Since the Department of Defense began supporting the State Department with the displacement of people out of Afghanistan in late July, approximately 12,000 people have been relocated outside the country, General Hank Taylor, deputy director, said Thursday. of the Joint Staff of Regional Operations.
That number of 12,000 people includes “U.S. citizens, U.S. embassy personnel, people designated by the State Department as SIV applicants, and other evacuees in coordination with the State Department,” he said. dir Taylor.
It includes in that number of 12,000 people 7,000 people who have been relocated from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, Taylor said.
The Department of Defense is “ready to increase performance and plans aircraft departures accordingly,” Taylor said.
“We intend to maximize the capacity of each aircraft. We are prioritizing people above all else, and we are focused on doing so in the safest way possible with absolute urgency, ”he added.