3,900 people airlifted out of Kabul on US military flights over the past 24 hours on a total of 23 flights
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
With Pentagon activating Civil Reserve Air Fleet, the US-led evacuation from Kabul is accelerating.
For evacuation of Americans, at-risk Afghans and others from Afghanistan amid “acute” security threats, the military is considering “creative ways” to get Americans and others into the Kabul airport. The Pentagon has ordered six US commercial airlines to help move the evacuees from temporary sites outside Afghanistan.
US bureaucracy hurdles and security issues have slowed down the airlift procedure for tens of thousands of people as Kabul airport remains vulnerable to threats posed by the extremist group.
Discussions among military officials are underway one week after the Taliban completed its takeover of Afghanistan by capturing Kabul, about potentially extending the airlift beyond Biden’s 31 August deadline.
“Our hope is we will not have to extend, but there are discussions,” Biden said, suggesting the possibility that the Taliban will be consulted. US forces have managed to improve access to the airport for Americans and others seeking to get on flights.”
Since August 14, one day before the Taliban entered Kabul, the airlift has evacuated 28,000 people, including 11,000 who had departed from Kabul in 36 hours this weekend.
“Any American who wants to get home, will get home.”
— Biden
The number appeared to include flights by charter and non-US military aircraft as well as the US Air Force C-17 and C-130 transport planes that have been flying daily from the capital. The US military is controlling air traffic on both the civilian and military sides of the airport.
“What I’m not going to do is talk about the tactical changes we’re making to make sure we maintain as much security as we can,” Biden said. “We have constantly, how can I say it, increased rational access to the airport, where more folk can get there more safely. It’s still a dangerous operation but I don’t want to go into the detail of how we’re doing that.”
Later Biden added: “We’ve discussed a lot with the Taliban. They’ve been cooperative in extending some of the perimeter.”
“Any American who wants to get home, will get home,” Biden asserted.
“The threat is real, it is acute, it is persistent and something we’re focused with every tool in our arsenal,” said Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union that 3,900 people had been airlifted out of Kabul on US military flights over the past 24 hours on a total of 23 flights.
That represents an increase from 1,600 flown out aboard US military planes in the previous 24 hours but remains far below the 5,000 to 9,000 that the military says it has the capacity to airlift daily. Sullivan also said about 3,900 people were airlifted on non-US military flights over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Ryan Crocker, who served as US ambassador to Afghanistan under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told CBS’ Face the Nation that Biden’s management of the withdrawal was “catastrophic” and had unleashed a “global crisis.”
