US, allies scramble to evacuate thousands from Afghanistan: Live

More than 20,000 evacuated in the last 24 hours as the US and allies rush to conclude evacuations before the deadline.

The US and its Western allies are stepping up evacuation efforts after US President Joe Biden stuck to the August 31 deadline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. More than 70,000 people, foreigners and Afghans, have been airlifted out of Kabul since August 14, the day before the Taliban swept into the Afghan capital. “The sooner we can finish, the better… each day of operations brings added risk to our troops,” Biden said Tuesday.