DUBLIN - The US decision not to extend the deadline for withdrawing from Afghanistan beyond Aug 31 has put "all of us in a situation which is no more under control", said French President Emmanuel Macron here on Thursday.

Macron made the remarks at a joint press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin during his one-day working visit to Ireland.

Asked if the United States and its allies have betrayed their moral responsibility following the US decision not to extend its deadline of withdrawal from Afghanistan, Macron said that he would rather not use the word of "betrayal".

He said that it not safe for other countries to continue to carry out evacuations due to the US decision. "We want to work hard and well until the very last minute to do the maximum operations, and be sure of the security and safety of our people," Macron added.

France has so far helped the evacuation of 2,600 people including some 2,000 Afghan citizens at risk and the evacuation is still ongoing, said Macron, stressing that "I cannot guarantee that we will be successful because the security situation is not under control".

Macron arrived in Dublin on Thursday morning. He was first welcomed by Irish President Michael Higgins before a meeting with Martin at the Government Buildings, during which both sides discussed issues of common concern apart from the Afghanistan issue.

WASHINGTON -- US President Joe Biden said Thursday the United States will avenge militarily the bombing attacks earlier in the day in the Afghan capital of Kabul that have killed at least 103 people, adding the ongoing evacuation in Afghanistan will continue uninterrupted.

The number of US service members killed in the attacks has risen to 13, with 18 more injured troops currently in the process of being flown out of the country, according to the latest update by Bill Urban, public affairs officer of the US Central Command.

"We will respond with force and precision in our time, in a place we choose in a manner of our choosing," Biden said when delivering remarks from the White House, following a deadly suicide bombing attack at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The blast at the airport was followed by another one at the adjacent Baron Hotel, whose details are being figured out by the US military.

The Wall Street Journal, citing a senior Afghan health official, reported that the explosions left at least 90 Afghan civilians dead.

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health previously confirmed the attacks had resulted in over 60 deaths and 140 injuries among Afghans, and were claimed by ISIS-K, a radical affiliate of the Islamic State. Active in Afghanistan, the terror group has been fighting enemies including the Taliban.

Biden said he had ordered US military commanders to "strike ISIS-K assets, leadership and facilities," stopping short of elaborating on the specifics. "These ISIS terrorists will not win. We will rescue the Americans. We will get our Afghan allies out. And our mission will go on," he added.

Answering a reporter's question as to whether he'll deploy additional troops to Afghanistan in the wake of the attacks, Biden said if the military needs additional force, "I will grant it."

Asked about whether he considered it a mistake to depend on the Taliban to secure the perimeter of the Kabul airport given the mass casualty bombings, Biden said it's not a matter of trust but rather the Taliban's "self-interest" that led to US coordination with the Taliban.

The president said he has thus far been shown no evidence of collusion between the Taliban and ISIS in masterminding both what happened in the morning and what was expected in the future. The Taliban issued a statement condemning the attacks in their aftermath.

Close to the end of his White House appearance, Biden said he would "bear responsibility for fundamentally all that's happened" during the chaotic withdrawal in Afghanistan, while also shifting the blame on former President Donald Trump, whose administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban to get all US forces out of Afghanistan by May 1, 2021.

The attacks came as the United States has been scrambling to evacuate Americans and its Afghan partners from Afghanistan since the Taliban entered Kabul on Aug. 15.

After seizing Kabul, the Taliban said all US troops must leave Afghanistan no later than Aug. 31, and Biden has upheld that deadline.

"The President relies on the advice of his military commanders and they continue to believe that it is essential to get out by the 31st (of August). That is their advice," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said at a press briefing following Biden's televised speech.

MADRID - Almost 20 years after invading Afghanistan, the United States and its allies had to stampede out of the Asian country, representing a resounding military, economic and political failure, the Spanish media Rebelion said in a recent opinion article.

The chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan became a new Saigon moment for the United States, demonstrating another embarrassing failure, the article said.

Instead of fighting terrorism, the endless war started by the United States has only fueled it, the article said.

The military failure lies in the fact that thousands of young Americans died in bombings and on battlefields and thousands more returned seriously injured or with psychiatric problems, it added.

In addition, the economic cost of the invasion has been catastrophic as Washington squandered more than a trillion and a half dollars. American taxpayer money kept flowing to keep the Afghan government afloat with the help of Pentagon troops, the article said.

The United States sent nearly 600,000 small arms, 76,000 vehicles and 208 airplanes to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2016, according to a 2017 US Government Accountability Office report.

The failure of the United States is also reflected in politics.

With the withdrawal, the United States was unable to fulfill its geopolitical yearnings in the region, and will try to pursue those objectives by other means by leaving that vast area destabilized, the article said.

"But after these 20 years, the one who has suffered the most is the Afghan people," the article added.

It is estimated that more than 100,000 civilians were killed or injured in the US military operations over the past 20 years. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Global Trends report, three out of ten refugees in the world are from Afghanistan, with 96 percent of them located in Pakistan and Iran.

MADRID - Spain's Minister of Defense Margarita Robles said on Wednesday there was "no doubt" the West had "failed the Afghan people", as Spain and other western powers struggle to evacuate as many people from Kabul following the Taliban takeover.

A steady stream of aircraft carrying refugees has been arriving at the Spanish Air Force base at Torrejon de Ardoz in recent days, but despite the efforts of Spanish troops who "are putting their lives at risk", Robles admitted "a lot of people are going to be left behind".

