Biden gives clean chit to Taliban over Kabul airport blasts

Washington, Aug 27 (AP):
President Joe Biden is vowing to complete the evacuation of American citizens and others from Afghanistan despite the deadly suicide bomb attack at the Kabul airport. He said there was no evidence they colluded with the Taliban, who now control the country. He promised to avenge the deaths of 13 US service members killed in the attack, declaring to the extremists responsible: ‘We will hunt you down and make you pay.’ Speaking with emotion from the White House, Biden said the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate was to blame for the attacks that killed the Americans and many more Afghan civilians.
This attack was sure to intensify political pressure from all sides on Biden, who already was under heavy criticism for not beginning the pullout earlier. He had announced in April that he was ending the US war and would have all forces out by September.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California called for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to bring the chamber back into session to consider legislation that would prohibit the US withdrawal until all Americans are out. Pelosi’s office dismissed such suggestions as ‘empty stunts.’ “Joe Biden has blood on his hands,” Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik said. “This horrific national security and humanitarian disaster is solely the result of Joe Biden’s weak and incompetent leadership. He is unfit to be commander-in-chief.”
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn tweeted that Biden and all his top national security staff “should resign or face impeachment and removal from office.”
Meanwheile, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey has held its first talks with the Taliban in Kabul, adding that Ankara was still assessing the Islamist group’s offer to run the Afghan capital’s airport.
The Turkish leader said the talks were held at a military section of the Kabul airport where the Turkish embassy is temporarily stationed.
“We have held our first talks with the Taliban, which lasted 3.5 hours,” Erdogan told reporters. “If necessary, we will have the opportunity to hold such talks again.”
Responding to domestic criticism over Turkey’s engagement with the insurgent group, Erdogan said Ankara had “no luxury” to stand idly by in the volatile region.
“You cannot know what their expectations are or what our expectations are without talking. What’s diplomacy, my friend? This is diplomacy,” Erdogan said.
Turkey had been planning to help secure and run Kabul’s strategic airport, but on Wednesday, it started pulling troops out of Afghanistan — an apparent sign of Ankara’s abandoning this goal.
Erdogan said the Taliban now wanted to oversee security at the airport, while offering Ankara the option of running its logistics.