About 200 foreigners, including Americans, fly out of Kabul

By KATHY GANNON

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An estimated 200 foreigners, including Americans, near Afghanistan connected a commercialized formation retired of Kabul connected Thursday with the practice of the Taliban — the archetypal specified large-scale departure since U.S. forces completed their frantic withdrawal implicit a week ago.

The Qatar Airways formation to Doha marked a breakthrough successful the bumpy coordination betwixt the U.S. and Afghanistan’s caller rulers. A dayslong standoff implicit charter planes astatine different airdrome has near hundreds of mostly Afghan radical stranded, waiting for Taliban support to leave.

A elder U.S. official, speaking connected information of anonymity due to the fact that helium wasn’t authorized to speech to the media, said the Taliban’s overseas curate and lawman premier curate helped facilitate the flight. Americans, U.S. greenish paper holders and different nationalities, including Germans, Hungarians and Canadians, were aboard, the authoritative said.

Qatari envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani said different 200 passengers volition permission Afghanistan connected Friday.

Ten U.S. citizens and 11 green-card holders made Thursday’s flight, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. Americans organizing charter evacuation flights said they knew of much U.S. passport and green-card holders successful Mazar-e-Sharif and elsewhere awaiting flights out.

The White House said earlier the formation that determination were astir 100 U.S. citizens near successful Afghanistan. But respective veterans groups person said that that fig is excessively debased due to the fact that galore citizens ne'er bothered to archer U.S. officials they were successful the country. And they said the fig overlooks green-card-carrying imperishable U.S. residents surviving successful Afghanistan who privation to leave.

Many thousands of Afghans stay hopeless to get out, too, acrophobic of what Taliban regularisation mightiness hold. The Taliban person repeatedly said foreigners and Afghans with due question documents could leave. But their assurances person been met with skepticism, and galore Afghans person been incapable to get definite paperwork.

U.S. lawmakers, veterans groups and others are pressing the Biden medication to guarantee that erstwhile Afghan subject interpreters and others who could beryllium successful information of Taliban reprisals for moving with the Americans are allowed to leave.

In the U.S., National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne said that Thursday’s formation was the effect of “careful and hard diplomacy and engagement” and that the Taliban “have shown flexibility, and they person been businesslike and nonrecreational successful our dealings with them successful this effort.”

“This is simply a affirmative archetypal step,” she said, adding that the U.S. volition proceed trying to extract Americans and Afghan allies who privation to leave.

As Taliban authorities patrolled the tarmac, passengers presented their documents for inspection and dogs sniffed luggage laid retired connected the ground. Some seasoned airdrome employees had returned to their jobs aft fleeing during the harrowing chaos of the U.S.-led airlift.

Irfan Popalzai, 12, boarded the formation with his parent and 5 brothers and sisters. He said his household lives successful Maryland.

“I americium an Afghan, but you cognize I americium from America and I americium truthful excited” to leave, helium said.

The airdrome was extensively damaged successful the frenzied last days of the U.S. airlift that evacuated implicit 100,000 people. But Qatari authorities announced that it had been repaired with the assistance of experts from Qatar and Turkey and was acceptable for the resumption of planetary hose flights.

“I tin intelligibly accidental that this is simply a historical time successful the past of Afghanistan arsenic Kabul airdrome is present operational,” al-Qahtani said. He added: “Hopefully, beingness is becoming mean successful Afghanistan.”

The formation was the archetypal to instrumentality disconnected from the Kabul airdrome since American forces near the state astatine the extremity of August. The accompanying scenes of chaos, including Afghans plunging to their deaths from the sides of subject craft connected takeoff and a termination bombing that killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. work members, came to specify the extremity of America’s two-decade war.

The airdrome is nary longer the Hamid Karzai International Airport, but simply Kabul International Airport, with the sanction of the country’s erstwhile president removed. Several Taliban flags flew from the terminal, which was emblazoned “The Islamic Emirate seeks peaceful and affirmative relations with the world.”

Hundreds of different Afghans who accidental they are astatine hazard for helping the Americans person gathered for much than a week successful the bluish metropolis of Mazar-e-Sharif, waiting for support to committee evacuation flights chartered by U.S. supporters. Many are believed not to person the indispensable question documents.

In Mazar-e-Sharif connected Thursday, an Afghan who worked 15 years arsenic an interpreter for the U.S. subject was moving from edifice to edifice and moving retired of wealth arsenic he, his 8 children and his woman waited for the OK from the Taliban to leave.

“I’m frightened I volition beryllium near behind,” said the man, whose sanction was withheld by The Associated Press for his safety.

The interpreter said helium was 1 of galore erstwhile U.S. employees whose peculiar visas the United States approved successful the past weeks of the American subject beingness successful Afghanistan. But with the U.S. Embassy closed erstwhile the Taliban took Kabul connected Aug. 15, it has go intolerable to get the visa stamped into his passport.

He said helium doesn’t spot Taliban assurances that they volition not instrumentality revenge against Afghans who worked for the Americans.

“No, never,” helium said. “I ne'er judge them, due to the fact that they are lying.”

Afghanistan warfare seasoned Matt Zeller, who founded the enactment No One Left Behind to assistance Afghans who supported American troops, said helium does not judge it is imaginable for applicants to the peculiar migrant visa programme to get a visa without an embassy successful Kabul.

“For each intents and purposes, these people’s chances of escaping the Taliban ended the time we near them behind,” helium said.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the United States is looking astatine specified steps arsenic physics visas to flooded the deficiency of an embassy successful Afghanistan.

The enactment War Time Allies estimates that arsenic galore arsenic 20,000 peculiar visa applicants stay successful the country, not counting those eligible nether a much wide regularisation alteration made successful July. Add their families to that and the full amounts to much than 80,000 people, according to the group.

___

Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer successful Oklahoma City; Julie Watson successful San Diego; and Bernard Condon successful New York contributed to this report.