G-7 leaders can’t sway Biden to delay Afghanistan withdrawal

WASHINGTON (AP):

Sharply divided leaders of the Group of Seven (G-7) industrialised democracies clashed Tuesday over US President Joe Biden’s insistence on withdrawing from Afghanistan by August 31 in the face of the Taliban takeover of the country.

“The president conveyed that our mission in Kabul will end based on the achievement of our objectives,” the White House said in a statement, adding that Biden had told his counterparts that “we are currently on pace to finish by August 31st”.

In a partial show of unity, G-7 leaders agreed on conditions for recognising and dealing with a future Taliban-led Afghan government, but there was palpable disappointment Biden could not be persuaded to extend the US operation at the Kabul airport to ensure that tens of thousands of Americans, Europeans, other third-country nationals and all at-risk Afghans can be evacuated.

The virtual meeting of the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US served not only as a bookend to the West’s 20-year involvement in Afghanistan that began as a response to the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks but also a resigned acknowledgement from European powers that the US calls the shots.

“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,” the leaders said in a joint statement that did not address precisely how they would guarantee continuing safe passage without any military presence.

Going forward, the leaders said they would “judge the Afghan parties by their actions, not words”, echoing previous warnings to the Taliban not to revert to the strict Islamic form of government that they ran when they last held power from 1996 until the US-led invasion that ousted them in 2001.

“In particular, we reaffirm that the Taliban will be held accountable for their actions on preventing terrorism, on human rights in particular those of women, girls and minorities and on pursuing an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan,” the leaders said. “The legitimacy of any future government depends on the approach it now takes to uphold its international obligations and commitments to ensure a stable Afghanistan.”

Yet, individual leaders offered less sanguine descriptions of the meeting as well as the state of affairs in Afghanistan, which have dramatically changed since the bloc last met in Britain in June. At the time of that summit, Afghanistan had been almost an afterthought with the leaders more concentrated on the coronavirus pandemic, China and Russia. Although Biden had announced his plan for complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Cornwall meeting did not anticipate Taliban’s rapid takeover.

“I want to stress again that of course the United States of America has the leadership here,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin after the meeting. “Without the United States of America, for example, we – the others – cannot continue the evacuation mission.”