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Rediff.com  » News » US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan all but over: Media reports

US diplomatic presence in Afghanistan all but over: Media reports

Source: ANI   -  Edited By: Utkarsh Mishra
August 28, 2021 21:25 IST
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Diplomatic presence of United States in Afghanistan is expected to be reduced to a 'skeletal crew' in the next 24 hours, the US media said on Saturday, citing sources.

 

IMAGE: Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota sailors attend to an Afghan child, who is part of group of 450 Afghan citizens evacuated from Kabul, as they left a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport plane after arriving from Kuwait, at Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota Air Base in Rota, southern Spain, on August 27, 2021. Photograph: US Navy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Katie Cox/Handout via Reuters

Some individuals or small families were still 'being pulled through the gates somehow' as of Saturday, CNN reported citing a source familiar with the situation.

It further stated that the gates have been closed for days.

The numbers getting on were thought to be 'a very tiny subset, consisting of single people or families'.

However, the US has said they had alternate routes to the airport.

The source said US airport staff were 'still getting hit up by tons of people trying to get in'.

This follows the deadly blasts which rocked Kabul on Thursday, in which more than 170 people were killed and at least 200 were wounded, in addition to the 13 US service members who were also killed, an official with Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health told CNN.

The source said it was unclear if the evacuation of local embassy employees had finished, but that hundreds more had been reported as having got to the airport and that 'hundreds more have departed for interim locations'.

The US has evacuated nearly 6,800 people in the past 24 hours from Afghanistan bringing the total number of evacuees to 1,11,900 since August 14, a top official said on Saturday.

Afghanistan's situation is deteriorating as people rush to leave the nation after the Taliban seized control over a week ago.

On August 15, the Afghan government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the nation.

Countries have been evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation speedily.

The Kabul airport is witnessing nowadays a heavy chaos due to instability in the region.

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Source: ANI  -  Edited By: Utkarsh Mishra
 
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