American citizens trying to leave Afghanistan were advised not to travel to Kabul’s airport because of “potential security threats,” on Saturday, as senior Taliban leaders arrived in the city to choose a new government.
“We are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so,” the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan said in a statement Saturday.
The advice was issued “because of potential security threats,” the statement said although it did not elaborate on what those threats were. “We will contact registered U.S. citizens as the security situation changes to provide further instructions,” the statement added.
It came less than than 24 hours after President Joe Biden vowed to get Americans home, and help Afghans who’d assisted U.S. forces in the country and others who might be in danger.
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“To the best of our knowledge, at Taliban checkpoints, they are letting through people showing American passports. Now that’s a different question of when they get into the rush and crowd of all the folks just outside the wall, near the airport,” he said.
Time is running out ahead of Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw most remaining U.S. troops, and the president night did not commit to extending it on Friday.
On Saturday, thousands of people continued their nervous wait near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
Senior U.S. military officials told the Associated Press that the processing of passengers inside the airport had restarted on Saturday, but that there is a considerable backlog of people waiting to fly to Qatar.
Gates to the airport were closed overnight due to overcrowding in the area and it would be roughly 5 to 9 hours before the backlog clears, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not officially authorized to speak.
Meanwhile, senior Taliban leaders also arrived in Afghanistan’s capital on Saturday to choose a new government, a commander with the militant group told NBC News.
The Taliban’s top political leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, would likely to appoint people to form a new government over the next few days, the commander said, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to comment officially.
