PM urges world leaders to stand by Afghan people – as Biden to decide on deadline extension in next 24 hours

Published

3 years ago

August 23, 2021

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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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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

Trump makes big promises about crypto in US — But can he deliver?

Published

2 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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Trump makes big promises about crypto in US — But can he deliver?

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Crypto volatility may spike if US election is ‘too close to call’ —FalconX

Published

8 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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Crypto volatility may spike if US election is ‘too close to call’ —FalconX

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Politics

Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch to be crowned Tory leader today – but whoever wins contest faces daunting task

Published

9 hours ago

November 2, 2024

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Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch to be crowned Tory leader today - but whoever wins contest faces daunting task

The next leader of the Conservative party will be announced today, following a run-off between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick.

The winner will replace Rishi Sunak as the leader of the opposition, after he led the party to a crushing election defeat in July, losing almost two thirds of its MPs.

His successor faces the daunting task of rebuilding the Tory party after years of division, scandal and economic turbulence, which saw Labour eject them from power by a landslide.

Politics latest: Budget given ‘clean bill of health’

Voting by tens of thousands of party members, who need to have joined at least 90 days ago, closed on Thursday. Both candidates have claimed the result will be close.

The Conservatives do not disclose how many members the party has, but the figure was about 172,000 in 2022, and research suggests they are disproportionately affluent, older white men.

Both candidates are seen as on the party’s right wing. Kemi Badenoch, 44, is the former trade secretary, who was born in London to middle-class Nigerian parents but spent most of her childhood in Lagos.

After moving back to the UK aged 16, she stayed with a family friend while taking her A-levels, and has spoken of her time working at McDonald’s as a teenager.

Having studied computer science at Sussex University, she then worked as a software engineer before entering London politics and becoming MP for Saffron Walden in Essex in 2017.

Ms Badenoch prides herself on being outspoken and has said the Conservatives lost because they “talked right and governed left”. But her critics paint her as abrasive and prone to misspeaking.

At the Conservative Party conference, a crucial staging post in the contest, she began her speech which followed three other male candidates by saying: “Nice speeches, boys, but I think you all know I’m the one everyone’s been waiting for.”

Her rival Robert Jenrick, 42, has been on a political journey. Elected as a Cameroon Conservative in 2014, he was one of the rising star ministers who swung behind Boris Johnson as prime minister and was later a vocal supporter of Rishi Sunak.

But he resigned as immigration minister in December 2023, claiming Sunak’s government was breaking its promises to cut immigration.

The MP for Newark in Nottinghamshire says he had a “working-class” upbringing in Wolverhampton. He read history at Cambridge University and worked at Christie’s auctioneers before winning a by-election.

After a long ministerial career where he was seen as mild-mannered, he is said to have been “radicalised” by his time at the Home Office and has focused his campaign on a promise to slash immigration and leave the European Convention on Human Rights to “stand for our nation and our culture, our identity and our way of life”.

He has put forward more policies than his rival, but attracted criticism for some of his claims – including that Britain’s former colonies owe the Empire a “debt of gratitude”.

A survey of party members by the website Conservative Home last week put Kemi Badenoch in the lead by 55 points to Mr Jenrick’s 31 with polls still open.

James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary and seen as a more centrist candidate was knocked out of the race last month. One of his supporters, the Conservative peer and former Scotland leader Ruth Davidson, has predicted neither Mr Jenrick nor Ms Badenoch will stay as leader until the next general election.

She told the Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “I’ve now voted for Robert Jenrick, who I don’t think will win. I struggle to believe that the person that’s the next leader of the Tory party is going to take us into the next election in five years’ time and I struggle to believe that they’re going to leave the leadership at a time of their own choosing.”

Henry Hill, deputy editor of ConHome, said the contest which Tory officials decided would take almost three months, has not led to enough scrutiny – because the MP rounds of voting took so long.

“We know much less [about them] than I think we should”, he said. “The problem with this contest is the party decided to go really long, but at the same time, they confined the membership vote – with just the final two – to just three weeks, and ballots dropped halfway through that process.

“We had months and months with loads of candidates in the race, but also that was the MP rounds and you’d think the MPs will have a chance to get to know these people already. For the actual choice the members are going to be making, there has been barely any time to scrutinise that.

He added: “I think the party remembers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak taking weeks to take lumps out of each other in 2022 and wanted to avoid that. But it means the two campaigns haven’t really been attacking each other and that tends to be how you expose people’s weaknesses.”

After 14 years in government under five prime ministers, it is not since David Cameron in 2005 that the party has elected a leader to go into opposition – with a long road until the next general election.

Veteran ex-MP Graham Brady, who served as chair of the backbench 1922 committee, told Sky News that the position was more hopeful than after the 1997 landslide.

He said: “The biggest challenge for a leader of the opposition in these circumstances is just to be heard, to be noticed. I came into the House of Commons in 1997 at the time of that huge Blair landslide.

“We worked very, very hard in opposition during that parliament, and at the next general election [in 2001], we made a net gain of one seat.

“Now, there is a huge difference between now and 1997. The Blair government remained very popular and Tony Blair personally remained very popular through that whole parliament and beyond. And in 100 days or so, Keir Starmer has already fallen way behind.

“So I think we’ve got a great opportunity. I don’t think we’re up against an insuperable challenge, but it’s a big challenge.”

Kate Fall, now Baroness Fall, worked with Lord Cameron in opposition and later in Downing Street when he was prime minister in the coalition government. She said the next leader needed to keep the party “united and disciplined”.

“The first thing is to think about why we lost. The second thing is what do we have to say? Then they need to be agile, they need to be reactive, but pick their fight, not fight over everything. They also need to get out and about,” she said.

Lord Cameron travelled around the country holding question and answer sessions called Cameron Direct. “When you’re prime minister, you can’t do that as much as you like. But as leader of the opposition you can get out, talk to people, we thought it was very trendy to have a podcast and so on.”

She says this week’s budget gives the next leader “an ideological divide” to get into, but warns that the next leader must not risk alienating former Tories who switched to Labour and the Lib Dems.

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The leader of the opposition will cut their teeth at weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions opposite Sir Keir Starmer and respond to set piece events such as the budget.

They will need to get the party’s campaign machine ready for the local elections in England in May 2025, Scottish elections in 2026 and the next general election expected in 2029.