Establish Contact With Taliban Commanders, Pentagon Says 6,000 US Troops Will Be At Kabul Airport

Illustration of the crowd around Kabul Airport, Afghanistan. (Antara Photo/Satellite Image 2021 Maxar TechnoloGies/Handout via Reuters/rwa.)

JAKARTA - The United States (US) has received assistance from about 600 Afghan security forces to provide security at Kabul airport as their military is en route to Afghanistan, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.

Citing Reuters Wednesday, August 18, Major General William Taylor with the US military's Joint Staff at a press briefing yesterday said a total of 4,000 American troops would be at the airport by the end of the day, with the aim of supporting the target of one evacuation flight every hour.

About 6,000 US troops are expected to be at the airport in the coming days, according to Pentagon officials.

"We have had no hostile interactions, no attacks and no threats from the Taliban," Taylor said.

The United States and Western allies have been trying to evacuate diplomats and civilians at Kabul's airport, the only way in or out of the country for many in Afghanistan.

The situation turned chaotic on Monday, with flights unable to depart as the airfield filled with Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban.

Taylor said about 500 to 600 members of Afghanistan's national security forces were at the airport assisting the security forces.

Asked about whether these Afghan security personnel would be evacuated from Afghanistan as well, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told the briefing it was up to them to decide.

"It has to be a decision by those people, if they want to apply for a visa and take that approach," Kirby said.

US military officials at the airport have been in contact with Taliban commanders on the ground outside the airport, Kirby added.

"There have been discussions, there have been communications between them and us," Kirby said. Meanwhile, US military officials say between 5,000 and 10,000 Americans are believed to be in the Kabul area.

To note, the Afghan military was devastated as Taliban forces swept through Afghanistan, culminating in the capture of Kabul and the departure of President Ashraf Ghani from the country on Sunday 15 August.

Most elements of Afghanistan's national security force, trained by the United States and its Western allies for nearly two decades, were quickly losing ground in the face of rapid advances by Taliban forces.

The Taliban, who were ousted as rulers of Afghanistan in 2001 by the US-led invasion, moved to regain power when the United States withdrew its troops to end the country's longest military war.