Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of the Joint Staff For Regional Operations, gave an update on how many Americans and Afghans have been evacuated out of Kabul as of Saturday.
Taylor said the total number of evacuees is more than 117,000. Sixty-six flights with 6,800 evacuees left Kabul in a 24-hour period yesterday, he said. About 1,400 people at Hamid Karzai International Airport “have been screened and manifested for flights today,” he said.
Taylor said the “vast majority” of evacuees are Afghans, but 5,400 of the total number are US citizens.
He then gave an update on refugees arriving in the United States.
“Our total capacity across multiple US installations is approximately 21,000 and growing. We’re steadily working to increase the capacity to 50,000 by Sept. 15. Right now, we are hosting approximately 8,000 Afghan applicants at Fort McCoy, Fort Bliss, Fort Lee and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst,” he said.