The Taliban has agreed to let 200 Americans and other civilians depart Afghanistan from Kabul airport, a US official told Reuters.
The departures are expected Thursday. It was not immediately clear if those set to fly out were among the Americans and Afghan allies blocked by the Taliban from flying out of Mazar-i-Sharif.
US Special Representative Zalmay pressed the Taliban to allow Thursday’s expected evacuations, which would come over a week after US forces left Afghanistan, the US official told the news service.
Recent reports revealed that as many as six planes were sitting on the tarmac at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport waiting clearance to depart, but were being blocked from leaving by the Taliban.
The Biden administration came under fire for not doing more to pressure the Taliban to allow the flights to depart.
After initially denying the extremist group was holding up planes, Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday finally acknowledged the situation.
“As of now, the Taliban are not permitting the charter flights to depart. They claim that some of the passengers do not have the required documentation,” Blinken told reporters at the US air base in Ramstein, Germany.
“While there are limits to what we can do without personnel on the ground, without an airport with normal security procedures in place, we are working to do everything in our power to support those flights, and to get them off the ground,” Blinken said.
Biden on Wednesday also said the international community was putting immense pressure on the Taliban to allow the evacuation flights to resume.
With Post wires