US citizens are told to STOP coming to Kabul airport due to terror threat leaving up to 1.5K including 23 California students stranded: Blinken BLAMES them for not leaving earlier as CIA start helicopter rescue missions
- Americans at Kabul airport were told at around 3:30am local time Thursday to immediately leave three gates
- The State Department tweeted that the Abbey Gate, East Gate, or North Gate should be avoided
- As many as 1,500 Americans are looking to actively escape from Afghanistan, State Department announced
- Blinken blamed US citizens for ‘ignoring’ public evacuation notices and not registering with the government
- Republican lawmakers accused Biden of letting the Taliban dictate the terms of the US evacuation
- A US military mission pulled ‘less than 20’ people from Kabul and brought them to the airport under the cover of darkness via helicopter, Pentagon officials revealed on Wednesday after two similar missions earlier
- Among those still stranded in Afghanistan are 24 students and parents from a California school district
- Evacuees said they had been attacked by the Taliban and prevented from getting to Kabul airport
- The reports emerged less than 24 hours after President Biden said the Taliban needed to let people leave
- Those not already at airport now have little chance of escape, as Taliban stop all Afghan citizens reaching it
- Taliban has warned President Biden that there will be no extension to the August 31 evacuation deadline
- US evacuated 19,000 people from Kabul, across 48 different flights, over the last 24 hours, White House says