In the last 24 hours, the US military has evacuated about 1,800 people from Afghanistan on 10 military transport aircrafts, a White House official told reporters late Wednesday.
That raises the number of evacuees to nearly 6,000 people since August 14.
The official did not break down how many of Wednesday’s evacuees were American citizens, permanent residents, or families of citizens trying to escape Afghanistan.
Wednesday’s number is higher than the 1,000 people who were evacuated on Tuesday, which included 330 American citizens and permanent residents – and another 770 family members.
On Tuesday, a White House official said they expected numbers to rise, “now that we have established the flow.”
CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team were reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, when they were confronted by armed Taliban fighters on Wednesday.
The team was near the airport, surrounded by desperate Afghans and their families hoping to escape on an evacuation flight, and Taliban fighters firing shots in an attempt to control the crowd.
“We had Taliban fighters all around approaching us, one man shouting at me to cover my face or he wouldn’t talk to me,” Ward told CNN after the incident,.
The team also spotted a man “carrying this huge makeshift whip – it was a bicycle lock that had basically been split in two, so the heavy metal padlock was in the middle,” she said. “And he’s just using it to just get anybody out of his way who gets in his way.”
At one point, a Taliban fighter took the safety off his AK-47 assault rifle and pushed through the crowd, gun lifted into the air as if he were about to begin firing, prompting the CNN team to run for cover.
Taliban confronts CNN: But the “most frightening moment” came when two Taliban fighters spotted a CNN producer filming video with his phone, and charged toward the team, pistols raised and ready to strike.
“They were ready to pistol whip him,” Ward said. It was only when another Taliban fighter intervened, telling the others that Ward’s team were journalists with permission to report, that they were allowed to pass through.
Desperate crowds at the airport: Before the confrontation, Ward and the CNN team had spoken to desperate and angry Afghans waiting outside the airport in Kabul, some of whom said they felt abandoned and lied to by US leaders.
“I’ve covered all sorts of crazy situations. This was mayhem. This was nuts. This was impossible for an ordinary civilian, even if they had their paperwork … There’s no coherent system for processing people,” Ward said.
The Taliban are stationed outside the airport, occasionally firing into the air and into the throng for crowd control.
“It’s so heartbreaking,” Ward said. “Everybody (was) coming up to us with their papers and passports, saying, “Please, I worked at Camp Phoenix. I was at this camp. I was a translator. Help me get in, help me get to America.”
The United Nations announced on Wednesday that it will move about 100 staff members in Afghanistan to Kazakhstan due to the deteriorating security situation.
A majority of the organization’s humanitarian staff will remain in Afghanistan, the UN said.
The Taliban will impose a curfew over the entire southeastern Afghan city of Khost on Thursday, multiple Taliban sources told CNN Wednesday.
The curfew will be in place “for an indefinite time,” and all kinds of movement will be banned “while joint forces of the Islamic Emirate carry out clearance operations,” one source said.
Roughly 650,000 Afghans live in the rural and urban areas of Khost province, according to 2021 population estimates from Afghanistan’s National Statistics and Information Authority.
Protests turn violent: Videos emerged on social media Wednesday purporting to show demonstrations across Khost city, the capital of the province, where hundreds of people took to the streets in an outpouring of anger over the Taliban’s takeover of the country. CNN has not independently verified these videos.
Clashes also broke out in the city of Jalalabad Wednesday, after Taliban forces clashed with protesters who removed the group’s flag from the main square and replaced it with the Afghan flag, three witnesses told CNN.
According to the witnesses, the protest was met with a violent response by the Taliban, who fired into the crowd and beat some of the participants.
An Afghan translator who had been working for the Czech unit of the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan told CNN he and his family were left on the tarmac in Kabul after being told the flight they were about to board was full.
The Czech Army plane took off from Kabul on Wednesday afternoon and landed in Prague, the Czech capital, at around 10 p.m. local time, the Czech Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Rafiullah, 33, his wife and their four-year old son had been waiting outside the Kabul airport for three days, covering their faces whenever Taliban fighters passed by and spending nights in hiding.
“I covered my face using a mask, the Taliban staring at me in anger and threatening me to leave … (they) also kicked me several times,” he told CNN in a series of messages. CNN agreed not to give the man’s full name for security reasons.
Rafiullah said he and his family were living a good life in Afghanistan until just a few weeks ago. When the Taliban took over, both he and his wife – a university lecturer – became a target.
