The Biden administration confirmed, late Tuesday, that 4,000 American passport holders and their families have been evacuated from Afghanistan, and it is not yet clear how many remain or are awaiting evacuation.
A leaked United States State Department cable noted, Tuesday, that 4,400 American citizens had been evacuated from Kabul airport, with around 450 Americans evacuated on Monday. In a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, a senior State Department official confirmed the number and said that 21,000 individuals were evacuated on Monday, mostly Afghans.
The White House has said before that there were between 10,000 and 15,000 Americans in Afghanistan at the time the Taliban blitzed into Kabul and effectively took control of the country.
“We are focused on getting people out of Kabul as quickly as we can and then processing the total numbers, which is why there is a delay in reporting,” the official said, per CNN. “We also take the time to verify the numbers to make sure we aren’t inadvertently under or double-counting.”
The State Department official also said that they are “continuing to contact the Americans who have previously registered with Kabul Embassy to determine whether or not they are still in Afghanistan, and to help them evacuate if they want to leave.”
The Biden administration would not give an estimate on how many Americans remain in Afghanistan or whether the families of American passport holders were factored into the initial calculus. If the 10,000 to 15,000 number is correct, then an estimated 6,000 to 11,000 American citizens have yet to be evacuated.
At a briefing on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the administration is reaching out to Americans who are registered as being in Afghanistan and asked that members of the press, who may be aware of Americans trapped outside the Kabul airport perimeter, pass that information on to White House officials who can then arrange for those Americans to be safely extricated.
Questions also remain about the Biden administration’s timeline for withdrawal. Attendees of the G7 said Tuesday that they agreed on a video call to pressure the Taliban into allowing coalition forces to remain until everyone who wanted to leave was safely out of the country. The Biden White House said shortly after that the U.S. is sticking to the August 31st deadline.
Reports from the ground indicated late Tuesday that the U.S. military was, in fact, beginning its withdrawal. A “few hundred” troops have departed Kabul, according to CNN, and that is not expected to affect the evac mission, per the Pentagon.
“So far, the reduction does not affect the mission,” an official told the network, adding that the troops leaving are “redundant.”
“If you can have a smaller mission set and still conduct the mission, then you can reduce your footprint and reduce your risk,” the official claimed.
“There has been no change to the timeline of the mission which is to have this completed by the end of the month,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a briefing, also Tuesday.”If the worst case scenario were to happen, you don’t want more people there than you need.”