US troops to help evacuate some embassy staff in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) — With information rapidly deteriorating successful Afghanistan, the United States is evacuating immoderate unit from the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul, and U.S. troops volition beryllium assisting astatine the Kabul airport, officials said Thursday.

The determination to trim staffing levels astatine the embassy was announced by State Department spokesperson Ned Price. He said diplomatic enactment volition proceed astatine the embassy.

U.S. troops are being brought into Afghanistan to supply further crushed and aerial enactment for the processing and information of Americans being sent to the Kabul airport, said a U.S. authoritative who spoke connected information of anonymity successful bid to sermon subject details that had not yet been made public.

The determination suggests a deficiency of assurance by the Biden medication successful the Afghan government’s quality to supply capable diplomatic information successful the superior arsenic the Taliban equine an violative that has rapidly conquered cardinal cities successful caller days.

The Pentagon had kept astir 650 troops successful Afghanistan to enactment U.S. diplomatic security, including astatine the airport. The authoritative said an unspecified further fig of troops, arsenic good arsenic aircraft, are to beryllium brought successful to assistance with the embassy drawdown.

Afghan authorities forces are collapsing even faster than U.S. subject leaders thought imaginable conscionable a fewer months agone erstwhile President Joe Biden ordered a afloat withdrawal.

The Taliban, who ruled the state from 1996 until U.S. forces invaded aft the 9/11 attacks, captured 3 much provincial capitals Wednesday and different 2 connected Thursday, the 10th and 11th the insurgents person taken successful a weeklong expanse that has fixed them effectual power of astir two-thirds of the country. The insurgents person nary aerial unit and are outnumbered by U.S.-trained Afghan defence forces, but they person captured territory, including the country’s third-largest city, Herat, with stunning speed.

In a caller informing to Americans successful Afghanistan, the 2nd it has issued since Saturday, the U.S. Embassy successful Kabul connected Thursday again urged U.S. citizens to permission immediately. The advisory was released amid expanding discussions successful Washington astir further reducing already constricted unit astatine the embassy.

The United States continues to enactment the Afghan subject with constricted airstrikes, but those person not made a strategical quality frankincense acold and are scheduled to extremity erstwhile the U.S. formally ends its relation successful the warfare connected Aug. 31. Biden could proceed airstrikes beyond that date, but fixed his steadfast stance connected ending the war, that seems unlikely.

The astir caller American subject assessment, taking into relationship the Taliban’s latest gains, says Kabul could beryllium nether insurgent unit by September and that the state could autumn wholly to Taliban power wrong a mates of months, according to a defence authoritative who discussed the interior investigation Wednesday connected information of anonymity.

Military officials watching the deteriorating concern said that truthful acold the Taliban haven’t taken steps to endanger Kabul. But it isn’t wide if the Taliban volition hold until they person gained power of the bulk of the state earlier attempting to prehend the capital.

The information of the U.S. diplomatic corps has been talked astir for months, adjacent earlier the Taliban’s battlefield blitz. The subject has agelong had assorted readying options for evacuating unit from Afghanistan. Those options would mostly beryllium determined by the White House and the State Department.

A cardinal constituent of the options would beryllium whether the U.S. subject would person unfettered entree to the Kabul planetary airport, allowing unit to beryllium flown systematically retired of the capital. In a grimmer environment, American forces mightiness person to combat their mode successful and retired if the Taliban person infiltrated the city.

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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.