On Wednesday, the family was finally allowed through the Taliban checkpoint at the airport, after Czech soldiers picked them up and escorted them to a plane that was about to take off.
Officials from The Poppy Association, a Czech NGO focused on helping veterans, have confirmed to CNN they have been in contact with a number of families which are being evacuated from Kabul by the Czech Army, including Rafiullah and his family. They said at least three other families of translators who worked with the Czech Army in the past are still waiting outside of the Taliban checkpoint at the airport. Rafiullah said he and his family were able to wait inside the airport.
The Czech Defence Ministry was not immediately available to comment on Rafiullah’s situation.
The ministry also told CNN that three flights have arrived in Prague from Kabul in the past three days, carrying both Czech and Afghan citizens. In total, 195 people were on board the three flights.
Rafiullah said he and his family were offered shelter, food and water by US and Turkish soldiers at the airport. They are now waiting to see if another Czech plane turns up that they could get on, Rafiullah said.
Rafiullah said his son is excited about the prospect of living in a new country, although he doesn’t quite understand what is going on.
During a virtual town hall, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered the services of her office to help Afghanistan refugees and others who are trying to leave the country.
An aide to Pelosi said the speaker has requested briefings from the White House on Afghanistan, including an unclassified briefing for all House members of Friday, an in-person classified briefing for all members on Tuesday, and a classified briefing for the so-called gang of eight Congressional leaders without a set time or date yet.
President Joe Biden said there was “no consensus” in intelligence reports on Afghanistan when he claimed in June it was “highly unlikely” the Taliban would take over the country after US forces departed, but he admitted many said the fall of the Afghan government was “likely to be some time by the end of the year.”
In a clip of an interview with ABC News released Wednesday night, Biden was asked if the intelligence was wrong or if he downplayed it when he called a takeover unlikely.
When asked about the fact that he didn’t give a timeline in his initial public assessment, Biden said he didn’t think anyone predicted just how quickly things would unfold in the country or how.
“The idea the Taliban would take over was premised on the notion that the, somehow the 300,000 troops we had trained and equipped was going to just collapse. They were going to give up. I don’t think anybody anticipated that,” he said.
Customs and Border Protection sent additional personnel to Doha on Wednesday to help assist in the processing of people leaving Afghanistan en route to the US, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
The move comes as DHS ramps up staffing to handle processing for the influx of Afghans fleeing their country amid the Taliban takeover.
Agency officials are in Doha working on processing, screening and vetting Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants and other eligible vulnerable Afghan nationals before they travel to the US, the spokesperson said.
The agency requested additional support this week from its field operations division, which is responsible for border security, as well as facilitating lawful trade and travel at ports of entry.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Mitt Romney on Wednesday encouraged the Biden administration to take measures to protect and evacuate journalists in Afghanistan.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Klobuchar and Romney said the US should “honor” its commitment to a free press by taking measures to “ensure the safety of journalists, supporting staff, and their families in Afghanistan.”
“There are an estimated 200-plus journalists and support staff in addition to their families in Afghanistan seeking to evacuate the country. Please ensure that as evacuation flights continue, journalists and support staff are not forgotten,” the pair added.
Some context: Several news organizations and press advocacy groups have said this week that they are working with the US to evacuate personnel from Afghanistan.
A Biden administration official told CNN on Monday that dozens of State Department officials, including some of the most senior officials, have been in constant contact with US media organizations regarding efforts to bring their employees and affiliates to safety. It will continue to be a priority, the official added at the time.
President Biden said Wednesday he didn’t think the crisis unfolding in Afghanistan was a failure and that he thought chaos in the country was inevitable after US troops departed.
In an interview with ABC News, Biden was asked if it was a failure of intelligence, planning, execution, or judgment that led to the situation in Afghanistan.
“I don’t think it was a failure,” the President responded, adding, “look it was a simple choice.”
“When you had the government of Afghanistan, the leader of that government getting into a plane and taking off and going to another country. When you saw the significant collapse of the Afghan troops we had trained,” he said, “that was — you know I’m not — that’s what happened. That’s simply what happened.”
Asked if he thought the withdrawal could have been handled better, Biden said: “No.”
“I don’t think it could have been handled in a way that, we’re gonna go back in hindsight and look — but the idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens. I don’t know how that happened,” he told ABC.
Asked if that was “always priced into the decision,” Biden initially responded yes, but then added that exactly what happened was not part of his calculation.
