Despite an effort by CIA operatives to meet with the Taliban to hash out an extension for U.S. troops to evacuate collaborators beyond Aug. 31, a Taliban spokesman said that “no extensions” would be granted. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid insisted at a news conference on Tuesday that life was returning to “normal” in the war torn country, and conceded that chaos at Kabul’s international airport remained problematic as thousands of people who worked with the U.S. and NATO forces over the last 20 years try to flee amid feared reprisals from the Taliban. President Joe Biden suggested over the weekend that they were deciding whether to extend the day the U.S. promised to be out of the country, and the G7 will meet on Tuesday to discuss how to get more people out. But the Taliban has made it clear the Aug. 31 deadline is their “red line” and that if the U.S. stays longer it will “provoke a reaction.”
Mujahid also said he wished U.S. troops would stop summoning Afghans to the airport and instead guaranteed their safety if they go to their homes. He also insisted that foreign embassies would be welcomed under the new regime. “No embassy should feel any threat, any danger. I would like to request international organizations, the United Nations, health organizations, other organizations, those who have continued to stay in Kabul with us. Our Mujadeen has ensured security for them, their physical security, their psychological security—we are at your service.” He made a similar promise to women who he said could continue to work. “There is going to be a terms of reference, clear instructions as to how they work. No one is going to be fired or sacked. Everyone will see a salary.”
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