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‘We will not have to extend’ – US enlists commercial planes to assist urgent evacuations
It’s now the second week into the evacuation of Afghanistan, and the United States has enlisted the help of 17 commercial planes to help speed up the process
Biden spoke a short time ago and he says he is still hoping for Afghan airlift to end by Aug 31 deadline
“Our hope is that we will not have to extend.”
BIDEN
“There are going to be discussions I suspect on how far along we are in the process.”
Biden said about 11,000 individuals” have been evacuated this weekend from Afghanistan.
“Our first priority in Kabul is getting American citizens out of the country as quickly and as safely as possible.”
Evacuation efforts continue of Kabul
The aircraft will not touchdown at Kabul’s main airport, but will instead help move those people who are transiting through third countries.
This comes as thousands of people remain stranded in Afghanistan, with many Afghan nationals crowding the airport boundary in a desperate bid to flee from the Taliban.
Reuters has reported that at least 20 people have died so far since the Taliban took control of the capital.
The UK is also increasing its evacuation efforts – airlifting more than 1,700 people out over the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, White House national security advisor, Jake Sullivan says there are still several thousand US citizens still stranded in Afghanistan
He warns that the threat of attacks by the Taliban remains “real” and “acute”.
Former US President, Donald Trump gave his thoughts on the unfolding situation, saying the withdrawal of troops under his administration would have been much smoother.
Trump also says the decision to go into the Middle East in the first place was one of the worst decisions America has ever made.