U.S. Troops Surge Evacuations Out Of Kabul But Threats Persist

President Biden said he wouldn't rule out extending the evacuation beyond Aug. 31.

The U.S. military reported its biggest day of evacuation flight out of Afghanistan by far on Monday, but deadly violence that has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul's airport persisted, and the Taliban signaled they might soon seek to shut down the evacuation. Twenty-eight U.S. military flights ferried about 10,400 people to safety out of Taliban-held Afghanistan over the 24 hours that ended early Monday morning, a White House official said. The chief Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the faster pace of evacuation was due in part to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport. "Thus far, and going forward, it does require constant coordination and deconfliction with the Taliban," Kirby said. "What we've seen is, this deconfliction has worked well in terms of allowing access and flow as well as reducing the overall size of the crowds just outside the airport."