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In what could be one of the most crucial state-sponsored evacuation programmes in the history, US has evacuated 11,000 people from Afghanistan in the last 30 hours.
Since 14 August 2021, a day before the country’s capital fell to Taliban, the US and its coalition partners has evacuated nearly 28,000 people, the White House claims.
On the other hand, the US Department of State pegged the number of evacuees at 37,000 people.
“As of this morning, we have evacuated nearly 28,000 people since August the 14th, on both U.S. and coalition aircraft, including civilian charters, bringing the total number of people we have evacuated since July to approximately 33,000 persons,” US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
This weekend, 23 US military flights — including 14 C-17s, 9 C-130 flights — left Kabul carrying 3,900 passengers, the White House said, adding that evacuations would continue.
During the same period, the US military is said to have facilitated another 35 charter flights carrying an additional 4,000 evacuees to other countries, the White House informed.
“It’s an incredible operation,” said President Biden, who has been facing the brunt of criticism for alleged hasty military withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The temporary transit locations for the evacuees have been established in the US or at its joint bases in Germany, Italy, and Spain, which have capacity to process at least 15,000 people on a rolling basis, significantly expanding the ability to facilitate the relocation of US citizens and at-risk Afghans from Afghanistan, the US state department said.
Meanwhile, the US is abiding by its plan to completely withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks.
The US has been at war with terror group Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan for 20 years.
While it had successfully neutralised the threat coming from Al-Qaeda, the Taliban – which draws huge support from local majority Pashtuns – saw itself grow during the US invasion. The support for Taliban was also aided by the massive corruption in the Afghan administration and ghost soldiers in the Afghan army.