Some context: In July, Biden used a question-and-answer session in the White House East to downplay the prospect the Afghan government could collapse and the Taliban could take over, saying that outcome was not inevitable.
He had also insisted there would be “no circumstance” in which American personnel were evacuated from the roof of their embassy, rejecting any comparison to the fall of Saigon.
When Biden was asked about pictures showing people packed into a C-17 and video of Afghans clinging to the sides of planes attempting to take off, he sharply cut off the question.
“That was four days ago, five days ago!” Biden said. Many of those pictures were from Monday, just two days before the interview was shot.
When asked what his first reaction was upon seeing the scenes, Biden told ABC, he thought: “We have to gain control of this.”
“We have to move this more quickly. We have to move in a way in which we can take control of that airport. And we did.”
The 90-second clip was released by ABC News on Wednesday afternoon, with more scheduled to air on World News Tonight and Good Morning America.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a letter sent to President Joe Biden on Wednesday that the state is ready to accept Afghan refugees.
Colorado “stands ready to provide safety and opportunity to Afghan refugees and Special Immigrant Visa holders,” Polis’ letter said.
“I also hope that you will consider additional immigration paths that will save the lives of Afghans who cooperated with American forces, such as humanitarian parole, to ensure that we provide safety to those who helped our efforts overseas,” Polis wrote.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US troops are focused on keeping the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul secure and when pressed about potentially extending the perimeter around the airport.
“We’re going to evacuate everybody that we can physically, possibly, evacuate. And we’ll conduct this process for as long as we possibly can. We will continue to deconflict issues with the Taliban and we will stay focused on securing the airfield. We cannot afford to either not defend that airfield or not have an airfield that is secure where we have hundreds or thousands of civilians that can access the airfield at will and put our forces at risk,” he said.
Asked about the images of people struggling to get into the airport, Austin doubled down and reiterated that officials are attempting to “deconflict” with the Taliban to create passageways for people to get to the airfield.
“And where do you take that? I mean, how far can you extend into Kabul, you know, and how long does it take to flow those forces in to be able to do that,” Austin added.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley added, that the State Department is still working on a “facilitation measure” to get evacuees onto the airfield.
“And I would tell you that for the American citizens, passport holders, the Taliban and the State Department… but they are working on a facilitation measure. So those numbers are likely to grow. For the others, the State Department is still working through exactly getting the procedures for the evacuees to get to the airfield,” Milley said.
The Pentagon and State Department issued conflicting statements Wednesday about the ability of US citizens and Afghans to reach the Kabul airport, with the State saying it could not ensure safe transit to the airfield, while the Pentagon said the Taliban is “guaranteeing safe passage.”
A few hours later, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters at the State Department today that, “we have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport.”
Sherman said that the State Department’s team in Doha, Qatar, is meeting with Taliban officials, and “our military partners on the ground in Kabul are engaging directly with the Taliban to make clear that we expect them to allow all American citizens all third country nationals and all Afghans who wish to leave to do so safely and without harassment.”
But in a press briefing at the Pentagon that started while the the State Department was still briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told reporters that, “the Taliban are in and around the Kabul right now but they are not interfering with our operations.”
“Through the State Department, the Taliban are guaranteeing safe passage to the airport for American citizens, that is, US passport holders,” Milley said.
When asked if the military had the capability to enter Kabul and extract people, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “We don’t have the capability to go out and collect the large numbers of people out.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin outlined three main concerns regarding the situation on the ground in Afghanistan in evacuating Americans and US allies.
The first area of concern is ensuring the safety and security of Americans “and the people that we’re trying to evacuate,” he said during a news conference at the Pentagon.
Austin said that there are currently 4,500 US troops on the ground who are trained and equipped to “defend themselves and their operations.”
“There have been no hostile interactions with the Taliban. And our lines of communication with Taliban commanders remain open as they should be,” he continued.
Second, the defense secretary said US troops on the ground are focused on “maintaining security” at Hamid Karazi International Airport itself.
“In concert with forces from our allies, our troops have set up defensive positions around the airport and the airport is able to function safely. Now, we don’t take this for granted and I continue to be in daily contact with General Mckenzie and commanders on the ground to make sure that they have what they need to keep it safe.”
Third, Austin discussed the focus around keeping “the pace” and “increasing the flow of aircraft and people out of Kabul.”
