Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks on the situation in Afghanistan at the State Department in Washington, DC, August 18, 2021.
Andrew Harnik | Pool via Reuters
The Taliban is reportedly blocking Afghans from reaching Kabul’s international airport to flee the country, breaking their commitments to the U.S., a Biden administration official said Wednesday.
That acknowledgement at a press briefing came shortly after the U.S. embassy in Kabul alerted people there that it “cannot ensure safe passage” to the airport for the capital city, where Islamist militants had overthrown the U.S.-backed Afghan government with astonishing speed.
“We have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government, are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport,” Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said at the briefing Wednesday afternoon.
The U.S. military and Kabul and a team in Qatar are “engaging directly with the Taliban to make clear that we expect them to allow all American citizens, all third-country nationals and all Afghans who wish to leave, to do so safely and without harassment,” Sherman said.
About 2,000 people have been evacuated in the past 24 hours, Sherman said, with more than 4,840 processed for evacuation over the previous few days.
Taliban fighters patrol in Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021.
Rahmat Gul | AP
The Biden administration has come under intensifying criticism over the chaos in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has seized control just weeks before the U.S. ends its military presence there after nearly two decades of war.
Even President Joe Biden’s Democratic allies have called for investigations into the government’s handling of the withdrawal.
The insurgents’ rapid advance caught the U.S. off guard, prompting scenes of panic at Hamid Karzai International Airport as thousands of Afghans rushed the tarmac, with some clinging to airplanes even as they took off.
About 4,500 U.S. troops were deployed to the airport to facilitate the evacuation. Some troops have reportedly fired warning shots into the air, intending to control the crowds of arrivals.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
