KABUL (Axios): U.S. allies have rapidly begun to wind down their evacuation operations from Kabul amidst heightened security concerns and ahead of the August 31 withdrawal deadline.
Driving the news: The U.S. is in control of Kabul’s airport but plans to end its operation by Aug. 31, which the Taliban considers a red line, and needs time to evacuate its troops. Thursday’s attack at the airport will only increase the urgency. In the meantime, allies including Canada, Germany and Poland have already ended their evacuations.
The big picture: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said earlier this week that the U.K. would be evacuating people “until the last moment.” However it’s possible that civilian evacuations will end a day earlier, in order to then evacuate British troops, reports the BBC.
- Canada’s ended its evacuation operations Thursday, according to acting chief of the defense staff General Wayne Eyre, Reuters reported.
- French Prime Minister confirmed Thursday that France’s evacuations would end on Friday evening.
- On Tuesday Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton said the country was in the “back end of this campaign now,” even as reports surface of Australian visa holders not being able to enter the Kabul airport, per the Guardian.
- Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo confirmed via Twitter Wednesday night ET that the country had ended its evacuation operations.
- Poland also announced Wednesday evening ET that it had completed its last evacuation, according to the Associated Press.
- The Czech Republic completed its operations last week, per AP.
- Denmark made its final evacuation flight Wednesday, and Hungary ended its evacuations Thursday, per Reuters.
- Turkey began evacuating its military troops from Afghanistan Wednesday, a process that will take up to 36 hours, Reuters reported.
- Germany also ended its evacuation efforts Thursday, according to Deutsche Welle.
