For Afghanis now on their way to the Kabul Airport, the window for evacuations may be closing frighteningly fast. The deadline is still August 31, and the Taliban has now blocked at least one road leading to an airport gate, stopping Afghanis from reaching the evacuation site.
Throngs of Afghanis are already at the Kabul Airport, waiting to be transported to some friendly country, but the Taliban says it wants to keep those people in the country too. The Taliban is now asking professionals to stay and exercise their skills at home, assuring them that they’ll come to no harm if they stay. It's hard to imagine anyone who doesn't worry that is a lie.
The government has announced Sharia law, but no one seems clear whether that means women must stay inside their homes, unable to go out to work or get an education. Desperate times, for sure.
On Tuesday, President Biden said that 70,700 people had been evacuated since August 14, including some 18,000 on Monday and Tuesday. Only a few more days are left to airlift civilians before the Americans have to evacuate or destroy their equipment and then ferry away their last group of troops. The Taliban has threatened to do something -- they're not clear on what -- if Americans are still on the ground in Afghanistan after that.
We'd guess that the Taliban are worried about brain drain, because practically any Afghani with an education or skills would leave the country just to avoid the clenched fist of the new government.
Let's hope all the Afghanis who helped the United States -- and their families -- can get on a flight.
__________
Do you think that the evacuation ought to go on into September despite Taliban threats? Will it?
Has the US done right by the Afghanis who helped us?
Is there any possibility that the Taliban will not retaliate against Afghanis who stay in the country?
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/politics/first-us-troops-leaving-afghanistan/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/24/asia/kabul-airport-afghanistan-intl-hnk/index.html
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