“Obviously, we are at the end of our prescribed missions,” Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor from the Pentagon’s Joint Staff stated to reporters. He added that details about the final evacuation movements were being kept confidential for security reasons.
John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesperson, said that it wasn’t too late for any Americans to reach Kabul Airport for evacuation flights.
Kirby stated, “There is still enough time.”
Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, later stated that “a small percentage” of Americans still wanted to leave the country. Although she did not give an exact figure, she said that approximately 6,000 people had been evacuated so far by different means. She stated that some Americans were still undecided about whether or not to leave.
The Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate claimed responsibility for targeting the Kabul airport with rockets. American military personnel reported no American casualties.
The U.S. evacuate was increasingly focused on getting the last Americans out. Senior officials from the administration stated Sunday that the United States is able to evacuate the 300 Americans still in Afghanistan, if they wish to do so before President Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline.
“This is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission these last couple of days,” said America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Even after rocket fire and rockets struck the airport, the steady flow of U.S. military aircraft landing and taking off at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan’s capital, continued Monday. U.S. Central Command spokesperson Bill Urban stated that five rockets were launched at the airport and that a U.S. defense system known as the Counter Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System (or C-RAM) was used against them. Urban said that there were no U.S. casualties, and the airfield continued operating. Additional details were not immediately available. According to the White House, Biden was briefed about the rocket attack.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national-security adviser, stated Sunday that the United States has the ability to provide 300 Americans to help citizens flee Afghanistan within the deadline.
Monday morning, the White House stated that approximately 1,200 people had been evacuated from Kabul by 26 U.S. military aircraft and two allied planes in the 24 hours prior.
Sullivan said the U.S. does not currently plan to have an ongoing embassy presence after the final U.S. troop withdrawal. He said that the U.S. would ensure safe passage for all Americans, including legal permanent residents, after Tuesday’s troop withdrawal. But many vulnerable Afghans are fearful of being relegated to the shadows.
Blinken stated that the U.S. is working with other countries to keep Kabul’s airport open after Tuesday, or to reopen the airport “in a timely manner.”
He said that although the airport is crucial, there are “other ways to leave Afghanistan”, including by road. The U.S. is working to ensure that they have all the tools and means necessary to make travel easier for people who want to leave Afghanistan after Tuesday.
Another 280 people have also claimed to be Americans, but have informed the State Department that they intend to stay in the country. The latest figures show that approximately 114,000 people were evacuated since August 14, with around 2,900 flying on military and coalition aircraft during the 24-hour period ending at 3 AM Sunday.
Representatives of Congress condemned the violent and chaotic evacuation.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) stated that “we didn’t have the to be in this rush hurry circumstance with terrorists breathing down on our necks.” “But it’s really our responsibility and that of the previous administration and this administration which has caused this crisis to be upon and has led us to what is unquestionably a humanitarian-and foreign policy tragedy.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said that the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan with 2,500 troops was working. He stated that “we were in fact keeping the lid on and keeping terrorists from reconstituting and having a small footprint in the country.”
U.S. officials claim that the American drone strike on Sunday hit a vehicle carrying several suicide bombers belonging to Islamic State. Secondary explosions were caused by secondary explosions, which indicate the presence of significant explosive material. After people had been seen loading explosives into the trunk, a senior U.S. official stated that the military drone launched a Hellfire missile at the vehicle.
Officials stated that there was an initial explosion from the missile followed by a larger fireball. This is believed to have been caused by the large amount of explosives in the vehicle. Two members of the Islamic State group were believed to have been killed by the missile.
U.S. Central Command stated that it is investigating reports of civilian casualties due to secondary explosions. Officials in Afghanistan claim that three children died as a result of the strike. They spoke under anonymity in order to discuss military operations.
It was the second airstrike in recent days the U.S. has conducted against the militant group, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing Thursday at the Kabul airport gate that killed 13 U.S. service members and scores of Afghans struggling to get out of the country and escape the new Taliban rule. Two members of IS’ Afghanistan affiliate were killed in a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday morning, according to the Pentagon. This was in retaliation to the bombing at Kabul airport.
In Delaware, Biden met privately with the families of the American troops killed in the suicide attack and solemnly watched as the remains of the fallen returned to U.S. soil from Afghanistan. Jill Biden, the first lady, and many top U.S. military and defense leaders joined him at Dover Air Force Base.
These servicemen were the first to be killed in Afghanistan since February 2020. This was the month that the Trump administration reached an agreement with Taliban. The Taliban agreed to stop attacking Americans in return for the U.S. agreeing to withdraw all troops and contractors from Afghanistan by May 2021. Biden declared in April that the remaining 2,500-3,000 troops would be gone by September, ending what he called America’s “forever war”.
Sullivan was featured on CBS’ Face the Nation, CNN’s State of the Union and Fox News Sunday. McConnell was also on Fox. Romney was on CNN.
