PENTAGON (AP) – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the U.S. military doesn’t have the capacity to extend security forces beyond the Kabul airport perimeter in order to get more civilians out of Afghanistan.
Afghans and aid groups say citizens are having a hard time getting past the Taliban and into the airport.
The mass exodus was triggered by the insurgents’ rapid takeover of Afghanistan and its capital on Sunday.
Austin told reporters at a Pentagon press conference on Wednesday that the U.S. is working to get as many people through the evacuation process and out of the country as quickly as possible, but “we’re not close to where we want to be.”
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