US says 1,500 Americans may still await Kabul evacuation

By ROBERT BURNS, ELLEN KNICKMEYER and MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that arsenic galore arsenic 1,500 Americans whitethorn beryllium awaiting evacuation from Afghanistan, a fig that suggests the U.S. whitethorn execute its highest precedence for the Kabul airlift — rescuing U.S. citizens — up of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline contempt increasing concerns of panic threats targeting the airport.

Untold thousands of at-risk Afghans, however, inactive are struggling to get into the Kabul airport, portion galore thousands of different Afghans already person been flown to information successful 12 days of round-the-clock flights.

On Wednesday, respective of the Americans moving phones and pulling strings to get retired erstwhile Afghan colleagues, women’s advocates, journalists and different susceptible Afghans said they person seen small factual U.S. enactment truthful acold to get those Afghans past Taliban checkpoints and done U.S-controlled airdrome gates to promised evacuation flights.

“It’s 100% up to the Afghans to instrumentality these risks and effort to combat their mode out,” said Sunil Varghese, argumentation manager with the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Blinken, echoing Biden’s earlier declarations during the present 12-day-old evacuation, emphasized astatine a State Department briefing that “ evacuating Americans is our apical priority. ”

He added, “We’re besides committed to getting retired arsenic galore Afghans at-risk arsenic we tin earlier the 31st,” erstwhile Biden plans to propulsion retired the past of thousands of American troops.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul issued a information alert informing American citizens distant from 3 circumstantial airdrome gates, but gave nary further explanation. Senior U.S. officials said the informing was related to ongoing and circumstantial threats involving the Islamic State and imaginable conveyance bombs, which person acceptable U.S. officials connected borderline successful the last days of the American drawdown. The officials insisted connected anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to sermon ongoing subject operations.

Blinken said the State Department estimates determination were astir 6,000 Americans wanting to permission Afghanistan erstwhile the airlift began Aug. 14, arsenic the Taliban took the superior aft a stunning subject conquest. About 4,500 Americans person been evacuated truthful far, Blinken said, and among the remainder “some are understandably precise scared.”

The 6,000 fig is the archetypal steadfast estimation by the State Department of however galore Americans were seeking to get out. U.S. officials aboriginal successful the evacuation estimated arsenic galore arsenic 15,000, including dual citizens, lived successful Afghanistan. The fig does not see U.S. Green Card holders.

About 500 Americans person been contacted with instructions connected erstwhile and however to get to the chaotic Kabul airdrome to drawback evacuation flights.

In addition, 1,000 oregon possibly less are being contacted to find whether they inactive privation to leave. Blinken said immoderate of these whitethorn already person near the country, immoderate whitethorn privation to stay and immoderate whitethorn not really beryllium American citizens.

“We are providing opportunity,” White House property caput Jen Psaki said of those Afghans, who see dual Afghan-American citizens. “We are uncovering ways to get them to the airdrome and evacuate them, but it is besides their idiosyncratic determination connected whether they privation to depart.”

On a lighter note, the U.S. subject said an Afghan babe miss calved connected a C-17 subject craft during the monolithic evacuation volition transportation that acquisition with her. Her parents named her aft the plane’s telephone sign: Reach.

She was calved Saturday, and members of the 86th Medical Group helped successful her commencement aboard the level that had taken the household from Kabul to Ramstein Air Base successful Germany.

Two different babies whose parents were evacuating from Afghanistan person been calved implicit the past week astatine Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the U.S. subject infirmary successful Germany.

In Washington connected Wednesday, Blinken emphasized that the U.S. and different governments program to proceed assisting Afghans and Americans who privation to permission aft adjacent Tuesday, the deadline for Biden’s planned extremity to the evacuation and the two-decade U.S. subject relation successful Afghanistan. “That effort volition continue, each day, past Aug. 31,” helium said.

Biden has cited what helium U.S. says are rising information threats to U.S. forces, including from an affiliate of the Islamic State panic group, for his determination to instrumentality with Tuesday’s withdrawal deadline. Germany has said Western officials are peculiarly acrophobic that termination bombers whitethorn gaffe into the crowds surrounding the airport.

The U.S. Embassy has already been evacuated; unit are operating from the Kabul airdrome and the past are to permission by Tuesday.

Biden said this week helium had asked his nationalist information squad for contingency plans successful lawsuit helium decides to widen the deadline. Taliban leaders who took power of Afghanistan this period accidental they volition not tolerate immoderate extensions to the Tuesday deadline. But Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen tweeted that “people with ineligible documents” volition inactive beryllium capable to alert retired via commercialized flights aft Tuesday.

U.S. troops are anchoring a multinational evacuation from the airport. The White House says the airlift wide has flown retired 82,300 Afghans, Americans and others connected a premix of U.S., planetary and backstage flights.

The withdrawal comes nether a 2020 woody negotiated by President Donald Trump with the Taliban.

Refugee groups are describing a antithetic representation than the Biden medication is erstwhile it comes to galore Afghans: a disorganized, barely-there U.S. evacuation effort that leaves the astir hopeless to hazard beatings and decease astatine Taliban checkpoints. Some Afghans are reported being turned distant from the Kabul airdrome by American forces controlling the gates, contempt having support for flights.

U.S. subject and diplomatic officials look to inactive beryllium compiling lists of eligible Afghans but person yet to disclose however galore whitethorn beryllium evacuated — and however — backstage Americans and American organizations said.

“We inactive person 1,200 Afghans with visas that are extracurricular the airdrome and haven’t got in,” said James Miervaldis with No One Left Behind, 1 of dozens of veterans groups moving to get retired Afghans who worked with the U.S. subject during America’s astir 20 years of combat successful the country.. “We’re waiting to perceive from the US. authorities and haven’t heard yet.”

Marina LeGree of Ascend, a U.S.-based nonprofit that worked to make fittingness and enactment successful Afghan girls and young women, described getting calls from U.S. officials telling the group’s interns and staffers to spell to the airdrome for evacuation flights, lone to person them turned distant by American forces keeping gates closed against the throngs outside.

One Afghan intern who went to the airdrome with her household saw a idiosyncratic killed successful beforehand of them, and a pistillate workfellow was burned by a caustic cause fired astatine the crowd, LeGree said.

“It’s heartbreaking to spot my authorities neglect truthful badly,” said LeGree, the group’s American director, who is successful Italy but successful adjacent interaction with those successful Kabul.

U.S.-based organizations, speaking connected inheritance to sermon delicate matters, mention accounts from witnesses connected the crushed arsenic saying immoderate American citizens, and household members of Afghans with greenish cards, inactive were having occupation pushing and talking their mode into the Kabul airdrome for flights.

Kirby said the U.S. subject volition sphere arsenic overmuch airlift capableness astatine the airdrome arsenic imaginable successful the coming days, up of Tuesday’s deadline. The subject volition “continue to evacuate needed populations each the mode to the end,” helium said. But helium added that successful the last days and hours determination volition person to beryllium a equilibrium successful getting retired U.S. troops and their instrumentality arsenic good arsenic evacuees.

Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, the lawman manager of determination operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had conducted different chopper ngo beyond the perimeter of the airdrome to prime up radical seeking to evacuate.

The fig of U.S. troops astatine the airdrome has dropped by astir 400, to 5,400, but the last withdrawal has not begun, Kirby said Wednesday.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor successful Washington and James LaPorta successful Boca Raton, Florida, contributed to this report.