The U.S. military reported on Monday its highest number of evacuation flights from Afghanistan to date; however, acts of violence that have prevented many of those seeking to leave the country from reaching the airport persist, and the Taliban hinted that it could soon stop cooperating with evacuation tasks.
In a 24-hour period that ended Monday morning, 28 U.S. Armed Forces flights took 10,400 people out of the country, a White House official said. Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said the increase in evacuation speed was due, in part, to coordination with Taliban commanders to allow evacuees to enter the airport.
“So far, and from that point on, constant communication and avoiding conflicts with the Taliban is required,” Kirby said. “What we have seen is that this task of suppressing conflicts has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow, as well as reducing the size of crowds stationed outside the airport.”
Because access remains complicated, U.S. troops used another helicopter to go for more U.S. citizens. Federal officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 Americans Monday and took them to the airport for evacuation. This is at least the second time such a rescue operation has been carried out outside the airport. Kirby reported last Thursday that three Army helicopters picked up 169 Americans near a hotel near the airport to take them directly to the runway.
Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, told the White House that negotiations with the Taliban are continuing as the government seeks additional ways to safely transport Americans and others to Kabul airport. .
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“We talked daily with the Taliban through political and security channels,” he said. He added that it would be Biden’s decision whether or not to continue with evacuation operations after August 31, the date scheduled for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
In a clear show of the urgency to complete the process amid a wide range of security threats, the Pentagon released a video of a laser pointer aimed at an Air Force C-17 aircraft, in an apparent attempt to distract the pilot during landing.
Biden said Sunday he would not rule out extending the evacuation campaign beyond Aug. 31, a date he had set to complete the withdrawal of troops. And British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to pressure Biden to extend the date in order to remove as many Afghan foreigners and allies as possible. Biden will meet with the G-7 on Tuesday at a virtual summit on Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Sky News that August 31 is a “red line” that the United States should not cross and that expanding the US presence “would provoke a backlash.” .