Secretary of State: US Will Hold Taliban to Commitment to Allow Americans, Others To Leave Afghanistan After August 31
"We can never get an absolute precise count" of Americans in Kabul, national security adviser says
The US government will hold the hardline Taliban regime in control of Afghanistan to promises that it's made to allow Americans and others to exit the country even after the August 31 deadline for US forces to depart and the large-scale evacuation operation to come to an end, according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The Biden administration has overseen one of the largest airlift operations in history the last several weeks, evacuating more than 120,000 US and Afghan citizens to safety — without a single American civilian casualty.
However, a small population of Americans may continue to remain in Afghanistan even after the airlift comes to an end Tuesday, according to senior administration officials.
“First you may have seen that yesterday a very senior Taliban official went on television and radio across the country and repeatedly assured people in Afghanistan that they would have the freedom to travel after August 31 — even specifically said those who work for the Americans — those who want to leave for whatever reason will have that freedom,” Blinken said Sunday. “Of course we don’t take the Taliban of their word, we take them by their deed. That’s what we’re gonna be looking to.
“We have more than 100 countries, 114 countries who signed on a statement that we initiated making clear the international community expects the Taliban to make good on a commitment to let people continue leave the country after August 31. That freedom of travel is essential to the international community’s expectation of the Taliban going forward,” Blinken added.
The population of Americans yet to be evacuated is small, and the US government has “leverage” to push the Taliban to let them leave, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in an on-air interview with CNN host Jake Tapper.
"So, first, Jake, we believe that we're down to a population of 300 or fewer American citizens who have yet to get out. We have evacuated more than 5,000. We evacuated well more than 300 just yesterday,” Sullivan said. “So, we believe there's still an opportunity for American citizens to jump to the airport, get on planes and get home.
“But, you're right. August 31 is not a cliff. After August 31, we believe that we have substantial leverage to hold the Taliban to its commitments to allow safe passage for American citizens, legal permanent residents and the Afghan allies who have travel documentation come to the United States,” Sullivan added. “We will use that leverage to the maximum extent and we will work with the rest of the international community to ensure the Taliban does not falter on these commitments.”
Although the number of Americans remaining in Afghanistan is small, there is no precise number, Sullivan said in a separate interview.
“We can never get an absolute precise count of how many Americans were in Kabul because Americans are not required to put themselves in a databases as living in Afghanistan,” he said.
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