As many as 15,000 American citizens may remain inside Afghanistan, struggling to get out after the Taliban takeover, Joe Biden has conceded.
Earlier this week, a Biden assertion that some Afghans were “still hopeful for their country”, and didn’t want to leave, was widely criticised.
The US State Department confirmed a backlog of tens of thousands of visa applications from Afghans who have been trying for years to leave the country ahead of the August 31 US pullout deadline.Taliban fighters in Kabul on August 18, 2021, after the military takeover of Afghanistan. Picture: Wakil Kohsar/AFPChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley.
“There was nothing that I, or anybody else, saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days,” Milley told reporters at a news briefing in Washington, referring to Afghan forces aided by the US and the country’s leadership prior to the Taliban takeover. Milley said about 4500 US troops were currently on the ground securing the airport and made clear that any US citizen wanting to leave Afghanistan will have an opportunity to do so – as would any Afghan allies that have helped with the 20-year US effort in the country.
Milley said some 5000 people had already been evacuated, adding the US military will have the capability of increasing the pace of evacuations when the State Department “makes evacuees available”.This article originally appeared on
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