The Defense Minister explained that the Spanish troops in Kabul were restricted by the fact they could not act beyond the airport.

She also lamented the attitude of US President Joe Biden, who continues to insist that American troops will leave Kabul on Aug 31.

"We won't be able to get any more people out, and we are aware of the human drama ... We will be there as long as necessary," said Robles.

'Two or three days' are needed to close down US operation in war-torn nation

British defense sources in Kabul said on Wednesday that the United Kingdom's military operation in Afghanistan could end on Thursday, because its troops need to leave before United States' forces pull out and with Taliban militants tightening their grip around Kabul airport.

US President Joe Biden has defied international calls to extend the Aug 31 deadline for the US evacuation mission, saying "each day brings added risk" to US troops. He said a threat from Isis-K, a terrorist group, was one of the main factors behind his decision to reject an extension.

In a delayed news briefing late on Tuesday, Biden said he expected the evacuation to end within a week.

Biden expressed confidence that the evacuation would go to plan, and noted that since Aug 14, more than 70,000 people have been flown out. He said he believes that the US has the ability to get everyone out that wants to get out by Aug 31.

He added that "completion by August 31 depends upon the Taliban continuing to cooperate to allow access to the airport" as he confirmed that he had called for contingency plans to extend the timetable "should that become necessary".

The Times newspaper reported that during an emergency meeting of G7 leaders on Tuesday, there had been "robust calls" from other nations, understood to be Britain, France and Germany, for Biden to change the US deadline.

But in the news conference, Biden said: "There was strong agreement among the leaders both about the evacuation mission underway as well as the need to coordinate our approach to Afghanistan as we move forward."

The Guardian newspaper reported British defense sources as saying that the US military is understood to require "two to three days" to close down its operations at Kabul airport, and that British troops want to be "at least 24 hours ahead of that".

It said all Western forces are now expected to leave within days. France has said that it is "very probable" that operations to evacuate its citizens and partners from Afghanistan will end on Thursday, European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told French broadcaster C News TV.

In a statement given after the G7 meeting, Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the group of nations would focus on what he called a "road map for future engagement with the Taliban".

The Daily Mail reported that the British military's final evacuation flight could take off later on Thursday, raising concerns that, potentially, thousands of Afghan civilians eligible to seek sanctuary in the UK may be left behind.

The newspaper said desperate crowds could try to storm the airport and spark a stampede, or that terrorists may launch an attack. It said those not already at the airport now have little chance of escape, as Taliban militants have now stopped all Afghan citizens reaching it.

On Tuesday, the Taliban said there was enough time to get foreign nationals out before the deadline, but it was "not in favor" of allowing Afghans to leave.

Aid agencies have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis for the population left behind, Reuters news agency added.

The fear for many Afghans is that the Taliban will persecute those who worked for Western military forces, the Financial Times noted.

Britain's foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, told Times Radio on Wednesday that Britain wants to "exercise the maximum moderating influence that it can" to prevent the Taliban from turning Afghanistan into a breeding ground for terror.

Illusions punctured

Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, told Newsweek that, as part of the "special relationship" with Washington, British leaders had expected to be consulted on the Afghanistan withdrawal.

"The withdrawal has punctured common illusions on the extent of Britain's military dependence on the United States," Chalmers told the magazine. "British leaders had convinced themselves that they had real influence in successive wars in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Now the reality of dependence without influence has been exposed."

Chalmers said that one result of the US move "could be that the UK government will take European defense cooperation more seriously" than it has for many years. "This could be one of the few positive side-effects from this sorry debacle," he said.

Putin warns of threats

In Moscow, Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday criticized the US and its allies for leaving Afghanistan in chaos that raises potential security threats for Russia and its allies in Central Asia.

Addressing a ruling party meeting in the Kremlin, Putin said: "There is a danger that terrorists and different groups that found a refuge in Afghanistan will use the chaos left by our Western colleagues and try to launch an expansion into neighboring countries. That will pose a direct threat to our country and its allies.

"We're not going to meddle in Afghanistan's domestic affairs or involve our military in a conflict where everyone is against each other. The Soviet Union had its own experience in this country. We have learned the lessons we needed."

Agencies, Xinhua, and Heng Weili in New York contributed to this story.

WASHINGTON - Former President Donald Trump launched on Saturday a sustained attack on President Joe Biden's handling of the retreat of US forces from Afghanistan, which he called "the greatest foreign policy humiliation" in US history.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Biden for Afghanistan's fall to Taliban, even though the US withdrawal that triggered the collapse was negotiated by his own administration.

"Biden's botched exit from Afghanistan is the most astonishing display of gross incompetence by a nation's leader, perhaps at any time," Trump said at a boisterous rally packed with his supporters near Cullman, Alabama.

For his part, Biden has criticized the Afghan military for refusing to fight, denounced the now-ousted Afghan government and declared he inherited a bad withdrawal agreement from Trump.

At the rally, Trump blamed the situation on Biden not having followed the plan his administration came up with and bemoaned US personnel and equipment being left behind as troops withdrew.

"This is not a withdrawal. This was a total a surrender," he said.

Trump said the Taliban, with whom he had negotiated, respected him. He suggested the quick takeover of Afghanistan would not have happened if he was still in office.

