That said Major General William Taylor on Thursday in the US Department of Defense. Since the US evacuation operation began on August 14, this number has been around 7,000, and around 12,000 since the first evacuation flights by American forces at the end of last month.
To secure the evacuation mission, the US armed forces are flying surveillance flights with fighter jets over the Afghan capital. Taylor said Thursday they were F-18 armed fighter jets. They have a “watchful eye” on the situation, which is constantly being assessed in order to protect the safety of Americans. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was not a low-level flight.
G7 for joint action
After a virtual meeting, the foreign ministers of the seven leading industrialized countries (G7) are calling for the international community to take joint action on Afghanistan. A further escalation must be prevented, according to a statement issued by British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab. In addition to Great Britain, the G7 also include Germany, the USA, Italy, France, Canada and Japan. NATO foreign ministers will meet on Friday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
According to a report prepared for the UN, the Taliban are intensifying their search for Afghans who have cooperated with US and NATO troops. The radical Islamic militia keep “priority lists” of people they want to arrest, according to a confidential document that the AFP news agency received on Thursday. Those who played a central role in the Afghan military, the police and the secret service are particularly at risk. The report comes from the Norwegian Center for Global Analysis, an NGO that prepares assessments for various UN agencies.
Attack on the family of a journalist
Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle (DW) reported on Thursday about an attack on the family of a DW journalist. One of his relatives was killed and another was seriously injured. The journalist is now working in Germany.
Meanwhile, the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is demanding an emergency plan from the United Nations Security Council to protect Afghan media workers. “Afghanistan’s media workers can only be rescued from their desperate situation with a concerted response from the governments,” said RSF on Thursday. The organization spoke of a life-threatening situation for journalists after the Taliban came to power in Kabul.
Protests on the national holiday
In Afghanistan, protests flared up in several parts of the country for the first time after the Taliban took power. On the national holiday, there were crowds of people in Kabul and in several cities in the east of the country, where Afghan flags were waved, it said. According to an eyewitness, several people were killed in protests in Asadabad. It is unclear whether they died from Taliban shots or from mass panic.
Since the Taliban came to power, the red-black-green national flag has increasingly developed into a symbol of protest against the Islamists, who have their own flag – white, with the Islamic creed. Afghanistan celebrates its independence from Great Britain on August 19th.
Protests against the Taliban broke out in Jalalabad on Wednesday. At least three people were killed and more than a dozen injured there. The rebels, who had promised not to use force, initially did not comment on the incidents.
Confusing location at the airport
The situation around the airport in the capital Kabul remained confusing on Thursday. Many Afghans tried desperately to reach it in order to flee the country after the rebels took the city. “The situation is tense,” said the German Bundeswehr Brigadier General Jens Arlt. People would have to overcome Taliban control rings to get to the airport. A Taliban representative called on people without an exit permit to leave the airport. According to the Taliban and NATO, twelve people have died there since Sunday.
50 Austrians still in Kabul
The Vienna Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also trying to flow out Austrian citizens and Afghans with a residence permit in Austria. A ministry spokeswoman for the APA said on Thursday that two people have already been brought out of the country. 50 more Austrians with Afghan roots are currently still in and around Kabul. In addition, they want to bring 35 Afghan citizens with valid residence permits in Austria out of the country, said the spokeswoman for the Ö1 “Abendjournal”. The question, however, is “whether you will get access to the airport as Afghan citizens”.
“Fight back like hell hardly allows”
US President Joe Biden did not rule out that the US armed forces would remain in the country beyond the aforementioned withdrawal date of August 31. A precondition for the withdrawal is a previous evacuation of all Americans. Regarding possible attacks by the Taliban, he said in an interview with television broadcaster ABC: “The Taliban know that if they attack American citizens or the American military, we will fight back like hell hardly allows.”
