France to cease evacuation operations Thursday if US does not extend deadline

The air bridge set up by France to evacuate Afghans wanting to flee the Taliban will stop Thursday from Kabul if the United States withdraws from Afghanistan as planned on Aug. 31, a senior French diplomat said Tuesday.

Nicolas Roche, director of the French Foreign Minister's office, told reporters that if the United States met the deadline for the full withdrawal of its forces by Aug. 31, "this means for us that our operation ends on Thursday evening. So we have three days left."

Since the fall of Kabul, which came under the control of the Taliban on Aug. 15, France has established an air bridge to evacuate vulnerable French and Afghans. About 2,000 people have already been driven out of the country through this method.

The Taliban has strongly opposed any delay in the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan. 

A G7 summit is scheduled for Tuesday to assess evacuations and consider sanctions.

The State Department has identified an additional 62 French nationals who have not yet been evacuated, and authorities are also considering requests to evacuate Afghans.

During his visit to the Crisis and Support Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French Prime Minister Jean Castix stressed the need to "distinguish between urgent cases that require a quick response, from the rest."

The Crisis and Support Center has received about 120,000 calls since the start of work on the air bridge, "Afghan refugees in France, who are worried about their families, made 90-95% of them," according to the ministry.