Four Americans have been able to leave Afghanistan safely via a land route, in an effort facilitated by the State Department.
According to a senior State Department official, all four are in good condition and U.S. embassy staff members were on hand to greet them Monday.
This is the first time the State Department has facilitated this route since the U.S. withdrawal was completed in late August. The 124,000 people evacuated in late July and August were flown out of Afghanistan.
According to the State Department, the Taliban were aware of the movement of the Americans towards the border and did not stop them. The US has not disclosed where the four Americans are.
The news of the departure of the Americans came when Secretary of State Antony Blinken was about to arrive in Doha, Qatar, where he and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are meeting with Qatari leaders to thank them. the aid the Gulf nation gave to the U.S. mass airlift of vulnerable Americans and Afghans, providing a transit point and support for evacuees.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, there are multiple plans prepared to evict U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents from Afghanistan, but the Taliban deny them permission to leave, according to sources in non-governmental organizations and Congress.
The State Department advised members of Congress to inform groups that wanted to evacuate Afghanistan from Mazar-i-Sharif that the government “has no ground personnel in Mazar, we have no air assets in the country and we do not control airspace “. But the State Department has said it will “maintain the Taliban’s commitment to let people leave Afghanistan freely,” adding that “the entire international community is focused on whether they are fulfilling their commitments.”