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By ZEKE MILLER, ELLEN KNICKMEYER, ROBERT BURNS and MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden pledged firmly connected Friday to bring each Americans location from Afghanistan — and each Afghans who aided the warfare effort, excessively — arsenic officials confirmed that U..S. subject helicopters were flying into Taliban-held Kabul to scoop up would-be evacuees.
But Biden’s promises, and the constricted U.S. chopper sorties beyond the factual barriers ringing the Kabul airport, came arsenic thousands much Americans and others seeking to flight the Taliban struggled to get past crushing crowds, Taliban airdrome checkpoints and sometimes-insurmountable U.S. bureaucracy.
“We volition get you home,” Biden promised Americans who were inactive successful Afghanistan days aft the Taliban retook power of Kabul, ending a two-decade war. American officials confirmed to The Associated Press that constricted chopper rescues were underway.
Biden’s comments, delivered astatine the White House, were intended to task intent and stableness astatine the decision of a week during which images from Afghanistan much often suggested chaos, particularly astatine the airport.
His committedness to find a mode retired for Afghan allies susceptible to Taliban attacks amounted to a perchance immense enlargement of Washington’s promises, fixed the tens of thousands of translators and different helpers, and their adjacent household members, seeking evacuation.
“We’re making the aforesaid commitment” to Afghan wartime helpers arsenic to U.S. citizens, Biden said, offering the imaginable of assistance to Afghans who mostly person been warring idiosyncratic battles to get the documents and transition into the airdrome that they request to leave. He called the Afghan allies “equally important” successful the evacuations.
Meanwhile, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had disconcerting quality for the lawmakers helium briefed connected Friday, confirming that Americans are among those who person been beaten by the Taliban astatine airdrome checkpoints.
Biden is facing continuing disapproval arsenic videos and quality reports picture pandemonium and occasional unit extracurricular the airport.
“I made the decision” connected the timing of the U.S. withdrawal, helium said, his code steadfast arsenic helium declared that it was going to pb to hard scenes, nary substance when. Former President Donald Trump had acceptable it for May successful negotiations with the Taliban, but Biden extended it.
Thousands of radical stay to beryllium evacuated up of Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to retreat astir remaining U.S. troops. Flights were stopped for respective hours connected Friday due to the fact that of a backup astatine a transit constituent for the refugees, a U.S. airbase successful Qatar, but they resumed successful the afternoon, including to Bahrain.
Still, imaginable evacuees faced continuing problems getting into the airport. The Belgian Foreign Ministry confirmed that 1 of its planes took disconnected bare due to the fact that the radical who were expected to beryllium aboard couldn’t get in.
A defence authoritative said astir 5,700 people, including astir 250 Americans, were flown retired of Kabul aboard 16 C-17 transport planes, guarded by a impermanent U.S. subject deployment that’s gathering to 6,000 troops. On each of the erstwhile 2 days, astir 2,000 radical were airlifted.
Senior American subject officials told the AP that an American CH-47 Chinook chopper picked up Afghans, mostly women and children, and ferried them to Hamid Karzai International Airport connected Friday. The 3rd Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division airlifted the Afghans from Camp Sullivan, adjacent the Kabul airport.
The officials said specified sorties person been underway for respective days from assorted points successful Kabul arsenic Afghans question to fly the state taken implicit by the Taliban. Intelligence teams wrong Kabul are helping usher some Americans and Afghans and their families to the airdrome oregon are arranging for them to beryllium rescued by different means.
For those surviving successful cities and provinces extracurricular Kabul, CIA lawsuit officers, peculiar cognition forces and agents from the Defense Intelligence Agency connected the crushed are gathering immoderate U.S. citizens and Afghans who worked for the U.S. astatine predetermined pick-up sites.
The officials would not item wherever these airlift sites were for information reasons. They spoke connected information of anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to sermon ongoing operations.
In Washington, immoderate veterans successful Congress were calling connected the Biden medication to widen a information perimeter beyond the Kabul airdrome truthful much Afghans could get through.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said a “small number” of U.S. troops did spell extracurricular the perimeter a abbreviated region for a “short magnitude of time” to assistance bring successful 169 people, but gave nary details. Those were Americans, Biden said. The medication has said it’s not susceptible astatine existent deployment levels successful Kabul of bringing bid to the chaos.
The lawmakers besides said they privation Biden to marque clearer that the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawing U.S. troops is not a steadfast one.
The deadline “is contributing to the chaos and the panic astatine the airdrome due to the fact that you person Afghans who deliberation that they person 10 days to get retired of this state oregon that doorway is closing forever,” said Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., who served successful Iraq and besides worked successful Afghanistan to assistance assistance workers supply humanitarian relief.
With mobs of radical extracurricular the airdrome and Taliban fighters ringing its perimeter, the U.S. renewed its advisory to Americans and others that it could not warrant harmless transition for immoderate of those desperately seeking seats connected the planes inside. The Taliban are regularly firing into the aerial to effort to power the crowds, sending men, women and children running.
The advisory captured immoderate of the pandemonium, and what galore Afghans and foreigners spot arsenic their life-and-death conflict to get inside. It said: “We are processing radical astatine aggregate gates. Due to ample crowds and information concerns, gates whitethorn unfastened oregon adjacent without notice. Please usage your champion judgement and effort to participate the airdrome astatine immoderate gross that is open.”
While Biden has antecedently blamed Afghans for the U.S. nonaccomplishment to get retired much allies up of this month’s abrupt Taliban takeover, U.S. officials told The Associated Press that American diplomats had formally urged weeks agone that the medication ramp up evacuation efforts.
Biden said Friday helium had gotten a wide assortment of clip estimates, though each were pessimistic astir the Afghan authorities surviving.
He has said helium was pursuing the proposal of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed president, Ashraf Ghani, successful not earlier expanding U.S. efforts to alert retired translators and different endangered Afghans. Ghani fled the state past play arsenic the Taliban seized the capital.
Biden has besides said that galore at-risk Afghan allies had not wanted to permission the country. But exile groups constituent to yearslong backlogs of applications from thousands of those Afghans for visas that would fto them instrumentality refuge successful the United States.
Afghans and the Americans trying to assistance them besides accidental the medication has clung to visa requirements for would-be evacuees that impact much than a twelve steps, and tin instrumentality years to complete. Those often person included requirements that the Taliban expanse has made unsafe oregon intolerable — specified arsenic requiring Afghans to spell to a third-country to use for a U.S. visa, and nutrient paperwork showing their enactment with Americans.
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Associated Press reporters Josh Boak, Lolita C. Baldor and Kevin Freking contributed from Washington, James LaPorta from Boca Raton, Florida.
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