“We’ve flown out several thousand since 15th of August and our goal is to be able to increase our capacity every day going forward. And as we build out this capacity, we work hand in glove with the State Department which is leading the whole of government effort to notify and process American citizens who are leaving, and to urgently identify and process Afghan applicants as well. We’ve dispatched small military teams to two of the airport’s gates to assist the State Department consular efforts as they evaluate and process individuals seeking entry. And we expect to be able to augment that capability in the coming days,” he sai##Evacuations##d.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said that “approximately 5,000 people” have been evacuated from Afghanistan already, and the US military intends to “increase” the number of people who have been evacuated.
Milley did not breakdown the categories of evacuees.
Milley said the US military has “the ability to significantly increase” the number of people they are able to
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley outlined the dangerous situation on the ground in Afghanistan, saying US troops are “at risk” and that they need to be the nation’s main focus.
“Today the situation is still very dangerous, very dynamic, and very fluid. And all of us can be proud for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines executing this mission. They are currently in harm’s way. That needs to be our focus,” Milley said at a Pentagon briefing Wednesday.
“In addition, we intend to evacuate those who have been supporting us for years and we won’t leave them behind. And we will get out as many as possible. Our troops in Kabul are taking high risk to accomplish that mission. Every minute these troops are on the ground making difficult decisions with incredible skill, incredible bravery, and incredible valor,” he added.
Milley said the security situation at the airport is currently stable, but there are threats and they are being monitored: “We can identify them [the threats], if we identify them, we will take immediate military action without hesitation in accordance with our rules of engagement. And the Taliban and every other organization in that country knows it.”
Remember: Earlier Wednesday, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, Clarissa Ward, reported that people have been thronging the airport in a bid to flee as countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, try to evacuate their own citizens and some Afghan nationals looking for protection. The Taliban is outside the airport, in charge of crowd control.
“They’ve been whipping people … firing shots in the air, firing shots at people,” Ward said. “Inside the airport, it appears less chaotic because it is having some effect … But, on the perimeter, it is, of course, incredibly intimidating for people who desperately want to leave this country. And they’re fearful that the Taliban won’t even let them pass those checkpoints.”
Meanwhile, the US embassy in Kabul advised American citizens today that the US government cannot ensure safe passage to the airport for those looking to flee the country.
The Department of Defense has dispatched “small military teams to two of the airport gates” at Hamid Karzai International Airport to “assist the State Department Consular efforts as they evaluate and process individuals seeking entry,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said during a briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Austin said the Defense Department is focused on increasing the capacity of people and aircrafts leaving Hamid Karzai International Airport.
“We’ve flown several thousand since the 15th of August and our goal is tot be able to increase our capacity going forward,” Austin said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who served more than 40 years in the military, today drew on his personal experiences to say he believed the US has a “moral obligation to help those who helped us.”
“All of this is very personal for me,” he said. “This is a war that I fought in and led. I know the country. I know the people. And I know those who fought alongside me.”
Austin concluded his prepared remarks on a note of comfort for US veterans and their loved ones who may wonder if their wartime sacrifices in the nearly two decades of US involvement were in vain.
“I know that these are difficult days for those who lost loved ones in Afghanistan and for those who carry the wounds of war, especially now we mourn those who made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.
“Our greatest asset as a nation is the extraordinary men and women who volunteer to keep us all safe and their families,” he concluded. “We honor your service, we understand your sacrifice and we and we will never forget it.”
Gen. Mark Milley, Joint Chiefs Chairman, discussed the “rapid collapse” of Afghanistan and the takeover by the Taliban.
He said that US intelligence indicated “multiple scenarios” were possible after the military began the draw down of troops in Afghanistan.
“One of those was an outright Taliban takeover following a rapid collapse of the Afghan security forces and the government,” Milley said, adding that other possible scenarios they foresaw were “civil war” and a “negotiated settlement.”
He continued: “However, the time frame of a rapid collapse, that was widely estimated and ranged from weeks to months and even years following our departure. There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 11 days.”
Any Americans still in Afghanistan will be able to leave the country if they choose to, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a Pentagon news briefing Wednesday afternoon.
Milley praised the US troops on the ground, and their efforts to evacuate Americans.
“Our troops in Kabul are taking high risk to accomplish that mission. Every minute these troops are on the ground making difficult decisions with incredible skill, incredible bravery, and incredible valor,” he said.
Some context: The US embassy in Kabul advised American citizens today that the US government cannot ensure safe passage to the airport for those looking to flee the country.
The alert told citizens that space on evacuation flights will now be available “on a first come, first serve basis.”
