France to stop Kabul airport evacuations by Friday night

France's prime minister says his country will no longer be able to evacuate people from Kabul airport after Friday night.

The announcement by Jean Castex on Thursday comes as the U.S. and Western allies face an Aug. 31 deadline to pull out of Afghanistan.

Thousands have been trying to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, many through Kabul's international airport. That triggered a massive airlift of those trying to escape.

Castex told French radio RTL “from tomorrow evening onwards, we are not able to evacuate people from the Kabul airport” due to the Aug. 31 American withdrawal.

More than 2,000 Afghans and a hundred French people have been evacuated by France since the beginning of the operation last week.