On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the US is aware of allegations that the Taliban is preventing Afghans from accessing the Kabul international airport.
Taliban Fighters Allegedly Harassed Afghans and Other Citizens in their Checkpoints
In a recently published article in The Hill, Sherman, the second-ranking diplomat at the State Department, told reporters in the briefing room that they have heard that the Taliban is preventing Afghans who want to leave the country from reaching the airport, despite their public declarations and promises to the government.
She also added the country's staff in Doha, as well as military allies on the ground in Kabul, are speaking directly with the Taliban to make it clear that they expect any American citizens, third-country nationals, and Afghans who want to leave to do so securely and without experiencing any form of harassment.
However, the U.S. embassy in Kabul stated on Wednesday that it cannot guarantee safe passage to the Kabul airport, contradicting government officials' promises on Tuesday that the Taliban had agreed not to obstruct evacuation operations, according to a published article in ABC News.
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Numbers of Afghans and Americans At Risk With Violence
At least 10,000 Americans and more than 80,000 Afghans are in danger of Taliban violence, particularly Afghans who served alongside e the U.S. military and government personnel and who are eligible for evacuation to the U.S. under special immigrant visas.
Legislators and human rights advocates are pressuring the Biden administration to step up efforts to ensure the evacuation of these groups and to facilitate the evacuation of vulnerable Afghans who fear Taliban retaliation for collaborating with the U.S. or other international governments or organizations.
Furthermore, the U.S. military aircraft have evacuated 2,000 individuals in the previous 24 hours, the deputy secretary said, and have "processed" 4,840 people for evacuation during the last few days, according to a published report in The Washington Post.
Biden Sends Troops in Afghanistan To Ensure Safe Evacuation
As it became apparent that the Taliban were overrunning Afghan government forces on their approach to seizing Kabul, President Biden issued the order to deploy thousands of U.S. soldiers into Afghanistan last Thursday, according to a report in NPR News.
As administration officials watched the situation develop, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Tuesday that the decision was taken to augment the initial deployment of 3,000 soldiers with another 3,000. Sullivan's briefing was the first from the White House since the Taliban captured Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, on Sunday.
According to Sullivan, the president met with his national security team on the night of Aug. 11, posing the question of whether more forces should be sent in, as well as whether personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul should be drawn down and the evacuation secured. Biden ordered the action the next morning.
Sullivan also shared that there have been reports of certain individuals being turned away from the Kabul airport, and the U.S. has raised the matter with Taliban leaders in discussions. People have been getting through airport gates and onto flights, he added, but it's "an hour-by-hour problem."