"We could have gotten out with honor," Trump added. "We should have gotten out with honor. And instead we got out with the exact opposite of honor."

Reuters

US President Joe Biden is sticking to the US timetable of an Aug 31 withdrawal from Afghanistan, he told G7 leaders on Tuesday, while the Pentagon announced that 4,000 Americans have been evacuated so far from the war-riddled country.

The decision goes against the preference of some allied leaders, who wanted more time for the evacuations.

"We will go on right up until the last moment that we can," said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had pushed to keep the Kabul airport presence after Aug 31. Johnson acknowledged he was unable to persuade Biden to extend the US presence.

"But you've heard what the president of the United States has had to say, you've heard what the Taliban have said," Johnson said.

Professor Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, told Newsweek that as part of the "special relationship" with the Americans, British leaders expected to be consulted on the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

"The withdrawal has punctured common illusions on the extent of Britain's military dependence on the United States," Chalmers said. "British leaders had convinced themselves that they had real influence in successive wars in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the reality of dependence without influence has been exposed."

Chalmers said that one result of the US move "could be that the UK government will take European defense cooperation more seriously than it has for many years. This could be one of the few positive side-effects from this sorry debacle," he said.

Biden said the Taliban, who took control of the country at lightning speed over several days, are cooperating despite some violent incidents.

"But it's a tenuous situation," he said. "We run a serious risk of it breaking down as time goes on."

The Pentagon said 21,600 people had been evacuated in the 24 hours that ended Tuesday morning, and Biden said an additional 12,000 had been flown out in the 12 hours that followed. Those include flights operated by the US military as well as other charter flights. Biden said US forces have helped evacuate 70,700 people since Aug 14.

Later Tuesday, the president said he had asked the Pentagon and State Department for evacuation contingency plans that would adjust the timeline if necessary.

The Taliban, who have retaken control of the mountainous Asian country nearly 20 years after being ousted in a US-led invasion after the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, insisted the airlift must stop on Aug 31.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said "after that (Aug 31), we won't let Afghans be taken out" on evacuation flights. He also said the Taliban would prevent Afghans from accessing roads to the airport.

Mujahid said the main problem was the chaos at the airport, and he accused the US of luring Afghan engineers, doctors and other professionals.

Afghans flocked to the Kabul airfield last week, and some latched on to a US military transport plane, later plunging to their deaths. At least seven people died that day, and another seven died Sunday in a stampede. An Afghan solider was killed Monday in a gunfight.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Aug 31 is enough time to evacuate all Americans but was less specific about completing the evacuation of Afghans. 

"As of today, August 24, we have evacuated approximately 4,000 American passport holders plus their families. We expect that number to continue to grow in the coming days," Kirby said.

Former US president Donald Trump said in a statement Tuesday, "Now we are learning that out of the 26,000 people who have been evacuated, only 4,000 are Americans."

Biden said his administration was working to rebuild a system for processing refugees that he said was "purposely destroyed" by Trump.

"We must all work together to resettle thousands of Afghans who ultimately qualify for refugee status,"  he said.

United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet told an emergency session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that "a fundamental red line will be the Taliban's treatment of women and girls".

David Beasley,  executive director of the World Food Programme, said the political situation must be resolved soon because the conflict, drought and the pandemic mean that 14 million Afghans could face starvation.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

BRUSSELS - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that G7 leaders agreed that it was their collective "moral duty" to help Afghan people amid the current situation in Afghanistan.

"We all agreed that it is our moral duty to help the Afghan people and to provide as much support as possible as conditions allow," von der Leyen said at a press conference following a meeting of G7 leaders.

"To protect these most vulnerable, it is clearly a matter for global cooperation and it has to be dealt with as such from the start. These people should not fall into smugglers' hands, they need safe pathways," she added.

She said the Commission will propose to almost quadruple the humanitarian aid coming from the European Union (EU) budget, to "over 200 million euros ($236 million) for the year 2021. This will help meet the urgent needs of Afghans both in Afghanistan but also of course in the neighbouring host countries".

However, von der Leyen added that "the future development assistance has to be condition-based. It always is condition-based, linked to fundamental values, human rights, and of course women's rights".

The EU has set aside one billion euros for Afghanistan's development in the next seven years. But "the aid is frozen" until the bloc "has solid guarantees and credible actions on the ground that the conditions are being met", von der Leyen said.

Addressing the same press conference, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, called on the new Afghan authorities to allow free passage to all foreign and Afghan citizens who wish to get to the airport.

"We have also raised this issue with our American friends and partners on two particular aspects: first, the need to secure the airport as long as necessary to complete the operations; and second, a fair and equitable access to the airport, for all nationals entitled to evacuation," said Michel.

"Today it is too early to decide what kind of relations we will develop with the new Afghan authorities," he noted. "We call for an inclusive political settlement and if we want to remain a positive influence for the Afghan people, especially in supporting their basic needs, we will have to deal with the new authorities. This will be subject to strict conditions, regarding the deeds and attitude of the new regime," he added.

In a joint statement issued after a virtual emergency meeting, the leaders of the United States, Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Canada, and Japan called for "calm and restraint to ensure the safety and security of vulnerable Afghan and international citizens, and the prevention of a humanitarian crisis".

The G7 leaders also expressed "grave concern about the situation in Afghanistan".

