Aug. 16 (UPI) — Reaction to the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan poured in from around the world and the United States Monday, with most urging the militants to allow exits for those wishing to flee and to protect the rights of women and girls.
The completion of the swift takeover came about two weeks before the deadline imposed by the U.S. military to have all troops withdrawn from Afghanistan. President Joe Biden announced the pullout earlier this year and the Pentagon said in recent weeks that the withdrawal was more than 90% complete.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General António Guterres voiced “deep concerns” about the situation in Afghanistan. In a tweet posted late Sunday, he urged the Taliban and “all others to exercise utmost restraint to protect lives & ensure humanitarian needs can be met.
“The UN remains determined to contribute to a peaceful settlement & promote human rights of all Afghans,” he wrote.
James Kariuki, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations, called the events unfolding in Afghanistan “a tragedy” during a Security Council briefing Monday.
The Taliban, he said, “must immediately do three things,” including ceasing all hostilities and military action to allow “the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and others who wish to leave.”
He also called on the militants to “commit unequivocally not to harbor or give safe haven to terrorist groups, which endanger other countries” and to “honor their promises to protect and uphold human rights, including those of women, girls and minorities.”
In London, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab tweeted that he has “shared my deep concerns about the future for Afghanistan with [Pakistani Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Hussain] Qureshi. Agreed it is critical that the international community is united in telling the Taliban that the violence must end and human rights must be protected.”
In Brussels, a joint statement released by European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell and signed by 40 countries calling on “all parties to respect and facilitate the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country.”
Those in positions of power and authority across Afghanistan “bear responsibility — and accountability — for the protection of human life and property, and for the immediate restoration of security and civil order,” the statement read.
“Human life needs to be protected and security and civil order restored,” Borrell added in a tweet. “Afghans deserve to live in safety, security and dignity.”
An extraordinary session of EU foreign ministers was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon for a “first assessment” of the Afghanistan situation, he said.
In Iran, President Ebrahim Raeisi said the defeat of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul represented a hopeful development for the Afghan people.
“The military defeat and the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan should become an opportunity to restore life, security and lasting peace in this country,” he said during a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to the semi-official Mehr News Agency.
Tehran, he pledged, “will do its best for stability, which is Afghanistan’s first need today, and as a neighbor and brother country, invites all groups to reach a national agreement.”
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he is “deeply concerned at the potential for further loss of life and suffering.”
“The Taliban must cease all violence against civilians, and adhere to international humanitarian law and the human rights all Afghans are entitled to expect, in particular women and girls,” he said in an official statement.
“The Taliban will be held fully accountable for any killing or other mistreatment of Afghan military and other security forces who have surrendered or been captured. Afghan Government officials and elected political leaders are fully entitled to be treated with safety, respect and dignity.”
In the United States, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the “drawdown” of U.S. personnel from the embassy in Kabul had been completed following the chaos seen at the city’s international airport.
“We are in the process of trying to fully secure the airport” and to execute evacuation flights for remaining U.S. citizens and Afghan allies, he told NBC’s Today.
Sullivan defended Biden’s decision to move forward with withdrawing troops under a deal struck with the Taliban last year by former President Donald Trump but admitted that the will of the Afghan National Security Forces to fight was overestimated.
Asked if the scenes of chaos at the Kabul airport represented a “worst-case scenario,” he replied, “I think the worst-case scenario for the United States would be a circumstance in which we were adding back in thousands and thousands of troops to fight and die in a civil war in Afghanistan when the Afghan army wasn’t prepared to fight itself.
“That was the alternative choice Joe Biden faced.”
Trump and U.S. Republicans, however, blamed Biden for the Taliban’s quick advances.
“First, Joe Biden surrendered to COVID and it has come roaring back,” the former president said in an issued statement. “Then he surrendered to the Taliban, who has quickly overtaken Afghanistan and destroyed confidence in American power and influence.
“The outcome in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal, would have been totally different if the Trump administration had been in charge,” he said.
In June, Trump praised the removal of troops from Afghanistan at a rally in Ohio, taking full credit for the move and pointing out that the Biden administration couldn’t stop it from happening.
Congressional Republicans likewise piled scorn on Biden in the wake of the Afghan government’s collapse.
“It is only a matter of time until al-Qaeda reemerges in Afghanistan and presents a threat to the American homeland and western world,” tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “President Biden seems oblivious to the terrorist threats that will come from a Taliban-run Afghanistan.”