US President Joe Biden on Sunday decided to send 1,000 additional troops to Kabul to secure the evacuations of thousands of American and Afghan civilians, a Pentagon official said as the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.
A total of 6,000 American soldiers should have reached the Afghan capital “in the coming days”, said the official, who requested anonymity, while images of panic at Kabul airport flourished on social networks.
30,000 people to be evacuated
“Several hundred” employees of the American embassy in Kabul have already left Afghanistan, according to another Pentagon official. Kabul International Airport remains open to commercial flights, the second official said on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon estimates the total number of people to be evacuated at 30,000, whether they are diplomats and other American nationals or Afghans who have helped the United States and now fearing for their lives.
As the day before, the American helicopters continued on Sunday their incessant rotations between the airport and the American embassy, a gigantic complex located in the ultra-fortified “green zone”, in the center of the capital.
The Taliban have reconquered Afghanistan, taking in the space of ten days the main cities of the country, and entering Kabul on Sunday thanks to the withdrawal of American troops decided by President Joe Biden.