According to a US source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Taliban have agreed to let 200 Westerners trapped in the country depart using charter aircraft from Kabul airport.
After a chaotic US departure that saw hundreds of foreign people evacuated in the final two weeks of August, the Taliban had previously promised almost 100 countries that they will still assist in evacuating the residents remaining in Afghanistan.
This occurred when the Ashraf Ghani administration in Kabul was dissolved.
Taliban officials have agreed to allow 200 American citizens and other foreign people who remained in Afghanistan following the US evacuation operation to leave, according to a news source.
According to reports, they were pushed to allow US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad to leave.
The flights were scheduled to leave on Thursday.
The official could not specify whether these Americans and third-country nationals were among those who had been stuck in Mazar-i-Sharif for days because their private charters had been denied permission to leave.
The United States evacuated its first four Americans from Afghanistan by land earlier this week.
According to media reports, they were evacuated without Taliban involvement, citing a senior US State Department official.
“Four Americans made their way across the land with Taliban knowledge,” the report had said and added that the official declined to say which country they arrived in but added they were in a “good condition” and met by US embassy staff from the local embassy.
It’s worth noting that Pakistan has aided other countries in their evacuation operations, which have received worldwide praise.
Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, has also said that he is ignorant of the path followed by US citizens. Pakistan, on the other hand, has said that it is willing to help in any way.
“We don’t know what route they used but we have no problem facilitating the evacuation of US citizens from Afghanistan,” he had told Dawn.
He informed the newspaper that Pakistan has been doing all it can to aid in the evacuation of any Afghans who wish to leave the country.
