CNN source: Biden decides to adhere to deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan and asks for “contingency plans”

WASHINGTON, USA (CNN) – President Joe Biden has decided to meet with an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a senior executive told CNN on Tuesday.

“Biden made this decision realizing the security risks of staying in Afghanistan for a long time,” the source said after consulting with his National Security Council.

The source added that Biden “demanded contingency plans if the United States later decided to stay in the country for a long time.”

The Taliban announced that they would not allow Afghanistan to leave the country, but refused to talk about extending the deadline for the withdrawal of US troops as the evacuation process from Kabul airport accelerated.

“I want to remind you that staying after August 31 is a unilateral decision by the Americans and against the treaty … My message to the Americans is to evacuate all civilians by the 31st … they have the resources, the airport and the planes,” Taliban spokesman Jabihullah Mujahid told reporters. Said at the meeting. All their forces and their contractors must be evacuated before that date. “

Mujahid added that foreigners could continue to travel to the airport, that large crowds of Afghans gathered there in recent days should go home and not face retaliation from the country’s new rulers. “We are not happy about Afghanistan leaving,” Mujahid said.

He continued that doctors and educators in Afghanistan “should not leave this country, but work in their specialized fields … they should not go to other countries, to those Western countries.”