Up To 200 Foreigners Expected To Fly From Kabul In First Airlift Since U.S. Withdrawal
September 09, 2021
U.S. and Qatari officials say as many as 200 Americans and other foreigners still in Afghanistan will fly out of the country from Kabul on September 9 in what would be some of the first international flights to take off from the capital since international troops completed their withdrawal at the end of last month.
The AP quoted two Qatari officials as saying they expect 100 to 150 Americans to fly out from Kabul's airport in the late afternoon or early evening.
Reuters quoted a source in Doha, the Qatari capital, as saying that 200 non-Afghans would fly from Kabul on charter flights at some point during the day.
If confirmed, this would mark the first large-scale evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan since the last U.S. forces left the country at the end of August.
The official could not say if those allowed to leave were among people stranded for days in Mazar-e Sharif after their private charters were stopped from departing by Taliban officials.
The Taliban has said it would let passengers with valid travel documents leave, but that many of those at the northern airport did not have such papers.
The AP source said the Americans would leave on a Qatari flight that had delivered humanitarian aid to Afghanistan earlier on September 9. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Source: https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-stranded- americans-afghanistan/31451394.html
Copyright (c) 2021. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
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