By Tuesday the total of US and other countries' evacuees surpassed 71,000 since Aug 14, with more than 21,000 flown out in the most recent 24 hours.
But thousands remained, inside the airport and outside, hampered by slow processing and increasing difficulty in reaching the airport due to the Taliban's blockades of Afghans seeking to leave.
NOT ENOUGH TIME?
The Pentagon, which is managing all Kabul airport operations, says it actually has to wind down evacuations several days before Aug 31, to remove its own 6,000-plus troops on the ground, hundreds of US officials, 600 Afghan security troops guarding the airport and significant amounts of equipment.
Officials of Britain, France and Germany signaled they probably could not complete all of their planned evacuations by Aug 31 and wanted the US to extend into September.
In Washington worries grew that the deadline was not time enough to remove all remaining US citizens - the number remained unclear - as well as Afghan SIV evacuees.
On Tuesday leaders of the G7 advanced countries held a video summit to discuss staying beyond Aug 31.
But as they did, a Taliban official declared that they would not agree to any extension.
Hours later Biden announced that he was sticking to the end-of-August target and that his country was "on pace" to finish the US mission on that date.
Yet the White House was slightly ambiguous, stating that exiting by Aug 31 depends on the Taliban allowing evacuees access to the airport, including SIV-qualified Afghans.
Leaving the door open for going beyond Aug 31, Biden has asked "for contingency plans to adjust the timeline should that become necessary," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiW2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvdW5pdGVkLXN0YXRlcy1hZmdoYW5pc3Rhbi1wdWxsb3V0LWF1Zy0zMS1kYXRlLTIxMzQyNjbSAQA?oc=5
2021-08-25 05:59:00Z
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