U.S. President Joe Biden told Group of Seven (G7) leaders on Tuesday that the United States is on pace to complete the pullout from Afghanistan by August 31 depending on cooperation from the Taliban, the White House said.

Biden sent thousands of U.S. troops to Kabul airport after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital and much of the country less than two weeks ago.

The nearly 6,000 U.S. troops are helping to evacuate American citizens and Afghan partners and to protect the airport so other countries can evacuate their citizens as well.

The Pentagon made the recommendation that Biden stick to his August 31 target date on Monday, U.S. officials said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made it clear that the U.S. should withdraw all troops and contractors from the country before the deadline and no extension for the ongoing evacuation process would be possible.

"During a meeting this morning with the G7 leaders, the President conveyed that our mission in Kabul will end based on the achievement of our objectives. He confirmed we are currently on pace to finish by August 31st," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.

Biden told the other G7 leaders that completion of the mission by August 31 "depends on continued coordination with the Taliban, including continued access for evacuees to the airport," according to Psaki.

"In addition, the President has asked the Pentagon and the State Department for contingency plans to adjust the timeline should that become necessary," Psaki said.

U.S. officials told Reuters earlier that the United States has been in regular contact with the Taliban and officials are telling the group that the timeline is contingent on Taliban cooperation.

Biden sent CIA Director William Burns to meet Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday in the highest level official encounter since the group took over the Afghan capital, a U.S. official and a source familiar with government activity told Reuters on Tuesday. A congressional source said Burns and Baradar had discussed the August 31 date.

The White House said on Tuesday that around 21,600 people had been evacuated during a 24 hour-period ending early Tuesday morning. In total, about 58,700 people had left the country since August 14.

The Pentagon said later in the day that "approximately 4,000 American passport holders plus their families" had been evacuated.

The Biden administration thus far cannot provide a precise number of U.S. citizens who remain in Afghanistan. U.S. media estimated that number is between 10,000 and 15,000.

Trudeau: Canada to keep military presence after August 31

Despite Biden's commitment for August 31, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Tuesday that Canada is to keep its military personnel in Afghanistan.

"Our commitment to Afghanistan doesn't end when this current phase, this current deadline comes. We will continue to put pressure on the Taliban to allow people to leave the country," Trudeau said.

"We're going to continue to work every single day to get as many people out alongside our allies. The commitment by our fellow G7 nations is clear: we're all going to work together to save as many people as possible."  

Trudeau's remarks came after Tuesday's virtual summit of G7 leaders who met to discuss whether an extension of the American military commitment to Afghanistan is needed for evacuating all foreign nationals and vulnerable Afghans who helped the Americans and the NATO allies before the country's recent fall to the Taliban.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the urgent summit to discuss the evacuation crisis and plot longer-term engagement with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders, as well as deal with the humanitarian crisis for refugees.

Canada is one of the allied countries taking part in the evacuation of people from Kabul's chaotic airport, which American-led forces have secured for the time being.

A Canadian military plane departed Kabul with over 500 evacuees on board on Monday, Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said in a tweet. "Canadian evacuation flights will continue for as long as conditions permit."

Before the summit, Trudeau said the return of the Taliban would have to prompt a broader rethinking of Canada's aid spending in Afghanistan.

"That is absolutely something we're looking at right now, obviously, with the Taliban in control of the country. Our regular aid, investments and agencies need to be looked at carefully to make sure we are not supporting, indirectly, the Taliban," Trudeau said.

G7 prioritizes evacuations, pledges 'moral duty' for Afghans

Leaders of the G7 countries said on Tuesday that they will continue to work toward the safe evacuation of their citizens and local Afghan staff as the agreed deadline is only one week away.

"Our immediate priority is to ensure the safe evacuation of our citizens and those Afghans who have partnered with us and assisted our efforts over the past twenty years, and to ensure continuing safe passage out of Afghanistan," said a statement released after the virtual summit.

Speaking after the meeting, Johnson said: "The number one condition we're setting as G7 is that they have got to guarantee, right the way through, through August 31 and beyond, safe passage for those who want to come out."

It remains unclear how Johnson can unite the G7 and make any meaningful changes in terms of evacuation when the deadline expires. During the summit, he and his counterparts failed to persuade the United States to keep troops in Afghanistan past the end of the month.

The summit, joined by the Secretaries General of the United Nations and NATO, called on "any future Afghan government" to ensure that "Afghanistan must never again become a safe haven for terrorism, nor a source of terrorist attacks on others."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that G7 leaders agreed that it was their collective "moral duty" to help the Afghan people amid the current situation in Afghanistan.

"We all agreed that it is our moral duty to help the Afghan people and to provide as much support as possible as conditions allow," von der Leyen said at a press conference following a meeting of G7 leaders.

She said the Commission will propose to almost quadruple the humanitarian aid coming from the European Union (EU) budget, to "over 200 million euros ($236 million) for the year 2021. This will help meet the urgent needs of Afghans both in Afghanistan but also of course in the neighboring host countries."

However, von der Leyen added that "the future development assistance has to be condition-based. It always is condition-based, linked to fundamental values, human rights, and of course women's rights."

The EU has set aside one billion euros for Afghanistan's development in the next seven years. But "the aid is frozen" until the bloc "has solid guarantees and credible actions on the ground that the conditions are being met," von der Leyen said.

Rift between Washington and European allies

The virtual summit came as the rift between Washington and its European allies seemed to have widened over the Afghan crisis.

The Financial Times reported that Britain's foreign policy, heavily dependent on the United States, has been "shaken" by the crisis. The BBC said the U.S. decision to withdraw troops lays bare "a not so special relationship." 

Meanwhile, the sentiment has been growing in Europe that a military approach more independent of the United States should be pursued.

The fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the chaotic evacuation shows that Europe needs to develop its own military capacity independent of the United States, Europe Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell told journalists. 

(With input from agencies)

(Cover: U.S. President Joe Biden removes his mask as he arrives to speak about the situation in Afghanistan in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Aug. 24, 2021. /CFP)