes to escape.
But Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said "no nation will be able to get everyone out" of Afghanistan as he predicted growing crowds at Kabul airport as "desperate people" race to escape the Taliban.
Yet the Cabinet minister looked to assure those who are almost certain to be left behind that the UK will continue to work to repatriate them even once troops are home.
It comes as Taliban death squads are reportedly pulling people from their homes and executing them as they step up the hunt for anyone who helped the US and UK.
Writing for the Mail on Sunday, the Cabinet minister called the retreat of allied forces "unedifying" and warned that the events of the past weeks "will have consequences for us all for years to come".
He said: "I have said all along that no nation will be able to get everyone out.
"It is a source of deep sadness for many of us across Nato, and no-one wanted 20 years of sacrifice to end this way.
"We will do our best to the very last moment.
"But it isn't the end. We shall stand by our obligations and are investigating now how to process people from third countries and refugee camps."
Wallace said the UK would establish a series of processing hubs across the region outside Afghanistan for those Afghans the UK has an obligation to take in.
And he said the latest issue at Kabul airfield is that there are "too many people in the airport", bringing about "a suspension of access".
The Ministry of Defence stressed, however, that the suspension applied only to the US-side of the operation at Hamid Karzai International, and that neither UK flights nor processing was affected by the pause.
Nearly 4,000 people had been evacuated by Britain from Afghanistan since August 13.
Sky News said it had spoken to British troops at the airport who, having served in Afghanistan previously, said the queues, crushing and desperation of people to get out of the country were the worst scenes they had witnessed during their service.
Meanwhile, the US has warned its citizens due to "potential security threats outside the gates".
Sir Laurie Bristow, Britain’s ambassador in Afghanistan, said: "The scale of this effort is enormous and is without a doubt the biggest international challenge I have worked on as a diplomat.
I have said all along that no nation will be able to get everyone out.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace
"Lives are at stake and I am incredibly proud of the tenacious efforts of my team during these challenging times, with military and civilian staff working together to successfully evacuate thousands of people in the last week.
"We will continue to work tirelessly to get British nationals, Afghan staff and others at risk out of the country as quickly as possible as we also support Afghanistan's long-term future."
UK PM Boris Johnson has paid tribute to Sir Laurie and his team who are aiding repatriation efforts at Kabul airport.
Johnson told reporters after an emergency Government meeting that the situation in the central Asian country was "slightly better", although the airport scenario has since worsened.
'TENSIONS BETWEEN UK AND US'
But it is a race against time.
US President Joe Biden signalled he wanted the evacuations completed by the end of the month — a move that would likely force Britain to wrap up its operation at the same time.
Officials said they were continuing to "work closely" with US military partners to "ensure the security and viability of the evacuation mission in Kabul".
But there are reports of tension between Washington and London, with claims the UK Government was kept in the dark about the timetable for the US withdrawal of its armed forces.
Further British troops are being held "at readiness in the region and the UK" to move to Afghanistan "at speed" if required, the MoD said.
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The MoD is looking at establishing hubs in countries such as Pakistan and Turkey.
In a briefing on Saturday, the US Department of Defense said 17,000 people have been flown out of the airport, including some 2,500 US citizens.
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British paratroopers try to control chaos at Kabul airport as women and children crushed in stampede to escape Taliban
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