Biden rejects extension in Kabul as other G7 leaders offer to stay
OTTAWA—While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered Tuesday to keep Canadian military personnel in Afghanistan after Aug. 31, his fellow G7 leaders were not able to persuade President Joe Biden to extend the American deadline for withdrawal.
Trudeau, emerging from a virtual summit with his G7 counterparts, said Canada would keep special forces operatives and aircrews at the airport in Kabul past the end of the month. The leaders met to discuss the crisis and the re-emergence of the Taliban as the country's rulers.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who hosted the summit, and France's Emmanuel Macron were among those calling for an extension in order to more fully evacuate all foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans who helped the Americans and the NATO allies before the country's recent fall to the Taliban.
A readout from the White House made clear they had failed to persuade Biden — at least for now — to open the door to staying longer.
"During a meeting this morning with the G7 leaders, the president conveyed that our mission in Kabul will end based on the achievement of our objectives. He confirmed we are currently on pace to finish by Aug. 31," the statement said.
During a media briefing Tuesday that had been delayed for several hours, White House press secretary Jen Psaki refused to say explicitly whether Biden was open to extending the deadline, but pointed repeatedly to the conditions noted in the statement.
"He asked for contingency plans," Psaki said, "but believes we continue to be on track to accomplish our mission."
The president himself emerged later Tuesday, five hours behind schedule, to drive home the point that the U.S., the G7, NATO, the European Union and the United Nations had all agreed to continue pulling in the same direction.
"We will stand united in our approach to the Taliban," Biden said.
"We agreed the legitimacy of any future government depends on the approach it now takes to uphold international obligations, including to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorism. And we agreed that none of us are going to take the Taliban's word for it. We will judge them by their actions."
Biden also told his fellow leaders that each day on ground added to the risk from troops posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant — Khorasan Province, the terrorist organization active in Central Asia.
The Taliban has also said that the deadline is firm and hinted at consequences if it is not met.
Johnson called the "urgent" summit of G7 leaders to discuss the evacuation crisis and plot longer-term engagement with Afghanistan's new Taliban leaders, as well as deal with the humanitarian crisis for refugees. The leaders' communique did not address the issue of an extension.
After the meeting, Trudeau said Canada would be prepared to stay longer, if that were possible, beyond Aug. 31.
Canada is one of a dozen allied countries taking part in the evacuation of people facing Taliban reprisals 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, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a tweet.
"Our commitment to Afghanistan doesn't end when this current phase, this current deadline comes," Trudeau said after the meeting.