“If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations -- the answer is no. Or there would be consequences. Staying beyond the agreed deadline will be extending occupation,” Shaheen told Sky News on Monday.
In May, the Taliban led a major offensive in Afghanistan during the withdrawal of US troops from the country, which gave them control of over half of Afghanistan's 421 districts as of July 23.
By mid-August 2021, the Taliban controlled every major city in Afghanistan; following the near seizure of the capital Kabul, the Taliban occupied the Presidential Palace after the incumbent President Ashraf Ghani fled Afghanistan to Tajikistan on August 15.
The United States Armed Forces are scheduled to be fully withdrawn from Afghanistan by 31 August 2021, concluding Operation Freedom's Sentinel and NATO's Resolute Support Mission.
The US and allied forces invaded and occupied the country in 2001 following the 11 September attacks, with the resulting war becoming the US's longest military engagement. (ILKHA)