Blinken Pushes Taliban to Allow Evacuation Flights Out

Courtesy CNN

(AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is pressing the Taliban to allow charter flights carrying would-be evacuees to leave Mazar-e-Sharif.

Blinken said Wednesday that the Taliban aren’t permitting the flights’ departure because they claim that some of the passengers don’t have the required documentation.

He added: “While there are limits to what we can do without personnel on the ground, without an airport with normal security and procedures in place, we are working to do everything in our power to support those flights and to get them off the ground.”

He said those efforts include working with advocates and lawmakers to help coordinate their efforts.

(Copyright 2021, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

There is no custom code to display.