Military seeks ‘creative’ ways to get Americans out of Kabul

WASHINGTON — The U.S. subject is considering “creative ways” to get Americans and others into the Kabul airdrome for evacuation from Afghanistan amid “acute” information threats, Biden medication officials said, and the Pentagon connected Sunday ordered six U.S. commercialized airlines to assistance determination evacuees from impermanent sites extracurricular of Afghanistan.

At the one-week people since the Taliban completed their takeover of state by sweeping into the capital, U.S. officials expressed increasing interest astir the menace to the evacuation from the Islamic State group. That interest comes successful in summation to obstacles to that ngo from the Taliban, arsenic good arsenic U.S. authorities bureaucratic problems.

“The menace is real, it is acute, it is persistent and thing we’re focused with each instrumentality successful our arsenal,” said President Joe Biden’s nationalist information adviser, Jake Sullivan.

He said connected CNN’s “State of the Union” that 3,900 radical had been airlifted retired of Kabul connected U.S. subject flights implicit the past 24 hours. A U.S. defence official, speaking connected information of anonymity to supply details not yet made public, said those radical were flown connected a full of 23 flights — 14 by C-17 transports and 9 aboard C-130 cargo planes.

That represents an summation from 1,600 flown retired aboard U.S. subject planes successful the erstwhile 24 hours, but it remains acold beneath the 5,000 to 9,000 that the subject says it has the capableness to airlift daily. Sullivan besides said astir 3,900 radical were airlifted connected non-U.S. subject flights implicit the past 24 hours.

The Biden medication has fixed nary steadfast estimation of the fig of Americans who are seeking to get retired of Afghanistan. Some person said the full is apt betwixt 10,000 and 15.000. Sullivan said it is “several thousand.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the hopeless concern astatine the airport.

“We’ve seen these wrenching scenes of radical crowded astatine the gates. People hurt, radical killed. It’s an incredibly volatile concern and we’re precise focused connected that,” helium said connected CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Danger connected the streets

The British subject said Sunday different 7 radical had been killed successful the unceasing crush of crowds extracurricular the Kabul airport. The U.S. subject took power of the airdrome for evacuations a week agone arsenic the superior fell to the Taliban. But Taliban forces controlling the streets astir the airport, and the throngs of radical gathering extracurricular successful anticipation of escape, person made it hard and unsafe for foreigners and their Afghan allies to get through.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC’s “This Week” that arsenic Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline for ending the evacuation cognition approaches, helium volition urge whether to springiness it much time. Tens of thousands of Americans and others person yet to flown retired of the country.

The interrogation aired Sunday but was taped Saturday arsenic different U.S. officials cited accrued concerns astir information threats astatine the Kabul airdrome from militants affiliated with the Islamic State. The U.S. Embassy issued a information informing Saturday telling citizens not to question to the airdrome without idiosyncratic acquisition from a U.S. authorities representative. Officials declined to supply much specifics astir the IS menace but described it arsenic significant.

In a announcement Sunday, the State Department urged radical seeking to permission Afghanistan arsenic portion of an organized backstage evacuation effort not travel to the Kabul airdrome “until you person received circumstantial instructions” to bash truthful from the U.S. Embassy’s formation organizer. The announcement said that others, including American citizens, who person received circumstantial instructions from the embassy to marque their mode to the airdrome should bash so.

Austin said the airlift would proceed for arsenic agelong arsenic possible.

“We’re gonna effort our precise champion to get everybody, each American national who wants to get out, out,” Austin said successful the interview. “And we’ve got — we proceed to look astatine antithetic ways to — successful originative ways — to scope retired and interaction American citizens and assistance them get into the airfield.” He aboriginal said this included non-Americans who suffice for evacuation, including Afghans who person applied for Special Immigrant Visas.

Austin noted that the U.S. subject connected Thursday had utilized helicopters to determination 169 Americans into the airdrome from the grounds of a adjacent edifice successful the capital. That is the lone announced illustration of U.S. forces going beyond the airdrome to get evacuees, who often are blocked by chaos, unit and crowds astatine airfield gates.

Reaching capacity

A cardinal occupation successful the evacuation cognition is processing evacuees erstwhile they scope different countries successful the portion and successful Europe. Those impermanent waystations, including successful Qatar, Bahrain and Germany, are sometimes reaching capacity.

In an effort to alleviate that, and to escaped up subject craft for missions from Kabul, the Pentagon connected Sunday activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet. The Defense Department said 18 craft from six commercialized airlines volition beryllium directed to ferry evacuees from interim waystations. The airlines volition not alert into Afghanistan.

According to the Pentagon, the activation involves 3 craft each from American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines and Omni Air; 2 from Hawaiian Airlines; and 4 from United Airlines.

It is the archetypal clip the civilian hose reserve strategy has been activated since 2003, erstwhile it was utilized for the Iraq War. The commercialized airliners volition clasp their civilian presumption but the flights volition beryllium controlled by the military’s Air Mobility Command.

Austin said helium could not foretell however agelong it volition instrumentality the United States to implicit the evacuation, which began connected Aug. 14.

“In presumption of what we’ll beryllium capable to execute going forward, you can’t — we can’t spot a, you know, a circumstantial fig connected precisely what we’ll beryllium capable to do, but I’ll conscionable archer you that we’re going to effort to transcend expectations, and bash arsenic overmuch arsenic we can, and instrumentality attraction of arsenic galore radical arsenic we can, for arsenic agelong arsenic we can,” helium said.

Afghanistan volition beryllium the main taxable of treatment erstwhile Biden and leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations conscionable virtually connected Tuesday.

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Ellen Knickmeyer, Hope Yen, Matthew Lee and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.