PM urges world leaders to stand by Afghan people – as Biden to decide on deadline extension in next 24 hours
Boris Johnson is urging President Joe Biden and other world leaders to stand by the Afghan people and not walk away, amid fears that the Taliban is plotting vicious reprisals.
The prime minister is chairing a video-link summit of G7 leaders and calling for a boost in international support for refugees and humanitarian aid after the withdrawal of US troops.
It comes as the Ministry of Defence said the UK has evacuated more than 7,000 people from Afghanistan as part of its rescue mission.
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‘Special relationship’ under strain
The total of 7,109 includes embassy staff, British nationals, those eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) programme, and a number of nationals from partner nations.
The summit – just a week before Mr Biden’s controversial 31 August pull-out deadline – is being seen as the last hope of persuading the president to back down and allow more evacuations.
“Our first priority is to complete the evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have assisted our efforts over the last 20 years,” Mr Johnson said ahead of the summit.
“But as we look ahead to the next phase, it’s vital we come together as an international community and agree a joint approach for the longer term.
“That’s why I’ve called an emergency meeting of the G7 – to coordinate our response to the immediate crisis, to reaffirm our commitment to the Afghan people and to ask our international partners to match the UK’s commitments to support those in need.
“Together with our partners and allies, we will continue to use every humanitarian and diplomatic lever to safeguard human rights and protect the gains made over the last two decades.”
And after the Taliban told Sky News delaying the withdrawal of US troops beyond 31 August would “provoke a reaction”, Mr Johnson added: “The Taliban will be judged by their deeds and not their words.”
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US wants Afghan withdrawal done ‘as fast as possible’
In a Sky News interview earlier, Taliban spokesman Dr Suhail Shaheen said: “It’s a red line. If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations, the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”
After chairing a meeting of COBRA on Monday afternoon, at which ministers discussed the latest situation on the ground, the prime minister spoke again to the president ahead of the G7 summit.
Downing Street said they spoke of co-ordinating the “rapid and safe evacuation” from Kabul International Airport of UK and US nationals and those who worked with the two governments.
And in a signal that the 31 August deadline will not be extended, they spoke about continuing to work together to ensures those eligible to leave are able to, “including after the initial phase of the evacuation has ended”.
Downing Street also said the PM will urge G7 leaders to match the UK’s commitments on aid and the resettlement of those most in need, in order to protect human rights and contribute to the stability of the region.
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Evacuation ‘down to hours, not weeks’
Number 10 said the leaders will reiterate their commitment to safeguarding the gains made in Afghanistan over the last 20 years, in particular on girls’ education and the rights of women and minorities.
As well as evacuation, the agenda will also include longer-term work to secure a more stable future for Afghanistan and ensure any new government is inclusive and abides by its international obligations, No 10 added.
As well as the leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan, the NATO and UN secretaries-general have also been invited to join the discussion, Downing Street said.
The prime minister has already set out a five point plan for addressing the risk of humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan:
• Immediately helping those to whom the UK has direct obligations
• Protecting ourselves against any threat from terrorism
• Supporting Afghan people in the region through humanitarian and development assistance
• Creating safe and legal routes to resettle Afghans in need
• Developing a clear plan for dealing with the new Afghan regime in a unified and concerted way
Meanwhile, Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, the minister of state directly responsible for South Asia, will virtually address the UN Human Rights Council and will hold talks with humanitarian partners about Afghanistan.
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Afghan interpreters urge UK government to save families
But Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said ahead of the meeting: “This virtual G7 meeting is a make or break test of the prime minister’s ability to bring together international partners, rise to the occasion and show leadership.
“The UK must step up and demand three crucial outcomes. First, that as many people as possible have safe passage out of Afghanistan by prioritising efforts to extend the air bridge out of Kabul beyond 31 August.
“Second, global agreement to deal with the unfolding refugee crisis by working with neighbouring countries to keep land borders open.
“And third, a strategy for supporting those who will be left behind.
“The G7 must agree a joint strategy to safeguard our collective security and guarantee Afghanistan does not become a safe haven for terrorist organisations that pose a threat to the UK.
“The prime minister has had eighteen months to plan for this – the world’s eyes are on tomorrow’s meeting to make the next seven days count.”
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Donations for refugees flood in across the UK
The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Our brave soldiers at Kabul airport are protecting Afghans and UK nationals from not just the Taliban, but the threat of terrorist attacks too.
“So at the G7, the challenge for the prime minister is this: will the United Kingdom be at the forefront of a concerted global effort to keep our citizens safe and stop a new terror threat from reaching our shores?
“It is also vital that those Afghans who cannot make it to Kabul airport are nonetheless supported in their attempts to leave the country.
“The prime minister has the opportunity to put safe passage for refugees on the global agenda.
“If we cannot evacuate Afghans, the least we can do is work with the international community – especially neighbouring countries such as Pakistan – and use every diplomatic lever possible to try and secure a safe route out of the country for those who wish to flee the Taliban.”
