A press conference on Wednesday said that of the 6,000 US citizens identified in Afghanistan, 4,500 and their families have been evacuated since mid-August. Anthony Blink City police.
The department chief said they know about 1,500 US citizens still in Afghanistan, but are not sure they all want to leave the Asian country. Blinken added that there are Americans who will make their decision to leave Afghanistan according to the development of the situation.
The US Secretary of State said, that US diplomats have spoken to about 500 people, and they are trying “vigorously” to reach others,” adding, “We will continue to work hard to reach them.”
We look for them several times a day, on several communication channels, by phone, email, and text message, to decide if they want to leave the country. They will get the latest information and instructions from us on how to do it
Blinken explained.
The secretary of state said the work of US officials is also hampered by the fact that not all US citizens have been registered with the Kabul embassy among those who have traveled to Afghanistan in the past two decades. In addition, he continued, there are those who have not announced their departure from the Asian country, so it is time for the State Department to determine exactly how many American citizens are currently in Afghanistan.
Blinken also spoke about the fact that since mid-August, 45 to 46 percent of the 82,300 evacuees by the United States are women and children.
Regarding the August 31 (Tuesday) deadline for the final withdrawal, the head of state stated that, except for Tuesday, “there is no deadline for action to help the American citizens who are still there who choose to leave and the Afghans who have stood by them. Over the years we want to leave but we haven’t been able to.” This effort will continue every day, even after August 31, the foreign minister said.
The head of US diplomacy noted that the Taliban “has made a commitment, publicly and privately,” to allow Americans, other foreigners and Afghans who felt at risk to leave Afghanistan after August 31.
However, Blinken did not say whether the United States would maintain a diplomatic representation in Kabul after August 31.
