A bipartisan group of 44 lawmakers has urged President Biden to extend the administration’s August 31 deadline for a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and to “stay as long as is necessary” for American citizens, allies and vulnerable Afghans to safely leave the country.

In an open letter, the lawmakers, led by Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey and a veteran of the Obama administration, on Tuesday urged Biden to allow people with Special Immigrant Visas, as well as “vulnerable Afghans slated for evacuation” to remain at Kabul’s airport “for as long as necessary until their turn comes to get onto a plane, so that they are not forced to hide in Kabul and to brave Taliban checkpoints later”.

The letter said it would be “unconscionable and devastating to our credibility to leave our allies behind, given the commitments we have made”. It said Biden had no reason to consider himself bound by any commitment to the Taliban , “who have never fully lived up to their part of the bargains they struck with us”.

Biden has authorised 6,000 troops to be deployed to Afghanistan to help with the evacuation of Afghan allies and US citizens.

Thousands of people have been thronging the airport trying to get out of the country, including many who worked for the US-backed Afghan government or collaborated with American forces during the 20-year conflict.

A Taliban spokesman said the group would not take reprisals against its former enemies, but fear is running high. Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, would not commit to extending the administration’s self-imposed August 31 deadline for the current mission.

Pressed at a White House press briefing about whether American troops would remain in the country until everyone is evacuated, Sullivan said the administration was “working day by day to get as many people out, so I’m not going to speculate on the timetable question.”

US troops fire in air

US troops guarding the evacuation effort from Afghanistan at Kabul airport fired some shots in the air overnight to control crowds, but there were no indications of casualties or injuries, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

Kirby told a news briefing that no shots were fired by American troops at Afghans. Kirby said the number of US troops at the airport reached about 4,500 on Wednesday.

“Some shots were fired, largely around the gate areas. And it’s our understanding that at least some of these ... were fired by US personnel on the airport side of the perimeter as crowd-control measures, as non-lethal warnings,” Kirby said.

New York Times News Service and Reuters