The first groups of Afghan evacuees arrived at Dulles International Airport Saturday, one week after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
At the Pentagon Saturday, Army Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters that three flights carrying Afghan evacuees had landed at Dulles, near Washington, D.C., and those evacuees will be transitioned to Fort Bliss in Texas “for further processing.”
On Thursday, “the U.S. military airlifted nearly 6,000 evacuees in a single day,” Taylor said. “In the last 24 hours, six U.S. military C-17s and 32 charters departed Kabul. Through this combined effort, the total passenger count for those flights was approximately 3,800.”
Hundreds of other Afghan evacuees aboard the C-17 Globemaster plane reached the Ramstein U.S. Air Base in Germany from Qatar on Saturday.
“I would add that intelligence, law enforcement and counter-terrorism professionals are conducting screening and security vetting for all SIV (special immigrant visas) and others — vulnerable Afghans — before they are allowed to enter the United States,” he said.
Taylor added that 5,800 U.S. troops remain on the ground to provide security at the airport in Kabul.
The situation at the U.S.-held airport in Kabul continues to be chaotic, however.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense said in a press statement Sunday that seven Afghan civilians were crushed to death outside the airport as crowds attempted to board evacuation planes.
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