WASHINGTON: With more US troops on the way, up to 600 members of the Afghan security forces have helped provide security at Kabul Airport, the scene of chaotic evacuation efforts, even when the military and the Afghan government had fainted, the Pentagon official said on Tuesday.
The General Major General William Taylor, with staff with the US military, told news that a total of 4,000 American troops would be at the airport at the end of the day – an increase of 1,000 – and the aim was to have one runaway off per hour.
About us 6,000 soldiers are expected to be at the airport in the coming days, according to Pentagon officials.
“We do not have hostile interactions, no attacks and no threats by the Taliban,” Taylor said.
The United States and Western allies seek to evacuate diplomats and civilians at Kabul Airport, the only entrance or abroad for many people in Afghanistan.
The situation dropped into the interference on Monday, with flights could not leave because the airfield was filled with Afghans who were desperate to escape from the Taliban.
Taylor said that around 500 to 600 members of the Afghan National Security Forces were on the airfield “helping us with that security.” Asked about whether this Afghan security personnel will be evacuated from Afghanistan too, a Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the briefing that it would happen to them to decide.
“It must be a decision by the individuals if it wants to submit a visa and to pursue the approach,” Kirby said.
US military officials at the airport have been linked to the Taliban commander on the ground outside the airport, Kirby added.
“There is a discussion, there is communication between them and the US,” said Kirby.
US military officials said between 5,000 and 10,000 US citizens were believed to be in the Kabul area.
Most of the Afghan military was destroyed when the Taliban troops swept Afghanistan, peaking with the arrest of Kabul and the departure of President of Ashraf Ghani from the country.
Most of the elements of the National Security Force Afghanistan, were trained by the US and Western Allies during the range of nearly two decades, quickly collapsing in facing rapid progress by Taliban forces.
The Taliban, fell when the Afghan ruler in 2001 by the US-led invasion, moved to regain power because the United States attracted his troops to end the most American war.