translated from Spanish: Biden calls for to be alert to possible terrorist threats in Afghanistan

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, on Wednesday asked his government to remain alert to possible terrorist threats in Afghanistan, including those from the branch in the country of the Islamic State (IS) group, after the rise of the Taliban. Biden and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met with their national security team to receive information about the situation in Afghanistan, a White House source, who requested anonymity, told reporters. The president, vice president and their team said they are focused on keeping an eye out for any potential terrorist threats in Afghanistan, including those from IS-K,” the official said, referring to IS-Khorasan, a branch of that terrorist group in the Central-Islamic country. Although Washington fears that the Afghan branch of IS will strengthen from now on, it is not so clear that it will do so with the approval of the Taliban, judging by tuesday’s statements by Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.” It has been fairly documented that the Taliban and IS are fighting each other, fighting each other. So I don’t foresee that there’s going to be a symbiotic relationship there,” Sullivan said during a news conference. However, Sullivan stressed that the situation in Afghanistan is quite “dynamic” following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, and that the White House will have to remain vigilant to see how things play out. In his meeting on Wednesday, Biden also discussed with his team the attempts to “accelerate the evacuations of U.S. citizens,” Afghans who collaborated during the war with his troops and have now applied for visas for the U.S., and “other vulnerable Afghans,” the official said. They also talked about efforts to “facilitate safe passage” for civilians to Kabul International Airport, a day after the U.S. announced it had reached an agreement with the Taliban to allow such transit to the airfield. Biden also spoke wednesday by phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the two agreed to continue coordinating their respective evacuation operations in Kabul, and to prepare for next week’s virtual G7 summit on Afghanistan.” They addressed the need for close coordination in providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable Afghans in the country, as well as support to neighboring states, and agreed to continue planning that work” at the G7 meeting, the White House said in a statement. According to a note from the German government, Merkel stressed in the call the “need” to “enable” the evacuation “of the greatest number of Afghan citizens.” The U.S. mission is focused on evacuating the 11,000 Americans it estimated Tuesday were still in Afghanistan, as well as tens of thousands of Afghans who collaborated with Washington during the war. That complex evacuation process has forced Biden to send 7,000 troops to Kabul airport, nearly triple the 2,500 in the country in May, when the U.S. military withdrawal began.



Original source in Spanish

Related Posts

Add Comment