Afghanistan: US ramps up Kabul evacuation mission as August 31 deadline looms
- US evacuates 10,900 more people from Kabul airport, official says
- US sends troops to rescue Americans stuck outside Kabul airport
The US military shuttled thousands more people through the Kabul airport over the past 12 hours, a White House official said on Monday as Washington attempts to complete a daring airlift by an August 31 deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan.
In the 12 hours up until 3pm ET on Monday, about 10,900 people were evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport, the official said, updating figures given earlier in the day at the Pentagon.
The number of people relocated from Afghanistan since July on US flights hit 53,000, with 48,000 of those since the intense airlift operations started on August 14 as the Taliban moved into Kabul.
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Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said those evacuated included “several thousand” US citizens, and thousands of Afghans who worked for US forces, who had applied for or received special immigrant visas, and Afghans seen as at risk to Taliban attacks for their work in non-governmental organisations, the media, and other jobs.
That would require withdrawing the 5,800 US troops who have essentially run airport operations and maintained security since August 14, as well as large amounts of equipment brought in to support their mission.
With access still difficult, the US military went beyond the airport to carry out another helicopter retrieval of Americans. US officials said a military helicopter picked up 16 American citizens on Monday and brought them onto the airfield for evacuation. This was at least the second such rescue mission beyond the airport; Kirby said that last Thursday, three US Army helicopters picked up 169 Americans near a hotel just beyond the airport gate and flew them onto the airfield.