They added: "Our immediate priority is to ensure the safe evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have partnered with us and assisted our efforts over the past 20 years, and to ensure continuing safe passage out of Afghanistan. We will continue to coordinate closely on this."

OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday that Canada is to keep its military personnel in Afghanistan despite US President Joe Biden's commitment for Aug 31 American military deadline in the country.

"Our commitment to Afghanistan doesn't end when this current phase, this current deadline comes. We will continue to put pressure on the Taliban to allow people to leave the country," Trudeau said.

"We're going to continue to work every single day to get as many people out alongside our allies. The commitment by our fellow G7 nations is clear: we're all going to work together to save as many people as possible," Trudeau added.

Trudeau's remarks came after the Tuesday virtual summit of G7 leaders who met to discuss whether an extension of the American military commitment to Afghanistan is needed for evacuating all foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans who helped the Americans and the NATO allies before the country's recent fall to the Taliban.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the urgent summit to discuss the evacuation crisis and plot longer-term engagement with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders, as well as deal with the humanitarian crisis for refugees.

Canada is one of the allied countries taking part in the evacuation of people from Kabul's chaotic airport, which American-led forces have secured for the time being.

A Canadian military plane departed Kabul with over 500 evacuees on board on Monday, Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a tweet. "Canadian evacuation flights will continue for as long as conditions permit."

Before the summit, Trudeau said the return of the Taliban would have to prompt a broader rethinking of Canada's aid spending in Afghanistan.

"That is absolutely something we're looking at right now, obviously, with the Taliban in control of the country. Our regular aid, investments and agencies need to be looked at carefully to make sure we are not supporting, indirectly, the Taliban," Trudeau said.

The US-led forces hastily withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years of military operations. Twenty years of a failed "war on terror" has taken its toll: thousands of lives and a chaotic Afghanistan with millions of civilians displaced and homeless.

Numbers don't lie. Let's check the facts and see the chaos the US has left behind.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has refused to take in people fleeing Afghanistan as other leaders of the European Union and its member states grapple with the prospect of a possible influx of refugees after the Taliban took over power last week.

In an interview with broadcaster Puls 24 on Sunday, the Austrian leader was "clearly against the fact that we now voluntarily accept more people－that will not happen under my chancellorship either".

The 34-year-old noted that Austria has accepted more than 40,000 Afghans in the past few years, calling it a "disproportionately large contribution". He said controlling immigration is integral to protecting Austria's cultural identity.

His words came as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday called on the international community to help resettle refugees, while promising more EU humanitarian aid for Afghanistan.

She stressed the need for other non-EU countries to assist and described plans to first place Afghan refugees outside of the EU, adding that she would raise the issue at a G7 virtual meeting on Afghanistan on Tuesday.

Many EU states are worried about another refugee crisis like the one they faced in 2015 largely as a result of the wars in Libya and Syria. The tensions have been attributed to the rise of populist movements in the bloc.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that Europe alone cannot shoulder the consequences of the situation in Afghanistan, and that EU "must anticipate and protect ourselves against significant irregular migratory flows".

At a meeting of interior ministers last week, EU officials said the most important lesson from 2015 was not to leave Afghans adrift, and that without urgent humanitarian help they will start moving toward Europe.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who took the heat for her generous refugee policy years ago, said last week that Germany could grant asylum to about 10,000 Afghans.

But some German politicians, including Armin Laschet－the Christian Democratic Union's candidate to succeed Merkel in the national election next month－warned that there must be "no repeat" of the 2015 migration crisis.

Greek Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said on Wednesday that Greece will not accept being the "gateway for irregular flows into the EU" and that it considers Turkey to be a safe place for Afghans.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that Turkey has no duty, responsibility or obligation to be Europe's refugee warehouse. The country now hosts 3.6 million Syrians and hundreds of thousands of Afghans.

Jeff Crisp, a research associate of the Refugee Studies Centre at the University of Oxford and former senior official at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote in a tweet that the EU may not have an influx of Afghan refugees.

"It is difficult to leave Afghanistan. Pakistan and Turkey are reinforcing their borders. It's a very long and expensive journey, and Greece will push them back if they make it that far," he said.

Agencies contributed to this story.

A potential showdown looms between the United States and the Taliban over the scheduled withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan by Aug 31. 

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, in an interview Monday with Sky News, said an extension beyond that date would not be acceptable.

When asked if the Taliban would agree to the US or UK being given more time for evacuations, Shaheen said "no".

"You can say it's a red line. President Biden announced this agreement, that on the 31st of August they would withdraw all their military forces. So if they extend it, that means they are extending occupation, while there is no need for that. … It will deteriorate the relation ... that will create mistrust between us. If they are intent on continuing the occupation, so it will provoke a reaction," he said.

The date presents a dilemma for US President Joe Biden, who has pledged to evacuate every American who wants to leave Afghanistan.

Aug 31 also is less than two weeks from the 20th anniversary of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the US, the initial reason for the US military going to Afghanistan.

Reuters reported Monday that Biden is expected to decide as soon as Tuesday on whether to extend the deadline. The news outlet cited an official in the administration, however, as saying some of the president's advisers were arguing against extending the deadline for security reasons.

Biden will hold talks with leaders from the Group of Seven on Tuesday. British officials have said that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will use the emergency meeting to propose new sanctions on the Taliban and persuade the US president to extend the evacuation operation, The Washington Post reported. 

