By Ulviye Filiyeva ERKEC
Suhail Shaheen, the spokesperson of Taliban’s Qatar office, announced that 31st August withdrawal date is a “red line” for them.
Shaheen stated that; “This is a red line. US President Joe Biden announced that they would withdraw all their military forces on August 31. If they take this date forward, it means they continue the occupation.” The Taliban Spokesperson added that if the date is taken forward, the distrust that may arise between the sides will have negative consequences.
Those words were a response to Ben Wallace – Secretary of State for Defence, who said, on Tuesday, at the G7’s virtual summit that Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to ask Joe Biden to extend the evacuation period.
It is known that the Royal Air Force of Great Britain extended the evacuation period until 27-28 August. These measures were taken to get more people to leave the country, including Afghan politicians and humanitarian aid workers.
In his statement to Sky News, Suhail Shahee clearly expressed the organization’s decision in the case of this period’s extension: “If the United States or Great Britain asks for additional time for evacuation, the answer is “No.”
The tension of the situation at the Kabul airport continues. On August 23, various media organizations reported about an armed attack at the airport. According to William Urban, spokesperson for the USA Central Command; “The incident started when an unidentified man opened fire on Afghan security forces who were controlling access to the airport. Afghans responded it, based on their right to defend themselves, and the USA military and coalition did the same.” It was not revealed who the attacker was.
A senior member of the Taliban Waheedullah Hashimi, in his statement to Reuters, stated that Afghanistan will not be a democratic state, they will establish a state with sharia laws.
Remarking that there will be no discussion about the political system in the state, Hashimi also underlined that, “Whatever sharia laws say!”. According to him, the power structure in Afghanistan will be like the state structure during the previous Taliban governance from 1996 to 2001.