US general says there are 10,000 people still waiting to be evacuated from Kabul's airport
- Approximately 10,000 people remain at Kabul's airport in Afghanistan awaiting evacuation.
- Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor said 19,000 people were evacuated from the airport on Tuesday.
- Taylor said a flight left Kabul with evacuees every 39 minutes.
There are 10,000 people at the Kabul airport waiting to be evacuated from Afghanistan, US Maj. General Hank Taylor said in a briefing Wednesday.
US forces have less than a week until the evacuation deadline on August 31, which President Biden chose on Tuesday not to extend.
A Taliban spokesperson said this week that the militant group will not negotiate a new deadline and also pushed Biden to stop helping evacuees leave. The White House said Biden has asked the Pentagon to draft contingency plans in case the deadline cannot be met.
Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor said on Wednesday that one flight left Kabul on Tuesday with evacuees every 39 minutes, equating to 19,000 people rescued in one day.
Getting to the airport has been an issue for many Americans and Afghans hoping to escape. Taylor confirmed that a third group of Americans - less than 20 overall - were extracted via helicopter and brought to the airport.
US military presence at Kabul's airport appears to be slowly shrinking as Biden's deadline approaches. There are approximately 5,400 members of the military still at the airport, according to the Pentagon, down from a peak of around 5,800.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that two members of Congress, Rep. Pete Meijer and Rep. Seth Moulton, made an unauthorized trip to Kabul's airstrip to scope out the evacuation efforts. The pair has already reportedly returned to the US.
Erik Prince, the founder of defense contractor Blackwater and brother of former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, is charging $6,500 per person to evacuate people from the region, according to the Wall Street Journal. Four guards from Blackwater were convicted in 2014 for killing Iraqi civilians but were ultimately pardoned by President Donald Trump.