An organizer told Reuters that about 1,000 people, including Americans, had been trapped in Afghanistan for several days, waiting for their charter flights to leave, and blamed the US Department of State for the delay.
After the collapse of the Western-backed government and the Taliban Islamic insurgents seized power in Kabul on August 15, the United States completed a chaotic withdrawal of troops. This chaos is the latest flashpoint.
Annoyed by the delay, the organizers said that the State Department did not tell the Taliban that it approved the flight from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport, nor did it verify the landing site.
“They need to take responsibility for putting these people’s lives at risk,” said the organizer, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the details of the account.
An American official who asked not to be named questioned the claim that Americans are in danger, saying that the U.S. government “has not confirmed that any Americans tried to leave the airport in Mazar-i-Sharif.”
The latest satellite images show that the Taliban did not allow six commercial aircraft to take off from Mazar-e-Sharif Airport in northern Afghanistan. According to reports, American citizens and Afghan interpreters are waiting to board the plane. 📸: @Maxar pic.twitter.com/Ov7kB3z5VP
— Daniel Lipman (@dlippman) September 5, 2021
When asked about the charter flight, the State Department spokesperson did not respond to the specific allegations, but emphasized that the United States has no ground personnel and therefore lacks reliable means to confirm the basic details of the charter flight.
This includes verifying the number of American citizens and other passengers, the accuracy of the rest of the manifest, or “where they plan to land, and many other issues.”
The spokesperson added: “We will let the Taliban keep their promise to let people leave Afghanistan freely.”
Earlier on Sunday, Mike McCall, a senior Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, told Fox News Sunday that six planes were trapped at Mazar-e-Sharif Airport with Americans and Afghan interpreters on board and could not take off. They did not get permission from the Taliban.
He said that the Taliban held the passengers as “requested hostages,” but several sources disputed this statement and spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
NGO rescue
Another Republican US representative, Mike Walz, called on the State Department to cooperate with non-governmental organizations. He said these organizations are trying to clear chartered flights to evacuate Americans and Afghans at risk.
In a letter, Waltz told Secretary of State Anthony Brinken and cited several non-governmental organizations’ remarks, stating that charter flights are “available, well-funded, and ready to take off.”
The 20-year-long US invasion of Afghanistan eventually led to a hastily organized airlift, leaving thousands of Afghans allied with the United States left behind. Washington completed its withdrawal on August 31.
