WASHINGTON – The White House said Monday that the U.S. has evacuated or helped remove about 48,000 people from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, with about 10,900 of them transported by air for 12 hours Monday.
The count represents an apparent acceleration in the army’s colossal efforts to relocate as many people as possible amid a Taliban takeover. In addition, coalition forces evacuated approximately 5,900 people over the weekend.
Since the end of July, the U.S. has relocated about 53,000 people, the White House said. According to the State Department, it is still believed that there are several thousand Americans waiting to be evacuated.
The Pentagon said evacuees are flying from Kabul to temporary safe havens throughout the Middle East and Europe, including U.S. facilities in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Afghan citizens arriving in the United States will be staying at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, Fort Lee in Virginia, McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Joint Base in New Jersey, and Fort Bliss in Texas.
Army General Steve Lyons, commander of the U.S. Transportation Command, told reporters Monday that nearly 200 planes were engaged in the evacuation effort.
“So when I say we’re all there. I’m serious,” Lyons said, adding that he was confident the U.S. military would be able to increase its current rate of departure.
The latest update on evacuation efforts comes as U.S. and NATO coalition forces rush to air thousands of people out of the country ahead of a self-imposed deadline to leave Afghanistan in eight days.
U.S. and U.S. airmen guide qualified evacuees aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA), Afghanistan, on August 21, 2021.
US Air Force | Reuters
President Joe Biden has previously said he could consider extending the departure date to Aug. 31, but he has yet to do so.
A Taliban spokesman told Sky News that the group will not accept this extension.
“It’s a red line. President Biden announced that on August 31 he would withdraw all his military forces. So if they expand it means they expand the occupation as long as there is none,” Suhail Shaheen said. according to the report.
“If the United States or the United Kingdom were looking for extra time to continue evacuations, the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” he added.
When asked about the Taliban’s warning, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden was assessing the situation “day by day” and added that “the president will make his own determinations” about a possible extension.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during the daily press session at the White House in Washington, DC, on August 23, 2021.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
The State Department reiterated that the U.S. would hold the Taliban accountable if the group did not honor its commitment to provide a safe passage for evacuees traveling to the airport.
“The Taliban have agreed to provide a safe passage for Americans, third-country nationals and Afghans who want to leave,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told State Department reporters. “Together we will hold them accountable if they don’t,” he added. .
Sullivan downplayed criticism that the United States had erred in withdrawing from Afghanistan given the hasty military evacuations and panic scenes at the airport.
“What I see is that the United States is securing an airfield at risk of several thousand U.S. troops to facilitate not only the evacuation of Americans, but to facilitate the evacuation of third-country nationals both for part of friends as well as enemies, and to facilitate the evacuation of tens of thousands of people who for humanitarian reasons want to leave Afghanistan, ”Sullivan said.
“This is a huge logistical, diplomatic and humanitarian security commitment. There is no other country in the world that can pull something off like this, not counting it,” he added.
At the Pentagon, Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby said “the focus is on getting it to the end of the month.”
U.S. Department of Defense Press Secretary John Kirby (R) and Army Divisional General William Taylor (L), Joint Chief of Staff for Regional Operations, participate in a briefing at the Pentagon on August 23, 2021 in Arlington, Virginia.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
“We are aware of the Taliban’s desire for this mission to end on August 31. I will tell you that we still plan to finish it before August 31. This is the mission that the commander-in-chief has signed and assigned to us. and that’s what we’re trying to execute, ”Kirby added.
Earlier Monday, the U.S. military confirmed a brief shooting at a gate at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Navy Captain William Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command (the combat command that oversees U.S. military operations in the region), said the incident “appeared to begin when an unknown hostile actor fired on the forces of Afghan security. “
He added that there were no wounded US coalition or NATO forces.