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About 16,000 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours as US troops desperately try to airlift more ahead of the Taliban’s “red line”.
Some 16,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan in the past 24 hours, Pentagon says, as US troops lead an increasingly desperate effort to transport thousands more before Taliban ‘red line’ for Western forces to leave the country.
US President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to extend the August 31 deadline for withdrawing US forces, with Britain expected to push for this at a virtual G7 summit on Tuesday.
Widespread chaos punctuated by sporadic violence has gripped Kabul airport since the Taliban seized power on August 15, with Western and Afghan forces pushing back crowds desperate to flee.
More than 40,000 foreigners and Afghans have been evacuated since July, including 37,000 since August 14, a day before the capture of Kabul by the Taliban.
President Biden, who has said US troops could stay past the deadline, warns the evacuation will be “difficult and painful” and that many things could still go wrong.
Here are all the latest updates:
UK Secretary of Defense: extension of Kabul evacuation “unlikely”
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said it was “unlikely” that the Kabul airport evacuation operation would be extended beyond the August 31 deadline.
Wallace told Sky News, “Not only because of what the Taliban said, but if you look at President Biden’s public statements, I think it’s unlikely. … It is definitely worth it for all of us to try, and we will.
Egypt evacuates more than 40 citizens from Kabul
Egypt has evacuated more than 40 of its citizens from Afghanistan, according to state media.
A report by the official MENA news agency said a military plane carrying Egyptian citizens from Kabul landed in Cairo on Monday evening.
The flight brought home 43 evacuees, including Egyptian embassy staff and clerics from Al-Azhar, the main religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world. State television showed footage of the returnees with Egyptian flags after they landed in Cairo.
Satellite image shows large crowds along the eastern edge of Kabul airport [File: Evelyn Hockstein/Maxar Technologies/AFP]
16,000 evacuated from Kabul airport in past 24 hours: Pentagon
About 16,000 people were evacuated in 24 hours from Kabul airport, the Pentagon said on Monday, as the United States strives to complete its airlift before the August 31 deadline.
General Hank Taylor told reporters that 61 military, commercial and charter flights involving a number of countries took off from Hamid Karzai International within 24 hours to 3 a.m. Monday (07:00 GMT).
Of the total evacuated that day, 11,000 were evacuated via US military airlift operations, Taylor said.
US House Intelligence Panel Chairman: Evacuation Likely Not To Be Before Deadline
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said – after a briefing from intelligence officials – that he believes the evacuation is unlikely to be completed before the deadline August 31.
“I think it’s possible but I think it’s highly unlikely given the number of Americans who have yet to be evacuated,” Schiff said.
UK government to discuss criminalization of entry into Afghanistan: The Telegraph
The UK government will discuss proposals to blacklist Afghanistan, which would allow UK authorities to jail UK citizens or residents for up to 10 years if they visit, The Telegraph newspaper reports.
“We are looking at all the options available at this point on how we will proceed in the future,” the newspaper said, citing a source. The proposals will be discussed later this week.
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