Politics
Red Wall MPs should focus on two-child benefit cap rather than winter fuel, Harriet Harman says
Red Wall MPs should push for the two-child benefit cap to be lifted rather than a reversal of the winter fuel payment policy, Baroness Harriet Harman has said.
Baroness Harman, the former Labour Party chair, told Sky’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast that this would hand the group a “progressive win” rather than simply “protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer” over winter fuel.
Earlier this week, a number of MPs in the Red Wall – Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north of England – reposted a statement on social media in which they said the leadership’s response to the local elections had “fallen on deaf ears”.
They singled out the cut to the winter fuel allowance as an issue that was raised on the doorstep and urged the government to rethink the policy, arguing doing so “isn’t weak, it takes us to a position of strength”.
Labour’s decision to means test the policy has snatched the benefit away from millions of pensioners.
But Baroness Harman said a better target for the group could be an overhaul of George Osborne’s two-child benefit cap.
The cap, announced in 2015 as part of Lord David Cameron’s austerity measures, means while parents can claim child tax credit or Universal Credit payments for their first and second child, they can’t make claims for any further children they have.
Labour faced pressure to remove the cap in the early months of government, with ministers suggesting in February that they were considering relaxing the limit.
Baroness Harman told Beth Rigby that this could be a sensible pressure point for Red Wall MPs to target.
She said: “It could be that they have a kind of progressive win, and it might not be a bad thing to do in the context of an overall strategy on child poverty.
“Let’s see whether instead of just protesting and annoying Sir Keir Starmer, they can build a bridge to a new progressive set of policies.”
Jo White, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw and a member of the Red Wall group, suggested that her party’s “connection” to a core group of voters “died” with the decision to means test the winter fuel payment for pensioners.
“We need to reset the government,” she told Electoral Dysfunction. “The biggest way to do that is by tackling issues such as winter fuel payments.
“I think we should raise the thresholds so that people perhaps who are paying a higher level of tax are the only people who are exempt from getting it.”
Pic: AP
A group of MPs in the Red Wall, thought to number about 40, met on Tuesday night following the fallout of local election results in England, which saw Labour lose the Runcorn by-election and control of Doncaster Council to Reform UK.
Following the results, Sir Keir said “we must deliver that change even more quickly – we must go even further”.
Some Labour MPs believe it amounted to ignoring voters’ concerns.
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One of the MPs who was present at the meeting told Sky News there was “lots of anger at the government’s response to the results”.
“People acknowledged the winter fuel allowance was the main issue for us on the doorstep,” they said.
“There is a lack of vision from this government.”
Another added: “Everyone was furious.”
Downing Street has ruled out a U-turn on means testing the winter fuel payment, following newspaper reports earlier this week that one might be on the cards.
A man from the US state of Virginia will spend over three decades behind bars after being convicted of sending crypto to the terrorist organization commonly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Federal Judge David Novak sentenced Mohammed Azharuddin Chhipa to 30 years and four months in prison on May 7 for sending over $185,000 to the Islamic State, the Department of Justice said on May 8.
Prosecutors said that from around October 2019 until October 2022, the 35-year-old Chhipa collected and sent money to female Islamic State members in Syria, which helped them escape prison camps and funded fighting.
The Justice Department said Chhipa would raise funds for the United Nations-designated terror organization through social media — receiving money online, or traveling hundreds of miles to accept donations in person.
He’d convert the money into crypto and send it to Turkey for it to be smuggled to Islamic State members across the border in Syria, prosecutors said.
A federal jury convicted Chhipa in December, finding him guilty on a charge of conspiracy to provide support to a terrorist organization and four charges of providing and attempting to provide support to a terrorist organization.
“This defendant directly financed ISIS in its efforts to commit vile terrorist atrocities against innocent citizens in America and abroad,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This severe sentence illustrates that if you fund terrorism, we will prosecute you and put you behind bars for decades.”
Chhipa tried to flee US during FBI probe
Prosecutors said that during the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into Chhipa, he tried to flee the country to escape prosecution and tried to hide his tracks through a series of actions seemingly aimed at confusing authorities.
According to a motion for detention filed in August, FBI agents searched Chhipa’s house on Aug. 2, 2019, and that night Chhipa drove to a bank, withdrew $1,800 from an ATM, and then went to a Taco Bell, where he paid a stranger for a ride to a relative’s house. The relative then drove him to a grocery store.
Related: US Treasury sanctions Myanmar militia group for alleged crypto scams
Three days later, prosecutors said Chhipa “purchased a series of bus tickets using variations and/or misspelling of his name and recently created email accounts.”
He then travelled from Virginia to Mexico and onto Guatemala. He then bought tickets to fly from Guatemala to Panama, then onto Germany, and then to Egypt, but an Interpol Blue Notice was issued, and he was returned to the US.
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