Ben Wallace, Johnson's defense minister, has said that Great Britain, like other nations dependent on US air and ground support in Afghanistan, will have to halt its own evacuation efforts when US forces leave.

"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," Wallace said, according to the Post.

There is continuing chaos at the airport in Kabul, from where the evacuation flights arrive and leave. Tens of thousands of people have flocked to the airfield, which has sustained sporadic violence.

A firefight just outside the airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early Monday, German officials said. The activity around the airport includes gunfire, beatings by the Taliban, while some caught up in the desperate crowds have been trampled.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in addressing a conference of Muslim clerics, urged them to push back against Western "propaganda" and said the US was undermining Taliban rule by sending planes and offering Afghans asylum.

Mohammad Khalid, another Taliban official who addressed the same gathering, said "history and Afghans will not forgive those who were trained in the US and Europe and returned to kill their own people".

Twenty-eight US military flights transported about 10,400 people out of Afghanistan over the 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, a White House official said.

The US says it has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of about 37,000 people since Aug 14. The military says it has the capacity to fly between 5,000 and 9,000 people out per day.

The Biden administration has given no clear estimate of the number of Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Some have put the total between 10,000 and 15,000.

At a press briefing Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki objected to a reporter's characterization that Americans were "stranded" in Afghanistan.

"First of all, I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not," Psaki replied. "We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home. We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via email, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home."

John Kirby, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said the faster pace of evacuation was partly due to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees to the airport.

"Thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and deconfliction with the Taliban," Kirby said. "What we've seen is, this deconfliction has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport."

"We are in talks with the Taliban on a daily basis through both political and security channels," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, adding that it will ultimately be Biden's decision alone whether to continue military-led evacuation operations past Aug 31.

The Pentagon said it has added a fourth US military base, in New Jersey, to three others (in Virginia, Texas and Wisconsin) to temporarily house arriving Afghans.

Major General Hank Williams, the joint staff deputy director for regional operations, told reporters there are now about 1,200 Afghans at those military bases. The four bases combined can hold up to 25,000 evacuees, Kirby said.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, the Taliban have faced limited armed resistance from fighters in Baghlan province, some 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of the capital Kabul. The anti-Taliban fighters claimed to have seized three districts in the Andarab Valley on Sunday, but the Taliban said Monday that they had cleared them out overnight.

Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said the group's forces have also surrounded nearby Panjshir, the only one of Afghanistan's 34 provinces yet to fall to the Taliban. Several Taliban opponents have gathered there, vowing to resist any attempt to take the province by force.

Mujahid said there had been no fighting in Panjshir and that the Taliban are seeking a "peaceful solution".

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Taliban step up criticism of US for chaos as Biden mulls longer stay

KABUL－A firefight at one of the gates of Kabul's international airport killed at least one Afghan security officer early on Monday, German officials said, in the latest chaos to engulf Western efforts to evacuate those fleeing the Taliban takeover of the country.

The shooting came as the Taliban sent fighters northward to face a nascent rebellion against them following their seizure of the country over a week ago in a lightning offensive.

Though the security forces of the central government largely collapsed or fled the Taliban advance, some armed Afghans remain at Kabul airport. It remains unclear whether they belong to the Afghan border forces that once guarded the airport or are attached to the Western armed forces as private armed guards now providing security there.

The gunfire on Monday broke out near the airport's northern gate－the scene of similar chaos on Saturday that resulted in a crush among a panicking crowd. Seven Afghans died in that episode.

In Monday's incident, CNN reported that a sniper outside the airport had fired at Afghan guards inside the facility and they returned fire, but US forces then fired back at the Afghan guards.

Two NATO officials at the airport said the situation was under control and all airport gates had been closed.

The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the United States, saying there's no need for Afghans to fear them. They have been holding talks with elders and politicians to set up a government, and have been quick to slam Washington's handling of the evacuation.

"America, with all its power and facilities ... has failed to bring order to the airport," Taliban official Amir Khan Mutaqi said.

"There is peace and calm all over the country, but there is chaos only at Kabul airport."

The Taliban have pledged an amnesty to president Ashraf Ghani and those who worked with the US and NATO, but many Afghans still fear revenge attacks.

In an effort to ramp up the airlift, the US government ordered six major commercial airlines to fly back to the US those who have been evacuated from Kabul to US bases in the Persian Gulf region and Europe.

There also have been concerns about a potential attack on the Kabul airport by a local Islamic State affiliate, whether through suicide bombers targeting the gathered crowds there or use of portable surface-to-air missiles to bring down aircraft. US military planes have been executing corkscrew landings, and other aircraft have fired flares upon takeoff－measures used to thwart missile attacks.

Aug 31 deadline

The Taliban's victory ended two decades of war as they took advantage of US President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw nearly all US troops from the country.

Biden's predecessor Donald Trump struck a deal with the Taliban last year allowing the US to withdraw its forces in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.

Biden has not ruled out extending the airlift beyond the Aug 31 deadline he set before the Taliban's swift takeover in Afghanistan, but he said he hoped it would not be necessary.

However, a senior legal adviser to the Taliban leadership told Reuters on Monday that Western forces were working toward the deadline to leave and had not sought to extend it.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, in an interview with Sky News, said Aug 31 is a "red line" and that extending the US presence would "provoke a reaction".

