Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday the United States is coordinating with the Taliban to secure additional charter flights from Kabul for people seeking to leave the country.
With the U.S. having concluded all military operations in the country following the Aug. 31 deadline for withdrawal, the State Department has been working closely with Taliban leaders to facilitate additional evacuations for an estimated 100 U.S. citizens who still want to exit Afghanistan.
Speaking during a joint news conference with Qatar‘s top diplomats and defense officials, Blinken said people with eligible travel documents will be given safe passage for departure by the militant Taliban government, asserting that the U.S. will hold the terrorist group to that promise.
BLINKEN AND AUSTIN HEAD TO GULF AND EUROPE ON DAMAGE LIMITATIONS TRIPS
Blinken also said the U.S. is “not aware” of a “hostage-like situation” at Mazari-i-Sharif in Afghanistan after reports that the Taliban were not allowing Americans to leave.
“We are not aware of anyone being held on an aircraft or any hostage-like situation in Mazar-i-Sharif,” Blinken said during a news conference in Doha Tuesday. Blinken did concede the U.S. was aware of a “relatively” small number of Americans seeking to depart Mazar-i-Sharif.
On Monday, the U.S. evacuated four American citizens from Afghanistan, marking the first U.S.-facilitated overland evacuation since the end of August.
Blinken left the U.S. on Sunday for a trip to the Persian Gulf as President Joe Biden‘s administration aims to work on diplomatic approaches to security threats in the region, according to U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Austin and Blinken were in Qatar to thank the Gulf Arab state for its assistance with the transit of thousands of evacuees from Afghanistan after the Taliban took control of Kabul on Aug. 15. With the trips, Blinken and Austin aim to reassure allies in the Gulf and Europe that the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan does not mean an abandonment of working with partners to combat extremist threats in the region.
“Operation ALLIED REFUGE would not have been possible with our friends in the Gulf. Their support saved lives,” Austin said in a tweet on Sunday.
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Blinken is slated to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee later this month to testify about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which will be the first scheduled public hearing with administration officials since late August.
