4,100 US citizens remain in Afghanistan, source says

Secretary of State Tony Blinken will speak about the historically unprecedented effort to repatriate Americans from Afghanistan and focus on what the department has done to provide tailor-made assistance to Americans to get them out of the country, according to a senior State Department official. .

President Biden said yesterday that Blinken would also give specific figures on how many Americans are still in the country and wanting to exit.

“Tomorrow I have asked Secretary Blinken to give you an update and a detailed report on exactly how many Americans are still in Afghanistan and how many we are out and what our projection is,” President Biden said yesterday.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said 4,400 Americans had been evacuated but did not provide the total number of Americans who still need to be evacuated, at the Pentagon briefing on Wednesday morning.

Blinken will also speak about the United States’ enduring commitment to the Afghans. But when the United States leaves the airport, it will be extremely difficult for Afghans to leave the country, as the Taliban have said they will not allow them to leave the country and it is not clear whether the airport of Kabul will remain open.

The Biden administration is in contact with U.S. allies over securing Kabul airport and efforts to keep it operational, the State Department official said. It is not known if there will be an agreement to keep the airport open when the US military leaves.

Kirby said managing the airport when the United States leaves will be the responsibility of the Taliban. He noted that the Turks were still present at the airport, but said he did not want to talk about their intention in the future.