U.S. has capacity to evacuate remaining Americans in Afghanistan, says Biden aide

WASHINGTON — The United States has the capableness to evacuate the astir 300 U.S. citizens remaining successful Afghanistan who privation to permission earlier President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, elder Biden medication officials said Sunday, arsenic different U.S. drone onslaught against suspected Islamic State militants underscored the sedate menace successful the war’s last days.

“This is the astir unsafe clip successful an already extraordinarily unsafe ngo these past mates of days,” America’s apical diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said not agelong earlier confirmation of that airstrike successful Kabul, the capital.

The evacuation travel of Americans kept gait adjacent arsenic a caller State Department information alert, issued hours earlier the subject action, instructed radical to permission the airdrome country instantly “due to a specific, credible threat.”

Biden’s nationalist information adviser, Jake Sullivan said that for those U.S. citizens seeking instantly to permission Afghanistan by the looming deadline, “we person the capableness to person 300 Americans, which is astir the fig we deliberation are remaining, travel to the airdrome and get connected planes successful the clip that is remaining. We moved retired much than that fig conscionable yesterday. So from our constituent of view, determination is an accidental close present for American citizens to come, to beryllium admitted to the airdrome and to beryllium evacuated safely and effectively.”

Sullivan said the U.S. does not presently program to person an ongoing embassy beingness aft the last U.S. unit withdrawal. But helium pledged the U.S. “will marque definite determination is harmless transition for immoderate American citizen, immoderate ineligible imperishable resident” aft Tuesday, arsenic good arsenic for “those Afghans who helped us.” But untold numbers of susceptible Afghans, fearful of a instrumentality to the brutality of pre-2001 Taliban rule, are apt to beryllium near behind.

Blinken said the U.S. was moving with different countries successful the portion to either support the Kabul airdrome unfastened aft Tuesday oregon to reopen it “in a timely fashion.”

He besides said that portion the airdrome is critical, “there are different ways to permission Afghanistan, including by roadworthy and galore countries borderline Afghanistan.” The U.S., helium said, is “making definite that we person successful spot each of the indispensable tools and means to facilitate the question for those who question to permission Afghanistan” aft Tuesday.

There besides are astir 280 others who person said they are Americans but who person told the State Department they program to stay successful the state oregon are inactive undecided. According to the latest totals, astir 114,000 radical person been evacuated since the Taliban takeover connected Aug. 14, including astir 2,900 connected subject and conjugation flights during the 24 hours ending astatine 3 a.m. connected Sunday.

Members of Congress criticized the chaotic and convulsive evacuation.

“We didn’t person to beryllium successful this rush-rush condition with terrorists breathing down our neck,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah. “But it’s truly the work of the anterior medication and this medication that has caused this situation to beryllium upon america and has led to what is without question a humanitarian and overseas argumentation tragedy.”

Senate Republican person Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the U.S. argumentation successful Afghanistan, with 2,500 troops connected the ground, had been working. “We were, successful effect, keeping the lid on, keeping terrorists from reconstituting, and having a airy footprint successful the country,” helium said.

U.S. officials said the American drone onslaught deed a conveyance carrying aggregate Islamic State termination bombers heading for the Kabul airport, causing secondary explosions indicating the beingness of a important magnitude of explosive material. A connection from U.S. Central Command said the subject was assured it deed the intended people and determination were nary contiguous indications of civilian casualties.

It was the 2nd airstrike successful caller days the U.S. has conducted against the militant group, which claimed work for the termination bombing Thursday astatine the Kabul airdrome gross that killed 13 U.S. work members and scores of Afghans struggling to get retired of the state and flight the caller Taliban rule. The Pentagon said a U.S. drone ngo successful eastbound Afghanistan killed 2 members of IS’ Afghanistan affiliate aboriginal Saturday section clip successful retaliation for the airdrome bombing.

Biden was astatine Dover Air Force Base successful Delaware connected Sunday for a “dignified transfer” movement, a subject ritual of receiving the remains of fallen troops killed successful overseas combat.

Sullivan said earlier that the U.S. would proceed strikes against IS and see “other operations to spell aft these guys, to get them and to instrumentality them disconnected the battlefield.” He added: “We volition proceed to bring the combat to the terrorists successful Afghanistan to marque definite they bash not correspond a menace to the United States.

In a associated statement, the U.S. and astir 100 different nations said they are committed to ensuring that their citizens, employees, Afghans and others astatine hazard volition beryllium capable to question freely from Afghanistan. The connection said the Taliban person made assurances that “all overseas nationals and immoderate Afghan national with question authorization from our countries volition beryllium allowed to proceed successful a harmless and orderly mode to points of departure and question extracurricular the country.”

The 13 work members were the archetypal U.S. troops killed successful Afghanistan since February 2020, the period the Trump medication struck an statement with the Taliban successful which the militant radical halted attacks connected Americans successful speech for a U.S. statement to region each troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced successful April that the 2,500 to 3,000 troops who remained would beryllium retired by September, ending what helium has called America’s everlastingly war.

With Biden’s approval, the Pentagon this period sent thousands of further troops to the Kabul airdrome to supply information and to facilitate the State Department’s chaotic effort to evacuate thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Afghans who had helped the United States during the war. The evacuation was marred by disorder and chaos arsenic the U.S. authorities was caught by astonishment erstwhile the Afghan service collapsed and the Taliban swept to powerfulness Aug. 15.

Sullivan appeared connected CBS’ “Face the Nation,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and “Fox News Sunday.” Blinken was interviewed connected ABC’s “This Week” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” McConnell was connected Fox and Romney was connected CNN.