The chartered flights for approximately 600 people have been held at Mazar-e-Sharif's airport for over a week now, according to sources who helped organize them, with at least 19 U.S. citizens waiting in the city to board and flee Afghanistan.
Satellite images reportedly show chartered planes at Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport that were waiting to take off but were blocked by Taliban forces.There are a"small number" of U.S. citizens in the northern Afghan city Mazar-e-Sharif who have been unable to evacuate on chartered flights, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Tuesday, but he said the Taliban had grounded the aircraft because others manifested for these flights did not have valid travel documents.
The Taliban have publicly said they will allow safe passage for those who want to leave, but without international flights yet and with overland journeys dangerous, it's been intensely difficult for those that were left behind by President Joe Biden's evacuation operations.Among them are at least 100 U.S. citizens, Blinken said Tuesday, adding that the State Department has been"in direct contact with virtually all of them.
Hours later, however, Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who served as former President Donald Trump's White House doctor, accused the State Department of"lying," saying the agency"didn't do a damn thing for these people for 12 days except almost get them killed repeatedly." That includes with the NGO Ascend, a Washington-based nonprofit dedicated to empowering women and girls through mountain climbing. Its CEO Marina LeGree told ABC News Sunday that its Afghan members are"among hundreds of individuals -- including some American citizens -- who have been blocked by the Taliban from leaving Mazar-e-Sharif by charter plane for six days" at that point -- now going on eight.
Some critics have rejected that, saying the Biden administration must do more to get these flights off the ground and help these U.S. citizens and vulnerable Afghans. But Blinken said while they're"doing all we can to clear any roadblocks... to make sure that charter flights carrying Americans or others to whom we have a special responsibility can depart Afghanistan safely," the U.S. has limited ability to help.
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