Blinken: US identified ‘relatively’ small number of Americans seeking to depart Mazar-i-Sharif
U.S. officials in Washington have identified a “relatively” small number of Americans seeking to depart Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday while in Qatar, Reuters reported.
Blinken says the State Department is working with the Taliban to facilitate additional charter flights from Kabul for people seeking to leave Afghanistan after the American military and diplomatic departure.
It appeared to be the first time that the Biden administration confirmed that there were Americans at the airport after several reports that Taliban fighters had blocked Americans aboard six planes at the airport. Three Americans involved in the private evacuations blasted the State Department over the weekend for preventing the evacuation flights from leaving the country.
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Defiant Panjshir leader Ahmad Massoud calls for national uprising against Taliban
Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, said in an audio released Monday that his group will continue the fight despite the Taliban’s claim that they’ve taken control of Panjshir province.
“Wherever you are, inside or outside, I call on you to begin a national uprising for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country,” he said, according to the BBC.
He said his forces include members of the Afghan army and other militias. He said he is safe, Reuters reported.
“We are in Panjshir and our Resistance will continue,” he said.
The Taliban issued a statement Monday claiming that they have taken control of Panjshir province, which is located north of Kabul that served as the staging ground of the country’s last resistance force.
Al Jazeera reported that there are concerns about the 130,000 people believed trapped there. Taliban forces have essentially sealed off the area from the rest of the country and there is a food shortage, the report said.
“Whatever food people had in their houses, that’s what they’ve been eating for weeks now, the stores and bazaars are all empty,” one Panjshiri civilian told the news outlet. “I have sick people in my family and I have no way of helping them.”
State Dept trying to steal credit for rescue of 4 Americans from Afghanistan, organizer says
The organizer of a private mission to rescue an American mom, Mariam, and her three children from Afghanistan says the U.S. State Department is now trying to insert itself into the story of her evacuation, despite playing little to no role for much of the rescue effort.
Senior State Department officials on Monday announced that the “U.S. has facilitated the safe departure of four US citizens by overland route from Afghanistan. Embassy staff was present upon their arrival.”
But those actually involved in the dangerous rescue operation say the State Department deserves little to no credit for Mariam’s escape from Afghanistan.
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State Department, White House holding up charter planes in Afghanistan, top New Yorker editor says
The White House and U.S. State Department are holding up charter planes at an airport in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif that would transport 19 Americans and 40 SIV holders to Albania, David Rohde, the executive editor at NewYorker.com said in an interview Monday.
“I want to repeat that,” he said. “It is the State Department and the White House” holding up the planes.
He said the civilian effort has been “far more ambitious, far more dynamic and far more successful than what the administration has been doing.”
On Sunday, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, told Fox News that the Taliban has blocked Americans aboard six planes at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport. Three Americans involved in the private evacuation of those still in the country also blasted the State Department for preventing the evacuation flights from leaving the country.
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