Yet the White House received clear warnings that the situation was deteriorating rapidly before the current evacuation push. The administration has also portrayed its contingency planning as successful after the Afghan government fell much faster than publicly anticipated by administration officials. Marine Corps, civilians prepare to board a plane during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. But refugee groups point to yearslong backlogs of applications from thousands of those Afghans for visas that would let them take refuge in the United States. Ghani fled the country last weekend as the Taliban seized the capital.īiden also said that many at-risk Afghan allies had not wanted to leave the country. efforts to fly out translators and other Afghans in danger for the past work with Americans. He said he was following the advice of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, in not earlier expanding U.S. That’s according to officials familiar with the document who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal debate.īiden has said that the chaos that unfolded as part of the withdrawal was inevitable as the nearly 20-year war came to an end. 31 pullout, and urged the Biden administration to immediately begin a concerted evacuation effort. In a cable sent through the State Department’s dissent channel, a time-honored method for foreign service officers to register opposition to administration policies, the diplomats said the situation on the ground was dire, that the Taliban would likely seize control of the capital within months of the Aug. Embassy in Kabul registered their concerns that the evacuation of Afghans who had worked for America was not proceeding quickly enough. In July, more than 20 diplomats at the U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks ago that the administration ramp up evacuation efforts. failure to get out more allies ahead of this month’s sudden Taliban takeover, U.S. While Biden has previously blamed Afghans for the U.S. Please use your best judgment and attempt to enter the airport at any gate that is open.” Due to large crowds and security concerns, gates may open or close without notice. It said: “We are processing people at multiple gates. The advisory captured some of the pandemonium, and what many Afghans and foreigners see as their life-and-death struggle to get inside. government renewed its advisory to Americans and others that it could not guarantee safe passage for any of those desperately seeking seats on the planes inside. With desperate crowds thronging Kabul’s airport, and Taliban fighters ringing its perimeter, the U.S. On each of the previous two days, about 2,000 people were airlifted. A defense official said about 5,700 people, including about 250 Americans, were flown out of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes. 31 deadline to withdraw its troops from the country, although the pace had picked up overnight. Tens of thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of the United States’ Aug. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., who served in Iraq and also worked in Afghanistan to help aid workers provide humanitarian relief. The deadline “is contributing to the chaos and the panic at the airport because you have Afghans who think that they have 10 days to get out of this country or that door is closing forever,” said Rep. They also wanted Biden to make clear an Aug. In Washington, some veterans in Congress were calling on the Biden administration to extend a security perimeter beyond the Kabul airport so more Afghans can make it to the airport for evacuation. However, flights resumed in the afternoon.Īs many as three flights out of Kabul were expected in the next few hours, going to Bahrain and carrying perhaps 1,500 evacuees in all, said an official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military. government struggles to ramp up a massive airlift clearing Americans and other foreigners and vulnerable Afghans through the Kabul airport, rescuing them from a Taliban takeover of the country.īiden is facing criticism for a chaotic and often violent scene outside the airport and crowds struggle to reach safety inside.Įvacuation flights at the Kabul airport had stopped for several hours on Friday because of a backup at a transit point for the refugees, a U.S. Biden’s comments at a White House news conference Friday come as the U.S.
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