5 hours agoWhite House: 17 thousand evacuated by Kabul from August 14th
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)The White House announced on Saturday that in the last 24 hours the US Army has evacuated about 3,800 people from Kabul Airport, as well as 17,000 since August 14th, before the Taliban entered the Afghan capital. The White House said that in all, about 22,000 people had been evacuated since late July. [...]
Among the 17,000 evacuated last week 2,500 are Americans, US General William Taylor said Saturday at a press conference at the Pentagon. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters he did not have a precise “of how many Americans remain in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan.
On Friday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the total number depends on several factors.
He added that the State Department is working to contact all American citizens who have notified the department, as well as Afghans at risk seeking US assistance. Noting that the United States has “an extraordinary air transport capacity”, Mr. Price said that “we'll do as much as we can, as long as we can, to evacuate as many people we can of”.
US President Joe Biden reiterated Friday's promise to stay in Afghanistan until all American citizens who want to leave and Afghans who risked their lives working for the American government during the 20-year war in Afghanistan are evacuated.
Biden also said his administration would do “everything possible” to safely evacuate the Afghan subx2>alates, partners and Afghans that could be targeted (the Taliban)”.
The president has faced criticism from American lawmakers that his administration has not acted fast enough to move Americans and Afghans to danger, while the Taliban were advancing rapidly across the country. General Taylor told reporters Friday that there are about 5,800 American troops at Kabul airport helping with evacuation efforts.
Despite chaos and occasional violence outside the airport, the president has stressed that the US Army has control of the airport and are evacuate thousands in order to leave the country by 31 August. Concerns are growing, meanwhile, about reports that Afghans and American citizens have trouble going to the airport due to Taliban checkpoints. The U.S. is continuing to communicate with local Taliban commanders to enable people to circulate through checkpoints.
The American Embassy in Kabul issued a new warning Saturday, advising Americans not to go to the airport without any “individual guidelines from a representative of the American government” -- this because, as it was said, of possible threats presented by the Islamic State outside airport gates. American officials, who spoke anonymously, refused to provide details about threats presenting I SIS, but they said they're serious.
