Afghanistan: US troops evacuated 10,900 people from Kabul on August 23, says White House

The White House on August 24, Tuesday, informed that it evacuated as many as 10,900 individuals from Kabul, Afghanistan within 12 hours. According to White House Rapid Response Director Mike Gwin, the evacuation of over ten thousand started on Monday at 3 am and ended at 3 pm on the same day. He noted that the United States Army has so far evacuated 48,000 people from Kabul since the Taliban fighters entered Kabul on August 15, Sunday, and sought the unconditional surrender of the Central Government. "Between 3:00 am and 3:00 pm ET today, a total of approximately 10,900 people were evacuated from Kabul," the White House Rapid Response Director tweeted.

Deadly violence has blocked many desperate evacuees: Kirby

While talking about the evacuation, Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US military pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights out of Afghanistan by far on Monday. He said that the deadly violence has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport. In his 10-minute press conference, Kirby hinted that the Taliban might soon seek to shut down the airlifts. “Thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and deconfliction with the Taliban,” Kirby said. “What we’ve seen is, this deconfliction has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport,” he added.

US troops went beyond the airport and carried out evacuation by helicopter: White House

Explaining the difficulties while evacuating the Afghans and US citizens, Kirby said that the troops went beyond the airport and carried out the evacuation by helicopter. This was at least the second such rescue mission beyond the airport; Kirby said that last Thursday, three Army helicopters picked up 169 Americans near a hotel just beyond the airport gate and flew them onto the airfield. “We are in talks with the Taliban daily through both political and security channels,” he said, adding that ultimately it will be President Joe Biden's decision alone whether to continue military-led evacuation operations beyond August 31.

Afghans blamed US President Joe Biden for betraying the people

Meanwhile, people with ties to Afghanistan blamed the US President for betraying the people of the war-torn country and demanded sanctioning Pakistan as hundreds of people protested on August 22, Sunday, outside the White House. The world is closely watching the unfolding situation in Afghanistan as the countries have scrambled to evacuate their citizens from the country in an attempt to secure their people. Video footage that could become some of the defining images of the fall of Kabul, Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban takeover, reportedly clung to the side of a departing US military jet stunned the whole world. 

(With inputs from AP)

(Image credit: AP)