UK To Urge Extension Of Kabul Evacuations At G7 Talks

US President Joe Biden has set an August 31 deadline for the chaotic airlift organised by thousands of temporarily deployed US troops, but has left the door open to an extension if needed.

Britain said Monday it would urge the United States to extend an end-of-the-month deadline for evacuations from Afghanistan, while the Taliban warned any delay would lead to "consequences". US President Joe Biden has set an August 31 deadline for the chaotic airlift organised by thousands of temporarily deployed US troops, but has left the door open to an extension if needed. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson would "try to raise the prospect of seeing if the United States will extend" the deadline at an online leaders meeting of the G7 group of wealthy nations on Tuesday. But a spokesman for the Taliban, Suhail Shaheen, told Sky News that the hardline Islamist group would not agree to any extension of the deadline, calling this a "red line", with any delay viewed as "extending occupation".