Foreign nationals and Afghan citizens with travel authorization from another country will be allowed to leave Afghanistan, the Taliban has promised.
The UK, the US, and other countries issued a unified international statement announcing the development. The nations, which included Australia, Japan, France, Spain, and others, will continue to provide travel papers to selected Afghans, according to the statement.
British soldiers have already departed Kabul, and US troops will be out of Afghanistan by August 31, according to US President Joe Biden's timetable. However, there have been concerns about the thousands of Afghans who may have been qualified for resettlement programs but were unable to get to Kabul airport for evacuation or were not processed on time.
Taliban will allow Afghans to leave the country
The Taliban had indicated that anyone who wanted to leave Afghanistan may do so, according to a joint statement issued by the US and more than 90 other countries. It comes after UK forces evacuated 15,000 civilians from Afghanistan over nearly two weeks in Operation Pitting, which is thought to be the biggest evacuation effort since WWII.
Sir Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, returned to the UK on Sunday after staying in the country and relocating the embassy near Kabul airport to process as many refugees as possible. He pledged to continue to assist British nationals as well as Afghans who stay in the country and want assistance, as per Daily Mail.
As the Taliban moved in on Kabul airport, US President Joe Biden stated on Saturday that a fresh terror assault in Afghanistan is highly possible over the weekend. The US military is hurrying to finish its final evacuation in time for the Taliban's August 31 deadline for troops withdrawal, MIRROR reported.
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The US says it destroyed vehicle with would-be suicide bombers
When an ISIS-K suicide bomber struck the airport on Thursday, 13 US personnel were among the 170 persons murdered, including three Britons. The Taliban's main spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed the Taliban were holding certain locations within the airport to "peacefully take control" after the US soldiers had left.
However, a dedicated group of SAS members has chosen to remain in Afghanistan to avenge the deaths of the 13 American soldiers. Meanwhile, the United States claimed to have destroyed a vehicle carrying five would-be suicide bombers on their way to assault Kabul's airport.
Early Monday, rockets were fired at Kabul airport, but at least five were intercepted by a missile defense system, underscoring the ongoing threat to the international rescue operation as the deadline for American soldiers to leave approaches. Per The Washington Post via MSN, the Taliban spokesman claimed there have been no reports of Afghan casualties and the Islamist organization is examining the strike.
Last week, a top US commander warned that a local branch of the Islamic State, which carried out a bombing at an airport gate on Thursday, killing 13 US troops and injuring at least 170 others, is planning to launch rocket assaults against Kabul airport. According to Pentagon sources, the US military carried out an airstrike on a vehicle that presented an "imminent" ISIS threat to the airport on Sunday.
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