Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

US warns citizens to leave Afghanistan “immediately”

August 26, 2021

A security alert from the US Embassy in Kabul has said “The US State Department has warned all its citizens at the gates outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul to leave “immediately” due to threats. US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately. The Embassy further said, “Because of the security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US government representative to do so.

The Taliban have bolstered their access and control around the Kabul airport, choking it at the time of a massive evacuation process, the Pentagon said in a statement. The Pentagon yesterday clarified that the United States will not be responsible for the security of Kabul airport after its troops are out of Afghanistan. The US military will continue with the evacuation efforts from Kabul airport until the August 31, deadline if needed. However, on the last couple of days it will prioritize the removal of US troops and military equipment.

In another development, the French Prime Minister Jean Castex has clarified that the country will no longer be able to evacuate people from Afghanistan from Friday evening onwards.

The United States and allies urged people to move away from Kabul airport on Thursday due to the threat of a terror attack by Islamic State militants as Western troops hurry to evacuate as many people as possible before an Aug. 31 deadline.

Meanwhile, according to CNBC report, the Taliban has said they will no longer allow Afghans to exit the country and will oppose any extension of evacuation flights. The Taliban also accused Americans of taking “Afghan experts” (engineers and doctors) out of the country and said “We ask them to stop this process. This country needs their expertise. They should not be taken to other countries”, reported al Jazeera.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said that they were not in favour of allowing Afghan nationals to leave. The Americans have all the resources, they can take all the people that belong to them. He said “We are not going to allow Afghans to leave, and we will not extend the deadline. The way to the airport has now been closed. Afghans are not allowed to go there now, foreigners are allowed to go but we have stopped Afghan nationals to go because the crowd is more, there is a danger that people will lose their lives, there might be a stampede.”

(With inputs from Agencies)