US confirms evacuation of Americans from Kabul
By Li Zhiwei
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Washington (People's Daily) - The US is evacuating Americans from Kabul via civilian and military flights, after the Taliban entered the Afghan capital, according to a joint statement from the US Department of State and Department of Defense issued on Sunday.

The US embassy in Kabul is closed after American personnel were evacuated Sunday. (Photo: Agencies)

According to the statement, at present the US government is completing a series of steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of US and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights. Over the next 48 hours, the US will have expanded its US security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts. The US troops will take over air traffic control, the statement said.

“Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been residents in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the US mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals,” the statement continued.

The statement said the US will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for US Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks.