Afghanistan crisis: Norway FM says evacuation deadline should be extended beyond August 31

Amid the Afghan crisis, Norway’s Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide said that the evacuation deadline in the war-torn nation should be extended beyond August 31. The condition in Afghanistan has constantly been deteriorating since widespread violence engulfed Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. While speaking to Norwegian broadcaster TV2 on August 24, Soreide said that “one of the main concerns is that the airport will be closed” and countries will only be dependent on the US military operation being maintained in order to be able to evacuate. 

According to AP, Soreide spoke as a plane with 157 people who had been evacuated from Afghanistan landed in Oslo. So far, Norway has evacuated 374 people from Afghanistan. Soreide said that Norway will continue the evacuation as long as the airport in Kabul is open. 

However, she told Norway's other broadcaster NRK that “There is no guarantee that we will be able to help all Norwegian citizens who want assistance this time around”. 

Afghan Evacuation Process

Meanwhile, United States House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has also expressed concerns over the possibility of complete evacuation of first nationals from Afghanistan by the August 31 deadline. Schiff said that he believed the evacuation process is “very unlikely” to be ended within the stipulated time. Even though he put his faith in the US troops deployed in the war-torn nation, “given the number of Americans,” it is difficult to airlift the batch within eight remaining days, he said.

US President Joe Biden has also sought an extension for the extraction process and warned that the "hard and painful" operation could extend beyond the pre-determined deadline. Top leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries met on August 24 to set the course for a swifter response for the first nationals of the US and the Allied countries stuck in Afghanistan. 

But it is worth mentioning that the Taliban has warned the US and allies of "consequences" if they remained in Kabul beyond August 31. Additionally, an official also claimed that US and Allied countries have not sought extension or initiated any form of negotiations for the evacuation process. He also added that the Taliban would have “denied such requests had they been made”. 

(With inputs from AP)