Kabul - Page 7

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Sunday repeated its previous warning to trapped American citizens to “avoid” Kabul airport because of  unspecified “security threats outside the gates.”

Seven people were crushed to death Saturday as massed crowds fell against concrete barriers outside Kabul airport as they gathered to try to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban took control, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

The Pentagon on Sunday ordered a string of American commercial airlines to join its chaotic evacuation of tens of thousands of Afghans and foreigners fleeing Kabul after its fall to Taliban terrorists.

President Joe Biden will use an address to the nation on Sunday afternoon to provide updates on the administration’s evacuation efforts in Afghanistan as scenes of chaos and despair at Kabul airport continue to define his response to the crisis.

A German national attempting to escape from Afghanistan has been shot, according to a statement from Germany’s deputy government spokeswoman on Friday.

A Central Command spokesman assured the military was taking “all necessary actions” to secure Americans’ safe movement to the airport.

Secretary of State Blinken admitted an internal cable from about two dozen diplomats warned of the potential fall of Kabul to the Taliban.

Joe Biden’s veneer of foreign policy expertise has collapsed given his handling of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, Sean Spicer said.

Center for Renewing America announced the group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the State and Defense Departments for dissent cables.

Afghans who fought alongside Americans are trapped in Afghanistan because panicked officials at the U.S. embassy “destroyed” their passports as the Taliban closed in on Kabul, a statement from a New Jersey congressman unveiled this week revealed.

Former Trump officials watching the disaster unfolding in Afghanistan say that the incoming Biden administration rejected their plans.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Friday said President Biden lied when he claimed there is “no circumstance” of Americans being unable to access the Kabul airport, explaining her office has received reports indicating otherwise.

Ground reports contradict President Joe Biden’s comments on Friday that American citizens can safety pass the Taliban and enter the airport. 

Multiple reports surfacing on Friday claim Taliban forces are reportedly assaulting Western citizens, including Americans, as they attempt to reach the Kabul airport for evacuation, in addition to violently preventing Afghans with appropriate travel papers from escaping.

CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward said Friday while reporting from the Kabul airport that despite promises from President Joe Biden of a full evacuation, during a period of eight hours, she did not see any U.S. flights evacuate people.

Zinke warned Friday that due to Biden’s ineptitude, the Afghanistan capital of Kabul is “in danger of becoming an American killing field.”

Pajhwok Afghan News reported Friday morning that “popular uprising” forces have captured three districts north of Kabul from the Taliban. Local sources said several Taliban fighters were injured in the battle.

Australian citizens trying to reach evacuation transports are apparently being forcibly turned away by Taliban fighters encircling Kabul airport.

Britain’s Defence Secretary has defended General Sir Nick Carter, Chief of the Defence Staff, after he claimed that the Taliban are honourable “country boys” who “want an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all”.

The U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command issued a revised statement on Friday that confirmed one of the first C-17s to carry refugees out of Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai International Airport on Sunday had over 800 passengers packed into its cargo hold. The flight established a new record for the C-17 aircraft.

A bipartisan majority of senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to “immediately evacuate” Afghan allies who helped the United States while the military was in the country.

Pentagon correspondent Jeff Schogol of Task & Purpose posted video on Thursday of the impenetrable “gauntlet” of checkpoints the Taliban has created around Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.

CNN’s counterterrorism analyst Phil Mudd said Thursday on “Newsroom” that State Department spokesperson Ned Price was “pathetic” for being unable to give the exact numbers of Americans and Visa holders who have been flown out of Afghanistan.

Joe Biden, once hailed as a “breath of fresh air” by a British political class where even the Conservative Party tracks liberal-left, is facing an unprecedented barrage of criticism in America’s mother country for his botched handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal.

British troops in Kabul on Thursday confirmed a horrifying rumor, telling reporters that desperate women in Kabul are throwing their babies over razor-wire barriers in the hope soldiers will catch them and take them out of Afghanistan. Some of the children are landing in the razor wire. 

Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) said Wednesday on CNN International’s “Hala Gorani Tonight” that it would restart a “firestorm of combat” if the U.S. military attempts to enter the city of Kabul to extract those trying to flee the Taliban.

President Joe Biden claimed in an interview Wednesday no one was getting killed around the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, despite reports of 12 deaths in the area.

Aircraft from the UK and Germany reportedly returned with hardly anyone on board, claims the UK has belatedly denied.

Less than a week has passed since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal and the emerging portrait is anything but peaceful. 

Austin appeared stumped after being asked if the U.S. is relying on “diplomacy with the Taliban” to allow people safe passage to the Kabul airport.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday announced a “first come, first serve basis” for stranded Americans at the airport.

Pentagon leaders said the military does not have the capability to help the thousands of Americans stranded outside the Kabul airport.

The Pentagon said Wednesday morning that between Tuesday 3 a.m. and Wednesday 3 a.m., the military evacuated about 2,000 from the Kabul airport, including 325 Americans.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), released a statement on Tuesday that said Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has been secured and is once again open to civilian air traffic. McKenzie warned the Taliban not to interfere with U.S. evacuation efforts, and threatened to respond to any attack with “overwhelming force.”

Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) offered his views on the Taliban takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, telling a local radio station “it’s a building” and he does not have “strong emotions about the embassy” itself.

Hundreds of civilians in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, took the streets on Wednesday to protest the replacement of the national flag in public spaces with the emblem of the Taliban, prompting Taliban jihadists to open fire into the crowd.