US Ramps Up Kabul Evacuation Efforts As August 31 Deadline Nears

Over 10,000 people were evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the 12 hours up until 3:00 pm Monday (1900 GMT), the official said, updating figures given earlier in the day at the Pentagon.

The US military shuttled thousands more people through the Kabul airport over the past 12 hours, a White House official said Monday, as Washington attempts to complete a daring airlift by an August 31 deadline for troops to leave Afghanistan. Over 10,000 people were evacuated from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the 12 hours up until 3:00 pm Monday (1900 GMT), the official said, updating figures given earlier in the day at the Pentagon.  The number of people relocated from Afghanistan on US flights since July is now 53,000, with the vast majority of those since the intense airlift operations started on August 14 as the Taliban moved into Kabul. Earlier, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said those evacuated included "several thousand" US citizens and thousands of Afghans who worked for US forces who had applied for or received special immigrant visas.