A NATO official on Friday said that the military alliance organization was working to expedite evacuations from Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country earlier this week.
The official told Reuters that it would be redoubling its attempts to help thousands of Afghan civilians leave amid mounting criticism of the U.S. and other Western powers over their handling of their withdrawal from the country.
Since Sunday, the situation has rapidly deteriorated and American citizens, Afghans and other foreign nationals have encountered violence and chaos as they try to catch flights at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The official, who asked not to be identified, did not provide any specific details on plans to increase evacuations.
Security forces have cleared the runways of the airport of the civilians who desperately crowded around evacuation planes earlier this week, but the NATO official told Reuters that thousands of people continue to gather near the airport in hopes to escape a new Taliban government.
More than 18,000 people have been flown out of Kabul since the Taliban took over the capital city and effectively toppled Afghanistan’s existing government, the NATO official told Reuters.
In a virtual press conference Friday following a meeting with NATO foreign ministers, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the “continuing evacuation of people from allied and partner countries and Afghans who worked with us” is the organization’s “immediate priority.”
The NATO foreign ministers also said in a statement following the meeting that “as long as evacuation operations continue, we will maintain our close operational coordination through Allied military means at Hamid Karzai International Airport.”
Stoltenberg on Tuesday echoed President Biden’s comments on Afghanistan’s political leaders, appearing to blame them for the collapse of the country’s government. He said in a meeting of NATO envoys that Afghan security forces “were unable to secure the country.”
“Because ultimately, the Afghan political leadership failed to stand up to the Taliban and to achieve the peaceful solution that Afghans desperately wanted,” the secretary general said. “This failure of Afghan leadership led to the tragedy we are witnessing today.”
The State Department said Thursday that the Biden administration had evacuated 7,000 people from Afghanistan, including 2,000 Americans and thousands of Afghan civilians.
Among the Afghans evacuated are those eligible for Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) based on assistance they provided to the U.S. military during its operations in Afghanistan.
A bipartisan group of 55 U.S. senators on Wednesday urged Biden to “immediately evacuate” SIVs, and also “expeditiously implement” the Afghan Allies Protection Act, a new measure Biden signed into law last month that would grant 8,000 additional visas and reduce barriers to applicants.
—Updated at 12:09 p.m.