On Monday, a Taliban spokesman said their forces have recaptured three districts in northern Afghanistan that fell to local militia groups last week.

The districts of Bano, Deh Saleh, Pul e-Hesar in Baghlan Province were taken by local militia groups in one of the first signs of armed resistance to the Taliban since their seizure of Kabul on Aug 15.

Agencies - Xinhua

The firefights and chaos around the airport in Kabul complicated the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan. The Taliban warned that any extension beyond Aug 31 would have consequences.

US described as 'unreliable' after its 'imbecilic' withdrawal from nation

Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to press United States' President Joe Biden to keep US troops at Kabul airport beyond Aug 31 in crisis talks on Afghanistan with world leaders on Tuesday.

Chaos at Kabul airport escalated on the weekend with fears growing around the pace of a mass evacuation and the prospect of mercy flights might be halted.

The US is set to pull its 6,000 remaining troops out of the country by Aug 31, and the United Kingdom would have to follow, leaving thousands of desperate Afghan citizens behind, because the UK is reliant on US support to retain control of the airport, British media reported.

The British military is already understood to have extended its deadline to evacuate British and Afghan citizens, from Tuesday to Saturday, in order to help more people, according to The Times.

The Taliban movement, which now has control of Afghanistan, has tightened its grip around the airport, which is the only route out of the country, The Guardian reported.

The number of people who have died outside Kabul airport in the past week is at least 20, a NATO official is reported to have said.

The British government confirmed that 5,725 people have been repatriated since rescue efforts began on Aug 13, with 3,100 of them Afghan individuals and their families. On Sunday, 1,721 people were airlifted from Kabul by the Royal Air Force on eight flights, it said.

Johnson will lobby for sanctions on the Taliban and an extension to the US evacuation deadline in the virtual meeting with leaders of the G7 group of advanced economies, sources told Reuters.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace have already been urging their US counterparts to continue with the evacuation at Kabul airport, said the Daily Mail.

Biden said in a media briefing on Sunday that he hoped not to have to extend the evacuation beyond August, despite previously suggesting that the date could be put back.

The Daily Telegraph reported that UK troops will start to withdraw from Kabul airport within days if Biden refuses to commit to staying longer. It said Britain will turn this week to China and Russia for support amid tensions with the US on how to handle the situation.

The Financial Times said a meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council-the UK, the US, France, China and Russia-will take place this week.

The debacle in Afghanistan means that Britain will have to "revisit" the recent review of defense and foreign policy because the US was no longer a reliable ally, said a British minister, quoted anonymously in The Times.

"America has just signaled to the world that they are not that keen on playing a global role," the minister said. "The implications of that are absolutely huge. We need to get the integrated review out and reread it. We are going to have to do a hard-nosed revisit on all our assumptions and policies."

Former Labour Party leader and prime minister of the UK, Tony Blair, who sent British troops to Afghanistan in 2001, said at the weekend that the US departure from Afghanistan was based on an "imbecilic political slogan" about ending "the forever wars".

Writing on his website, Blair accused Biden of making a political decision rather than a strategic one, which would encourage those hostile to the West.

In broadcast interviews on Sunday, he added: "It's not just about the Afghan people and our obligations to them. It's about us and our security. You have now got this group back in charge of Afghanistan. They will give protection and succour to al-Qaida.

"You've got ISIS in the country already trying to operate at the same time. You look round the world and the only people really cheering this decision are the people hostile to Western interests."

When the airport evacuation ends, the UK is planning to establish off shore asylum centers for Afghan refugees in countries such as Pakistan and Turkey, said the defense secretary, Ben Wallace.

Writing in the Daily Mail on Sunday, Wallace said the UK would establish the hubs across the region out of "an obligation "to Afghan people.

After days of discussion, Uganda has confirmed it will receive evacuees from Afghanistan. Esther Anyakun, Uganda's deputy minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, said the country will be receiving 145 evacuees from Afghanistan on Sunday.

"The International Red Cross and other development partners have been working with us to see the people who we are going to evacuate by tomorrow. Just 145," Anyakun said on Saturday.

Last week, Anyakun said President Yoweri Museveni told her to make preparations to host up to 2,000 refugees from Afghanistan. According to Anyakun, Uganda expects to host the refugees temporarily for a period of three months or longer.

"We have been requested to host 2,000 refugees. We are expecting them to be brought in shifts of 500," Anyakun said.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees Uganda representative Joel Boutroue also confirmed the decision to receive the Afghan refugees in Uganda.

"We welcome the decision and the generosity of the Ugandan government. What we are currently doing is we are preparing in collaboration with the office of the prime minister receiving them at the airport and lodging them. Then there will be screening, testing and resettlement," Boutroue said.

According to UNHCR, Uganda is one of the world's largest refugee-hosting countries, with nearly 1.5 million refugees and asylum seekers living there, the majority from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

New image projected at home and abroad as leaders talk of conciliatory approach

The Taliban are seeking to win support from the international community in recent conciliatory statements from the group.

They have expressed a willingness to open ties with all countries and pledged to establish an inclusive government that upholds the rights of women and others. Foreigners would also have their rights protected.

"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan wants diplomatic and trade ties with all countries, particularly with the United States of America," tweeted Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, political chief of the Taliban, on Saturday.

