A virtual meeting between G7 leaders Tuesday was meant to buy more time for the huge crowds that remain outside Kabul airport hoping to flee the threat of reprisals and repression in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

The White House posted on Twitter that the meeting was “a continuation of our close coordination on Afghanistan policy, humanitarian assistance, and evacuating our citizens, the brave Afghans who stood with us over the last two decades, and other vulnerable Afghans."

Leaders of the G7 countries — the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — were expecting to pressure Biden on extending the Aug. 31 deadline for more time to evacuate their own citizens and at-risk Afghans.

But President Joe Biden firmly reiterated his troop withdrawal deadline would not be extended. Meanwhile, no other evacuation efforts, humanitarian assistance plan or resettlement program for refugees were announced.

With the clock ticking on the withdrawal, Afghans have grown increasingly desperate as they struggle to find a safe and quick way to get to the airport.

Refugee and resettlement experts estimate that at least 300,000 Afghans are in imminent danger of being targeted by the Taliban for associating with Americans and U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan, The New York Times reported.

After Tuesday’s G7 meeting, Biden said at the White House that the world leaders had agreed to “continue our close cooperation to get people out as efficiently and safely as possible.”

Biden stressed that “the sooner we can finish the better" and noted that the U.S. was moving efficiently on reaching the withdrawal date.

Administration officials say the number of people still left to be evacuated from Afghanistan is changing on an hourly basis, especially since other countries have their own evacuation operations.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also spoke on Tuesday after the virtual summit. He vowed to airlift people out of Kabul “right up until the last moment that we can,” adding they could not convince Biden to extend the withdrawal deadline in their meeting.

The only legitimate outcome of the G7 meeting was a joint communique that only reiterated demands the West had been placing on the Taliban for months.

“We will judge the Afghan parties by their actions, not words. In particular, we reaffirm that the Taliban will be held accountable for their actions on preventing terrorism, on human rights in particular those of women, girls and minorities and on pursuing an inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan,” the statement said. “The legitimacy of any future government depends on the approach it now takes to uphold its international obligations and commitments to ensure a stable Afghanistan.”

And so far, the Taliban has not budged. Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Monday that “if the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations, the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”

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