In this file photo dated July 20, 2021, Britain's Defense Secretary Ben Wallace arrives at the prime minister's official residence on his way to meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo. (FRANCK ROBICHON / POOL PHOTO VIA AP / FILE)
WASHINGTON / LONDON / BRUSSELS – The fate of Afghanistan after a 20-year war led by the United States means that the West's resolve is now perceived as weak by major adversaries, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Thursday.
The war in Afghanistan has cost several hundred thousand lives and trillions of dollars but the Taliban are now back in power, and the West's leading powers are scrambling to evacuate their diplomats and Afghan staff from Kabul airport.
"What I'm uncomfortable with is that we have a world order now, where resolve is perceived by our adversaries as weak, the West's resolve," Wallace told BBC TV.
What I'm uncomfortable with is that we have a world order now, where resolve is perceived by our adversaries as weak, the West's resolve.
Ben Wallace, British Defense Secretary
"That is something we should all worry about: if the West is seen not to have resolve and it fractures, then our adversaries find that encouraging," Wallace told LBC radio.
On Thursday, the European Union's foreign policy chief branded developments in Afghanistan "a catastrophe and a nightmare", and said there had been a failure of intelligence to anticipate the Taliban's return to power there.
Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that a first group of 106 members of the EU staff in Afghanistan had been airlifted from the country and had arrived in Madrid, Spain.
President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that US troops may stay in Afghanistan past an Aug 31 deadline to evacuate Americans, while the Pentagon said the US military does not currently have the ability to reach people beyond the Kabul airport.
"If there's American citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out," Biden told ABC News in an interview conducted on a day many US lawmakers pressed him to extend the deadline that he had set for a final pullout.
Biden has come under fierce criticism for his handling of the withdrawal, which in recent days has been dominated by scenes of chaos in and around the Kabul airport with people desperately trying to get out of the country.
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks about the situation in Afghanistan in the East Room of the White House on Aug 16, 2021 in Washington, DC. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP)
Biden defended his decisions, saying problems were inevitable in ending the 20-year US involvement there.
President Joe Biden said the Taliban is cooperating for now in helping get Americans out of the country but "we're having some more difficulty" in evacuating US-aligned Afghan citizens
"The idea that somehow, there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don't know how that happens," he said.
He also said the Taliban is cooperating for now in helping get Americans out of the country but "we're having some more difficulty" in evacuating US-aligned Afghan citizens.
The speed with which Taliban forces retook Afghanistan, as US and other foreign forces withdrew, has led to chaotic scenes at the airport with diplomats, foreign citizens and Afghans trying to flee but they are being impeded by crowds and Taliban checkpoints.
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"We're going to do everything we can to continue to try and deconflict and create passageways for them to get to the airfield. I don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at the Pentagon.
A top US diplomat separately said on Wednesday the United States expects the Taliban to allow Afghans who wish to leave Afghanistan to depart safely.
Not satisfied
Austin said the United States was not satisfied with how many people were being evacuated.
"It's obvious we're not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through," he said.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris discussed ways to accelerate evacuations of Americans and refugees from Afghanistan with his national security team on Wednesday, a White House official said.
Biden did not take questions after delivering a White House speech about coronavirus vaccine booster shots, turning his back and walking away as reporters shouted.
We're going to do everything we can to continue to try and deconflict and create passageways for them (diplomats, foreign citizens and Afghans) to get to the airfield. I don't have the capability to go out and extend operations currently into Kabul.
Lloyd Austin, US Defense Secretary
Reuters reported on Tuesday increasing concern from officials about how many at-risk Afghans could be evacuated.
US troops guarding the evacuation effort fired some shots in the air overnight to control crowds, but there were no indications of casualties or injuries, the Pentagon said earlier on Wednesday.
Austin said there are about 4,500 US military personnel in Kabul and there "have been no hostile interactions with the Taliban, and our lines of communication with Taliban commanders remain open."
Speaking to reporters alongside Austin, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there had been no intelligence to indicate that the Afghanistan security forces and government would collapse in 11 days, as they did.
Milley said intelligence had "clearly indicated, multiple scenarios were possible," including a Taliban takeover following a rapid collapse of Afghan security forces and the government, a civil war or a negotiated settlement.
"The timeframe of rapid collapse – that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months and even years following our departure," Milley said.
The two top Republicans in the US Congress, Kevin McCarthy of the House of Representatives and Mitch McConnell of the Senate, requested a classified briefing for the "gang of eight" – the top eight relevant lawmakers – for a status report on the evacuation.
"It is of the utmost importance that the US government account for all US citizens in Afghanistan and provide the necessary information and means of departure to all those Americans who desire to leave the country," they wrote in a letter to Biden.
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Both Austin and Milley, who have served in Afghanistan, acknowledged that troops and veterans were finding the images from the evacuation troubling.
"I'm hearing strong views from all sides on this issue … what's important is that each of us will work our way through this in our own way," Austin said.