[ad_1]
For WORLD Radio, I’m Kent Covington.
Blinken estimates that 1,500 Americans can still wait for their evacuation ” Secretary of State Tony Blinken said Wednesday that up to 1,500 Americans may be waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan. This figure suggests that part of the US-led airlift could be completed before President Biden’s Tuesday deadline.
But Blinken said everyone who remains in Kabul is in danger.
BLINKEN: We are operating in a hostile environment in a city and country now controlled by the Taliban with the very real possibility of an ISIS-K attack.
The US government has contacted about 500 Americans with instructions on when and how to get to the chaotic Kabul airport to catch evacuation flights.
Blinken said the State Department estimated about 6,000 Americans wanted to leave Afghanistan when the airlift began on August 14, and about 4,500 of them have been evacuated so far.
Speaking at a Pentagon press conference on Wednesday, spokesman John Kirby said US helicopters carried out an operation on Tuesday evening to transport those trapped in the city to the airport.
Kirby: It was inside Kabul, David.
JOURNALIST: Was this a helicopter operation?
Kirby: It was
JOURNALIST: Can you tell us how many?
KIRBY: We’re not going to provide specific details, less than 20.
But thousands of Afghans at risk are struggling to get into the airport.
Some of the Afghan refugees who took the plane arrived at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. And up to 10,000 more could get there in the coming weeks.
The trip of two American legislators to Kabul raises questions, condemnations ” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy disagree on much. But they were united on Wednesday in calling on members of Congress not to visit Afghanistan.
That after two House members, a Republican and a Democrat traveled to Kabul airport to preview the evacuation.
McCarthy told reporters …
MCCARTHY: I don’t think it’s smart for others to go. You are putting yourself – not yourself in danger, but you are Americans in danger if the military is to protect you.
And President Pelosi agreed.
PELOSI: It’s deadly serious. We don’t want the members to leave.
The Pentagon also discourages VIP visits.
Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton, a Democrat, and GOP Congressman Peter Meijer from Michigan flew on a charter Tuesday. They remained on the ground at Kabul airport for several hours before taking off in a military plane.
They said their visit was an effort to control the evacuation by Congress.
Pentagon: American troops must be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible ” Military troops must immediately begin to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This is the word of the Secretary of Defense. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.
KRISTEN FLAVIN, JOURNALIST: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday ordered department heads “to impose ambitious deadlines for implementation.”
More than 800,000 military personnel have yet to receive their photos, according to Pentagon data. And now that the Pfizer vaccine has received full FDA approval, the Department of Defense is adding it to the list of vaccines required for military service.
Austin’s memo doesn’t dictate a specific timeline for completing vaccinations. But he indicates that the military services will have to report regularly on their progress. And a senior defense official said Austin has made it clear to the services that he expects them to act quickly and that this will be over in weeks, not months.
Report for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.
New York Governor Adds 12,000 Deaths to COVID Tally Made Public ” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said 12,000 more people had died from COVID-19 in her state than her predecessor admitted.
Governor Hochul told NPR:
HOCHUL: The public deserves a clear and honest picture of what is going on. And it is whether it is good or bad, they need to know the truth. And this is how we restore trust.
In its first daily update on the outbreak, Hochul’s office reported that more than 55,000 people have died from the coronavirus in New York City. This is based on data from death certificates submitted to the CDC.
That number is up from just over 43,000 deaths that former Governor Andrew Cuomo reported to the public on Monday, his last day in office.
WHO team experts say research into the origins of COVID has stalled ” A team of World Health Organization investigators say their research into the origins of COVID-19 has stalled. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown reports.
JOURNALIST ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN: Investigators say the window of opportunity to solve the mystery of the origin of the virus “is closing quickly.”
Experts recruited by the WHO said the investigation into the origins was at “a critical moment”. They add that they need urgent collaboration, but instead the investigation has stalled. This is largely due to China’s refusal to cooperate.
Earlier this year, the team traveled to Wuhan, China, the original epicenter. In their analysis, published in March, the members concluded that the virus had likely jumped to humans from animals, and they described the possibility of a laboratory leak as “extremely unlikely.”
The WHO then backtracked, conceding that it had prematurely closed the door on the laboratory leak theory.
Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence review ordered by President Biden has been inconclusive as to the origin of the virus.
Report for WORLD, I am Anna Johansen Brown.
I am Kent Covington. For more information, features, and analytics, visit us at wng.org.
WORLD Radio transcriptions are created in the shortest possible time. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative recording of WORLD Radio’s programming is the audio recording.
[ad_2]
Source link