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A White House official announced that 28 U.S. military flights evacuated 10,400 Afghans fleeing Taliban rule within a 24-hour period ending early Monday morning, by far the most airlifted out of Afghanistan in one day, the Associated Press reported.
The Taliban indicated they may shut down the evacuation soon ahead of the established August 31 deadline. Monday was the first time the U.S. military has met its goal to fly out 5,000 to 9,000 people a day, an effort that has been thwarted by Taliban forces and panicked crowds blocking airport access.
The 10,400 people evacuated Monday was more than double the 3,900 that the military reported the previous 24 hours.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Sunday he would not rule out extending the evacuation beyond August 31, the date he had set for completing the withdrawal of troops and formally ending the 19-year U.S. combat role in Afghanistan.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to press Biden for an extension to get out the maximum number of foreigners and Afghan allies possible. Biden is to face the U.S.'s G-7 allies in a virtual summit on Afghanistan on Tuesday.
But Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, in an interview with Sky News, said that August 31 is a "red line" the U.S. must not cross and that extending the American presence would "provoke a reaction."
Since the Taliban seized the capital August 15, completing a stunning rout of the U.S.-backed Afghan government and military, the U.S. has been carrying out the evacuation in coordination with the Taliban, who have held off on attacking under a 2020 withdrawal deal with the Trump administration.
Monday's warning signaled the Taliban could insist on shutting down the airlifts out of the Kabul airport in just over a week. Lawmakers, refugee groups, veterans' organizations and U.S. allies have said ending the evacuation then could strand countless Afghans and foreigners still hoping for flights out.
In remarks at the White House on Sunday, one week after the Taliban completed their victory by capturing Kabul, Biden defended his decision to end the war and insisted that getting all Americans out of the country would have been difficult in the best of circumstances at any other time.
Critics have said Biden waited too long to begin organizing an evacuation, which then became captive to the fear and panic set off by the government's sudden collapse.
Biden said Sunday military discussions are underway on potentially extending the airlift beyond August 31.
"Our hope is we will not have to extend, but there are discussions," he said, suggesting the possibility that the Taliban will be consulted.
Since August 14, the U.S. has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of about 37,000 people. The U.S. military says it has the capacity to fly between 5,000 and 9,000 people out per day.
Biden also asserted, without a full explanation, that U.S. forces have managed to improve access to the airport for Americans and others seeking to get on flights. He suggested that the perimeter had been extended, widening a "safe zone."
But a firefight just outside the airport killed at least one Afghan soldier early Monday, German officials said. It was the latest in days of often-lethal turmoil outside the airport. People coming in hopes of escaping Taliban rule face sporadic gunfire, beatings by the Taliban, and crowds that have trampled many.
Michigan Democratic Representative Elissa Slotkin, a former U.S. intelligence official and one of many lawmakers working with Americans and Afghans scrambling to evacuate family and colleagues, urged U.S. forces in a series of tweets Monday to keep the airport gates open and approachable.
The current set-up was leaving Afghans to seek "every connection they can muster" to get through the gates, a process that seemed to be disadvantaging Afghan women, Slotkin said.
Biden and his top aides have repeatedly cited their concern that extremist groups in Afghanistan will attempt to exploit the chaos around the Kabul airport.
The Biden administration has given no firm estimate of the number of Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan. Some have put the total between 10,000 and 15,000.
