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Four Americans were able to leave Afghanistan safely using a land route, in an effort facilitated by the State Department.
According to a senior State Department official, the four men are in good condition and U.S. Embassy staff were on hand to greet them on Monday.
This is the first time that such a route has been facilitated by the State Department since the US withdrawal was completed in late August. The 124,000 people evacuated in late July and August were evacuated from Afghanistan by plane.
According to the State Department, the Taliban were aware of the movement of the Americans towards the border and did not obstruct them. The United States has not disclosed the whereabouts of the four Americans.
News of the Americans’ departure came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was about to arrive in Doha, Qatar, where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are meeting with Qatari leaders to thank them for the the Gulf Nation’s assistance to the United States in its massive airlift of vulnerable Americans and Afghans, providing a transit point and support for evacuees.
In Mazar-i-Sharif, there are several planes ready to remove US citizens and US permanent residents from Afghanistan, but they are being denied permission to leave by the Taliban, according to congressional and non-governmental organization sources.
The State Department advised members of Congress to tell groups seeking to evacuate Afghanistan from Mazar-i-Sharif that the government “has no personnel on the ground in Mazar, we have no means. airways in the country and we do not control the airspace. “But the State Department said it would” stand by the Taliban in their commitment to let people leave Afghanistan freely, “adding that” all of the international community is focusing on whether they are meeting their commitments ”.
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