Topline
The U.S. military has evacuated 7,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban began taking back control of Afghanistan, a military spokesperson said Thursday during a briefing, but specifics on how many more need to be evacuated remain scarce.
Key Facts
The U.S. military—which now has 5,200 troops in Afghanistan—has evacuated 2,000 in the last 24 hours, said Army Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor.
They are now able to airlift between 5,000 and 9,000 people each day, Defense Department spokesman John Kirby said, but there are bottlenecks keeping that many people from being evacuated, including Taliban checkpoints and the time it takes the U.S. to screen people at the airport gates.
Asked how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, Kirby said, “I don’t know.”
A State Department spokesperson estimates there are between 5,000 and 10,000 American citizens in Afghanistan, but said that the department doesn’t have a full list because Americans don’t have to tell the government when they travel abroad.
U.S. fighter jets have been flying over Kabul in case they are needed—not in response to a threat, Kirby said—and had been making such flights while U.S. troops were withdrawing in previous months.
Crucial Quote
“We've made it very clear to the Taliban that any attack upon our people in our operations at the airport will be met with a forceful response,” Kirby said. “There have been no hostile interactions between the Taliban and our forces” so far, he said, nor have there been any reports of Americans being prevented by the Taliban from traveling to the airport.
Key Background
In addition to military evacuations, both commercial and charter flights are able to fly out of the airport, where U.S. troops are guarding gates, Kirby said. While President Joe Biden told ABC News that U.S. troops would stay in Afghanistan until all Americans had been evacuated, Kirby said that the current Aug. 31 deadline to remove all troops has not yet been changed.
Further Reading
US troops will stay until all Americans are out of Afghanistan, even if past Aug. 31 deadline: Biden (ABC News)
Afghanistan War Went Wrong For These 7 Reasons, US Watchdog Says (Forbes)
White House Says 3,200 People Evacuated From Afghanistan – Expects Pace To 'Escalate' (Forbes)
"many" - Google News
August 20, 2021 at 12:26AM
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Pentagon Unsure How Many Americans Still In Afghanistan - Forbes
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