23:40 05/09/2021
A senior White House official said Sunday that the United States will find a way to get the remaining Americans out of Afghanistan if they want to leave. But a senior Republican lawmaker on foreign affairs said Taliban insurgents are becoming an obstacle to Americans getting into Kabul airport.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klein told CNN that US officials believe about 100 Americans are still in Afghanistan since the final withdrawal of the US military about a week ago. On August 30, the US ended its nearly 20-year war against al-Qaeda terrorists and the Taliban.
"We will find ways to get them out if they want to leave probably through the resumption of flights to Qatar." said Mr. Klain. He also said that the United States will continue its efforts to help those Afghans who cooperated with American troops.
But a key opposition lawmaker, Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Fox News television network that based on reports from US intelligence agencies, the number of Americans still in Afghanistan was estimated at several hundreds. According to him, since the moment the US ended the mission, no American citizen has been evacuated from Afghanistan.
"The Taliban are making demands and are not allowing planes to fly," said Mr. McCaul.
He said that the Taliban "are asking in return", the full recognition of their government by Washington.
"This is not a new and improved Taliban group," Mr McCaul said, comparing it to their behavior in 2001 when the US ousted the group by targeting al-Qaida terrorists in hiding. from the Taliban, responsible for planning the 11/3,000 attacks in the US that killed around XNUMX people.
He said several Afghan interpreters who helped US troops during the war and are seeking to leave the country have been turned back at Kabul airport and forced to return home to watch the Taliban execute their family members. them, some with time constraints, before they themselves suffer the same fate. But Mr. McCaul did not give any figures on how much he was talking about.
"I've always said that President Joe Biden has blood on his hands," said Mr. McCaul.
After the US withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan last week, President Biden strongly defended the withdrawal that got 98% of Americans out of that country, calling it a "tremendous success."
President Biden has often said that he was and is against an "endless war" in Afghanistan.
National polls in the United States show that Americans support Mr. Biden's decision to leave Afghanistan, but not the chaotic end to operations there. In the days when the US troop presence was being reduced, a bloody attack left 13 US soldiers dead. ISIS-K, a branch of the so-called Islamic State terrorist organization operating in Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack./VOA
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