WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s national security adviser said on Tuesday that the Taliban have agreed to allow a “safe passage” from Afghanistan for civilians who are struggling to join a US-directed airlift from the capital. There is, however, a timetable for completing the evacuation of the Americans, Afghan allies. And others have yet to work with the country’s new rulers.
Jake Sullivan acknowledged reports that some civilians were facing resistance – “being driven away or pushed back or beaten up” – when they tried to reach Kabul International Airport. But he said “a very large number” were arriving at the airport and others were being raised with the Taliban, which took over the country surprisingly swiftly on Sunday, leaving US evacuation efforts in chaos, confusion and plunged into violence.
Pentagon officials said the airlift was back on track and intensified despite weather problems, amid regular communications with Taliban leaders, after a halt on Monday.
Additional US troops arrived and more were on the way, with a total of more than 6,000 expected to attend airport security in the coming days.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby revealed that US commanders were talking to Taliban commanders “several times a day” about avoiding conflict at the airport.
It suggested that the new ruler of Afghanistan, who came to power after a 20-year war against the US-backed Kabul government, plans not to disrupt the evacuation.
Kirby would not discuss the details of the Taliban arrangement, and Sullivan said the question of how much time the Taliban would allow the evacuation was still being negotiated.
Biden has said he wants the evacuation to be completed by August 31. Sullivan declined to say whether that deadline would come to an end.
General Frank McKenzie, the head of US Central Command and overall commander of US troops in Kabul, made an unannounced visit to the Afghan capital on Tuesday.
In a written statement, he said he found that military air traffic controllers and ground handlers were “accelerating” airlift operations.
Mackenzie discussed the Safe Route Agreement with Taliban leaders at talks in Doha, Qatar on Sunday.
“I cautioned them against interfering in our evacuation, and made it clear to them that any attack would be met with heavy force defending our forces,” McKenzie said.
“The safety of US citizens and our allies is my top priority and we will take all necessary action to ensure a safe and efficient return.”
At the White House, Sullivan said that US officials were engaged in an “hour by hour” process of capturing the Taliban for their commitment to allow safe passage for citizens wishing to leave the country.
Asked whether the Biden administration recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, Sullivan said it was too early to say and that the Taliban’s record of adhering to international human rights standards “has not been good”.
Army Major General William Taylor told a Pentagon news report that overnight at the airport, nine Air Force C-17 transport aircraft arrived with equipment and about 1,000 soldiers, and seven C-17s with 700–800 civilian evacuations. flew, which included 165 Americans. the seminar.
The total includes Afghans who have applied for special immigrant visas and third country nationals, he said.
Taylor and Kirby said the goal is to ramp up to one evacuation flight per hour by Wednesday, potentially taking a total of 5,000 to 9,000 evacuees per day.
Taylor said more than 4,000 US troops are now at the airport. The number is expected to rise above 6,000 in the coming days, with airport security being led by the 82nd Airborne Commander.
The airlift was temporarily suspended on Monday after Afghans desperate to flee the country breached security and landed on the tarmac. Seven people died in several incidents.
Kirby said US commanders at the airport are in direct contact with Taliban commanders outside the airport to avoid security incidents.
He indicated that the communication was in line with the arrangement McKenzie worked out with the Taliban on Sunday.
Kirby said there had been no hostile action by the Taliban, and there were now several hundred members of the defeated Afghan military at the airport assisting with the evacuation.
Kirby said during television interviews that plans were being made to house 22,000 evacuated Afghans and their families at three US military installations in the continental United States. Those locations are Camp McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Bliss, Texas and Fort Lee, Virginia. (AP)