Like Baradar, other major Taliban officials are using social media to communicate a positive message, aside from their discussions with Afghan political and military figures. Experts say such overtures are helping with the new image that the Taliban want to project.

On Thursday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid posted on his Twitter account a picture of a flag and coat of arms, and announced the "declaration of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the country's independence from British rule".

On Saturday, Muhammad Naeem, a spokesman for the Political Office of the Taliban in the Qatari capital Doha, tweeted that a Taliban delegation met with political figures in Kabul, assuring them of their security and safety.

Amina Khan, director of the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, said the Taliban have made an effort to reassure Afghans that there will be no victimization of people and that life has to continue.

Much like people in some other districts, many in Kabul were fearful when the Taliban entered the capital on the previous weekend. But, by Sunday, more people were taking to the streets for normal business, according to CGTN reports, though they added that the peripheries of the capital's airport remained in chaos.

Salman Bashir, a former Pakistani foreign minister, said the Taliban had kept their understanding with the United States and not interfered with evacuations from Kabul's airport. They also pledged not to allow the country to be used for terrorism. So far, they are working toward the goal of an inclusive government, he said.

Bashir said they "abide by a code of honor, a set of core Pashtun values in which honor is uppermost".

Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies in Pakistan, said the hearts and minds strategy has been a key factor in the Taliban's rapid military success in Afghanistan.

The group's talks are continuing with Afghan political heavyweights, including former president Hamid Karzai, and Abdullah Abdullah, who had led the ousted government's negotiating council. The Taliban have said they want to form an "inclusive, Islamic government".

Hashmat Ghani, brother of former president Ashraf who fled the country last week, said on Saturday that Afghans need to accept Taliban rule. He told the Al Jazeera network that it is necessary to accept the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan to avoid instability.

After taking over the country, the Taliban on Aug 17 vowed to respect women's rights, pardon the people who fought against them and ensure that the country does not provide cover for terrorists.

Gul said: "I would say that Taliban have simply shocked and surprised most of their critics, who have been alarming the world about the return of the years of Taliban from the 1990s when they were radical and did not allow women."

'More mature'

"But with the decree or order on women and human rights, I think they have demonstrated that there is a change or transformation for them to be more mature, forward-looking and respecting."

Gul said the Taliban demonstrated how they have changed by requesting that all women return to their jobs. Gul also cited the continued presence of female news anchors on popular television station TOLO.

But, as Baradar acknowledged, the challenges have just begun. A new government will have to address differences among the tribes and political groups.

Khan also said it is important to get a clear understanding of what "victory" means for the Taliban.

"Taliban victory is all one hears," she said, "Victory will only come once the Taliban win the support of Afghans by fulfilling promises of peace and stability, national cohesion, safeguarding rights of all－an inclusive, responsible and accountable Afghanistan－that is victory."

She urged the US not to shirk its responsibility toward Afghanistan.

"Americans who created this mess in the beginning have a responsibility for a responsible and measured exit, and to ensure there's some semblance of stability, which means an inclusive political setup," Khan said.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

One group stunned perhaps more than anyone about the stark images out of Afghanistan are the men and women of the US military who served there, with a common refrain being, "Was it worth it?"

That question was likely raised countless times across the country as images emerged over the past week of the Afghan government falling to the Taliban. Even more piercing were scenes of desperate people trying to grasp onto American military planes at the Kabul airport to find a way out of the country.

US President Joe Biden who has watched his approval ratings fall over the situation in Afghanistan, on Sunday said that 28,000 people have been evacuated so far. He also acknowledged that the Aug 31 US withdrawal date could be extended.

The US embassy on Saturday told citizens not to travel to the airport without "individual instructions from a US government representative", citing potential security threats nearby. 

A blog on the Veterans Administration website titled "Afghanistan: How Veterans can reconcile service" has generated intense comments.

"Christine", a registered nurse, wrote, "In my job, I see firsthand the ruined lives of young people sent off to (Afghanistan) to fight the endless war to impose democracy on a country with no history of or desire to embrace such a system. All of it began with a lie about WMDs and then we were basically stuck."

US Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican and Army veteran who lost both of his legs after he was struck by an IED (improvised explosive device) in Afghanistan in 2010, said Friday on Fox News that the chaos is causing an "Afghanistan hostage crisis".

Mast said that "every minute that goes by", the Taliban increases its understanding of how to operate US weapons it has seized.

"What drone capabilities did they pick up by taking over that US military equipment that they can fly into an aircraft, given that they're going to be flying thousands of Americans and others out of this situation?" he said.

On Friday, Biden found some support from VoteVets, which describes itself as a group for progressive veterans. The group published an open letter signed by 4,300 veterans, 150 of whom served in Afghanistan.

"We the undersigned are resolute in our support of President Biden's decision to end the war in Afghanistan," the letter read, and also blamed the "elites who pushed us into a 20-year war with no achievable military mission".

Veterans Administration Secretary Denis McDonough issued a statement on Aug 17 to "veterans, their families, survivors, and caregivers".

"I know it is painful to see the images from Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan, especially for the hundreds of thousands of Veterans who have served there since that fateful day in September 2001. … "It's entirely natural to feel a range of emotions about the latest developments in Afghanistan — and if you are feeling depressed, angry, heartbroken, or anything else, we at VA are here for you," he said. 

