A former US military interpreter stranded in Afghanistan says nobody told her the last flight out of the country was leaving

• An American who served as a military interpreter has spoken out about being stranded in Afghanistan.
• She told CNN that nobody had told her the last US flight had left the Afghan capital on Monday.
• She is one of an estimated 100 to 200 US citizens still in the country following the US withdrawal.

An American who previously served as an interpreter for the US military in Afghanistan and has been trying to arrange evacuation flights for herself and others says she wasn't told the last flight out of the country was leaving.

In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo on Monday, the woman said she was trying to leave but not before she had helped at least some Afghan families and children out as well. The network named her "Sara" to protect her identity.

-Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) August 31, 2021

The last US military plane left the airport at the Afghan capital of Kabul on Monday, marking an end to the 20-year American military campaign.

"I was just silent for a little while," Sara told CNN of learning that the final flight had left.

"I just can't believe no one told me that this is the last flight."

In an earlier interview with the network, she said that 19 children, including two with disabilities, were among 37 people sheltering in her home. Their families, she said, had worked with US citizens.

She said on Monday that for the past 48 hours she and her companions had been going "from gate to gate," following State Department instructions and getting past Taliban checkpoints in their efforts to secure safe passage out.

Worried for her safety and that of the people she was sheltering with now that the US had left, she said: "I never had the heartbeat that I have today, this morning when they told me the Americans left."

Secretary of State Antony Blinken estimated on Monday that 100 to 200 US citizens remained stranded in Afghanistan.

He said that the State Department had "worked intensely" to evacuate Afghans who had worked alongside the US and that US efforts to help them leave have "no deadline."

The situation is markedly different from a commitment made by President Joe Biden about two weeks ago in an interview with ABC News. In that interview, he said he would keep US troops in the country until every US citizen and Afghan ally who wanted to leave had done so.