There have been reports of a timeline of 36 hours set to get Americans and evacuees out of Afghanistan as the situation around the Kabul Airport continues to be a serious security threat.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby tweeted about this topic on Thursday, saying, “Evacuation operations in Kabul will not be wrapping up in 36 hours. We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission.”
Later that morning, Kirby tweeted, “We can confirm an explosion outside Kabul airport. Casualties are unclear at this time. We will provide additional details when we can.”
Evacuation operations in Kabul will not be wrapping up in 36 hours. We will continue to evacuate as many people as we can until the end of the mission. #HKIA
— John Kirby (@PentagonPresSec) August 26, 2021
As The Daily Wire reported:
The Pentagon confirmed that an explosion went off near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Thursday, which comes as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan and end a weeks-long rush to evacuate Americans and Afghan visa holders.
It is unclear whether the explosion caused any injuries or how many. The explosion happened after multiple countries suspended their evacuation operations over terror threats reported near the airport.
President Joe Biden previously set a deadline of August 31 to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan, appearing to do so after the Taliban threatened consequences and said the deadline was a “red line.”
“The sooner we can finish, the better,” Biden said during an address at the White House on Tuesday. “Every day we’re on the ground is another day we know that [Islamic State-affiliate] ISIS-K is seeking to target the airport, attack both U.S. and allied forces and innocent civilians.”
“Thus far, the Taliban have been taking steps to work with us so we can get our people out,” he said. “But it’s a tenuous situation. We’ve already had some gun fighting break out. We run a serious risk of it breaking down, as time goes on.”
As The Daily Wire reported: on Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan warned Americans “to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time.”
The Embassy stated:
Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.
U.S. citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate now should leave immediately.
Actions to take:
Be aware of your surroundings at all times, especially in large crowds.
Follow the instructions of local authorities including movement restrictions related to curfews. Have a contingency plan for emergencies and review the Traveler’s Checklist.
Monitor local media for breaking events and adjust your plans based on new information.
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program(STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken claimed on Wednesday that the amount of Americans still stuck in Afghanistan who wanted to depart came to around 1,500, saying:
Many of you have asked how many U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan who want to leave the country. Based on our analysis, starting on August 14 when our evacuation operations began, there was then a population of as many as 6,000 American citizens in Afghanistan who wanted to leave.
Over the last 10 days, roughly 4,500 of these Americans have been safely evacuated along with immediate family members. Over the past 24 hours, we’ve been in direct contact with approximately 500 additional Americans and provided specific instructions on how to get to the airport safely. We will update you regularly on our progress in getting these 500 American citizens out of Afghanistan.
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