"Tim" wrote on the VA blog: "As a former active member of the Marine Corps, I am crushed and feel for my fellow comrades that lost family members and friends in all of the armed services. Tomorrow, I am going to hang my American Flag upside down to represent my anger. PS Thanks BIDEN 'REMEMBER LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND'. WE ARE LEAVING A LOT BEHIND."

"When did the Taliban "ever" attack the US? Short answer. NEVER!!!! They (some) grow poppy so heroin is sent here but no ATTACK has ever been launched at us by them!!!" wrote "Dallas". … The question that all have and will be watching is ... how will YOU (US govt) treat the men and women who come back w/f'd up bodies & minds???? If history proves … to repeat itself, you will deny them much-needed services and toss them on the curbs of this country!!"

"Henry" wrote: "One thing is clear, the United States has had a crisis in national political leadership that has been exacerbated by politicizing all aspects of society, and it emanates from a two-party Congress. Veterans are caught in this web, and they may be part of the solution for the nation now in the future from elective office to school board members to members of organizations promoting good government."

"Expect PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) to continue to soar for as long as we keep asking otherwise decent people to do morally reprehensible things for the benefit of a select few," wrote "Ben". 

"Seeing the fall, it's like all your hard work has gone to waste," Ashton Kroner, who served in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012, told the Chicago Tribune.

She is an outreach coordinator at Rush University Medical Center's Road Home Program, which provides free mental health services to veterans and their families. 

"I've lost friends to suicide, and seeing the emotional and physical tolls that that deployment put on your families, put on ourselves," she said. "It's getting punched in the gut over and over and over again," Kroner said of watching the current scenes.

Justin Kurtzhalts, 34, served multiple tours in Afghanistan throughout some five years in the Army.

"Just realize (they're) human beings just like us, that have the same thoughts and feelings and just a different culture, that are being destroyed right now," Kurtzhalts told the Tribune.

"I'm now sitting here 20 years removed almost from the very event that propelled me into the military, which was the attacks of September 11," Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan veteran and advisory board chair of the Association of Wartime Allies, told CNN.

"And now I'm wondering if the last 20 years were completely pointless and in vain. All the friends I lost in Afghanistan — what were their deaths for?"

Zeller served as an embedded combat adviser to Afghan security forces. In 2008, on his 14th day in the country, his Afghan interpreter, Janis Shinwari, saved his life, killing two Taliban fighters who were about to kill him.

Zeller later helped Shinwari get a visa to the United States. They later started No One Left Behind, an organization that helps bring interpreters who worked with American troops to the US.

Gerald Keen, who served in Afghanistan, told CNN that American soldiers should not be sent back to do a job that should have been done before the Bagram Airfield was closed.

"Now we've got to send soldiers back in harm's way to help evacuate the embassies and these interpreters who fought side by side with us every day," Keen said.

Bryan Moore, an Army veteran of Afghanistan, said he heard a radio host asking if the mission was in vain.

"That stung me," he told ABC News. "That question has nothing to do with the soldiers (and) has everything to do with the leadership of our government and the choices that they're making. Not anything to do with the soldiers and their service."

LONDON - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has blasted the United States for an "imbecilic" decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan in his first statement since the Taliban regained the control of the Asian country.

"The abandonment of Afghanistan and its people is tragic, dangerous, unnecessary," Blair, who took Britain into war in Afghanistan alongside the United States in 2001, wrote in an article published Saturday on the website of his Institute for Global Change.

"We didn't need to do it. We chose to do it," he said, noting that the military withdrawal was carried out "in obedience to an imbecilic political slogan" about ending "the forever wars".

"The decision to withdraw from Afghanistan in this way was driven not by a grand strategy but by politics," he said.

Blair broke his silence as chaos at the Kabul airport has worsened amid reports of stampedes and people being crushed to death. The United States issued a security alert on Saturday, warning its citizens to avoid the Kabul airport over concerns about the potential for attacks by Afghanistan's branch of the Islamic State group.

Britain's Ministry of Defense confirmed Sunday that seven Afghan civilians had been killed near the Kabul airport.

Blair also took a shot at the Aug 31 deadline set by Washington for a total withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"There must be no repetition of arbitrary deadlines. We have a moral obligation to keep at it until all those who need to be are evacuated," he said.

Leaders of the Group of Seven will meet online early next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, as the rift between Washington and its European allies seems to have widened over the former's hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.

LONDON - Seven Afghan civilians were killed amid chaos near the Kabul airport as people swarmed the area in hopes of boarding an evacuation flight following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Sunday.

The ministry did not elaborate when they were killed or if the latest death toll is on top of the four women reportedly crushed to death in a stampede in front of the airport on Saturday.

"Conditions on the ground remain extremely challenging but we are doing everything we can to manage the situation as safely and securely as possible," it said in a statement.

British Secretary of Defense Ben Wallace told British newspaper The Daily Mail on Sunday that "no nation will be able to get everyone out" before the Aug. 31 deadline set by the United States for a total withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"Perhaps the Americans will be permitted to stay longer and they will have our complete support if they do," Wallace said in a veiled plea for Washington to extend the deadline.

The United States on Saturday issued a security alert urging its citizens to avoid the Kabul airport amid concerns about the potential for attacks by the Afghan branch of the Islamic State group.

Leaders of the Group of Seven will meet online early next week to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, as the rift between Washington and its European allies seems to have widened over the former's hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan.