Blinken: The United States identified a ‘relatively’ small number of Americans who wanted to leave Mazar-i-Sharif
U.S. officials in Washington have identified a “relatively” small number of Americans who want to leave Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday while in Qatar. as reported by Reuters.
Blinken says the State Department is working with the Taliban to facilitate additional charter flights from Kabul to people who want to leave Afghanistan after the U.S. diplomatic and military exit.
It was the first time the Biden administration has confirmed that there were Americans at the airport after several reports that Taliban fighters had blocked Americans aboard six planes at the airport. Three Americans involved in private evacuations attacked the State Department over the weekend to prevent evacuation flights from leaving the country.
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Panjshir’s defiant leader, Ahmad Massoud, calls for a national uprising against the Taliban
Ahmad Massoud, the leader of Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front, said in an audio post Monday that his group will continue the fight despite claims by the Taliban that they have taken control of Panjshir province.
“Wherever you are, inside or outside, I ask you to start a national uprising for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country,” he said, according to the BBC.
He said his forces include members of the Afghan army and other militias. He said he was safe, Reuters reported.
“We are in Panjshir and our resistance will continue,” he said.
The Taliban issued a statement on Monday saying they had taken control of Panjshir province, north of Kabul, which served as the scene of the country’s latest resistance force.
Al Jazeera reported that there are concerns about the 130,000 people believed to be trapped there. Taliban forces have essentially sealed off the area from the rest of the country and there is a shortage of food, according to the report.
“Whatever food people have in their house, that’s what they’ve been eating for weeks, the shops and bazaars are empty,” a Panjshiri civilian told the newsroom. “I have sick people in my family and I have no way to help them.”
State Department trying to steal credit for rescuing four Americans from Afghanistan, organizer says
The organizer of a private mission to rescue an American mother, Mariam, and her three children from Afghanistan, says that now the US Department of State is trying to fit into the history of its evacuation, despite playing little or no role during much of the rescue effort. .
Senior State Department officials announced Monday that “the U.S. has facilitated the safe departure of four U.S. citizens by land from Afghanistan. Embassy staff was present upon their arrival.”
But those involved in the dangerous rescue operation say the State Department deserves little or no credit for Mariam’s escape from Afghanistan.
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The State Department, the White House that supports charter planes in Afghanistan, says New York’s top publisher
The White House and the U.S. State Department maintain charter planes at an airport in Afghanistan, Mazar-i-Sharif, that would transport 19 Americans and 40 SIV holders to Albania, said David Rohde, executive editor from NewYorker.com in an interview Monday.
“I want to repeat that,” he said. “The State Department and the White House” hold the planes.
He said the civilian effort has been “much more ambitious, much more dynamic and much more successful than what the administration has been doing.”
On Sunday, R-Texas Rep. Mike McCaul told Fox News that the Taliban had blocked Americans aboard six planes at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport. Three Americans involved in the private evacuation of those still in the country also attacked the State Department to prevent evacuation flights from leaving the country.
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