News

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

The U.S. has evacuated approximately 37,000 people since the effort began on Aug. 14, Pentagon officials said Monday, while reiterating their focus remains on maintaining the airport perimeter and increasing the number of evacuees out of Kabul ahead of the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.

President Joe Biden sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House last week, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Biden has also addressed the nation several times since.

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 25, 7:18 am
US evacuates 19,000 people from Kabul in past 24 hours

The United States has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of some 82,300 people from Kabul since Aug. 14 when the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan’s capital, according to a White House official.

In a 24-hour period from Tuesday to Monday, 42 U.S. military flights carried approximately 11,200 evacuees out of Kabul. Another 7,800 people were evacuated via 48 coalition aircraft. Since the end of July, approximately 87,900 people have been relocated from Kabul via U.S. military and coalition flights, the White House official said.

Aug 25, 6:20 am
World Bank freezes aid to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan

The World Bank said it has suspended funding for projects in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s return to power, becoming the latest international organization to do so.

“We are deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan and the impact on the country’s development prospects, especially for women,” a World Bank spokesperson told ABC News in a statement Wednesday. “We have paused disbursements in our operations in Afghanistan and we are closely monitoring and assessing the situation in line with our internal policies and procedures.”

“As we do so, we will continue to consult closely with the international community and development partners,” the spokesperson added. “Together with our partners we are exploring ways we can remain engaged to preserve hard-won development gains and continue to support the people of Afghanistan.”

The World Bank, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has committed some $5.3 billion for reconstruction and development projects in Afghanistan since 2002.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund announced that its financial resources will no longer be accessible to Afghanistan due to a “a lack of clarity within the international community” over the country’s government, after the Taliban seized control of the capital.

Aug 24, 9:09 pm
2 House lawmakers take unauthorized trip to Kabul amid evacuation operation

Veterans and Reps. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., and Seth Moulton, D-Mass., traveled to Afghanistan to review the situation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul – an unauthorized trip they are now defending amid criticism that they distracted from the evacuation mission.

The Washington Post first reported on their unauthorized trip, and the anger it prompted inside the Pentagon and State Department as officials work around-the-clock to evacuate endangered Americans and Afghans.

Their trip prompted the letter to lawmakers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent Tuesday that said travel to the region would distract from the ongoing evacuations.

Official travel by members of the House must be approved by the speaker or relevant committee chairs.

In a joint statement, the two representatives said they conducted the visit in secret to gather information about operations there and not disrupt them.

They provided few details on what they learned — except to say how proud they are of the U.S. officials — military and civilian — on the ground. They added that “Washington” should be “ashamed” of the position they’ve put these public servants in.

They added that they went into the visit wanting Biden to extend his deadline, but after talking to commanders on the ground, it is impossible to get “everyone out on time,” even if Biden pushed back the full withdrawal until Sept. 11.

“Sadly and frustratingly, getting our people out depends on maintaining the current, bizarre relationship with the Taliban,” they said in the statement.

While a congressional delegation to this humanitarian crisis took up time and seats, the two lawmakers defended themselves in their statement by saying in part, “We left on a plane with empty seats, seated in crew-only seats to ensure that nobody who needed a seat would lose one because of our presence.”

Aug 24, 7:52 pm
Pelosi warns lawmakers to avoid travel to Afghanistan

In a dear colleague letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned lawmakers to avoid traveling to Afghanistan given security concerns.

“Given the urgency of this situation, the desire of some Members to travel to Afghanistan and the surrounding areas is understandable and reflective of the high priority that we place on the lives of those on the ground,” she wrote. “However, I write to reiterate that the Departments of Defense and State have requested that Members not travel to Afghanistan and the region during this time of danger.”

“Member travel to the Afghanistan and the surrounding countries would unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission of safely and expeditiously evacuating (Americans) and Afghans at risk from Afghanistan,” she continued.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Tens of thousands of Americans, Afghans and other foreigners have been evacuated from Kabul’s international airport to U.S. military installations in Qatar, a key U.S. partner in the Middle East that has received public shout-outs from President Joe Biden and his top officials.

But privately, Qatari officials are warning their American counterparts that the situation at U.S. facilities, where thousands of Afghan evacuees are being housed, is growing more dire, according to an internal State Department report obtained by ABC News.

Some Afghans and Americans who have been housed at the bases have spoken publicly about the lack of space, food and water or facilities. But the urgent warnings from Qatari officials to their American counterparts speak to how thin-stretched facilities have become — and the risks that it entails, including for human trafficking.

Asked about conditions on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the administration was “aware” of issues, but “worked quickly to improve” them.

“Certainly, we want the individuals who are being evacuated to be treated with respect. We also want them to be safe, hence the speed necessity, but we worked to improve the conditions as soon as we learned,” she said.

In meetings Monday, however, Qatar Foreign Ministry officials were still expressing concerns about “deteriorating health and security conditions” and over-crowding at Al Udeid Air Base and Camp As Sayliyah, according to the internal report.

In particular, Lolwah al Khater, a Qatari assistant foreign minister, told U.S. Ambassador John Desrocher that both bases “had hit maximum capacity to house in a safe and secure manner” and warned of “growing crises” at each.

Both Qatari bases include U.S. military installations that are hosting thousands of evacuees, although the pressure on them has decreased in recent days as more U.S. allies accept evacuation flights, especially Germany.

“The fact that we now have more than two dozen countries, across four continents, taking part in this operation has already provided relief to crowding in Doha,” a State Department spokesperson told ABC News Tuesday, adding they are “working closely to improve conditions on the ground in Qatar.”

Qatari officials were especially concerned about Al Udeid’s “ill-famed ‘Afghan hangar,'” according to the internal report, which houses some 4,500 Afghans. There are another 4,000 Afghans at Camp As Sayliyah, where the Qatari officials warned there were “increased tensions among the Afghan population,” according to the report, which provided no other details.

Khalifa Jassim al Kuwari, Qatar’s foreign aid and development chief, also “doubted that the USG (U.S. government) had sufficient personnel, food, medicine at CAS (Camp As Sayliyah) to care properly for Afghans there,” the report said he told U.S. officials.

The U.S. facility there lacks sufficient toilets and basic sanitation, the Qatari officials told their American counterparts. In fact, Qatar’s Red Crescent Society had already provided mobile shower trucks and hygiene kits in recent days to help address the desperate needs, and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for cleaning services.

A State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday that the administration was working to improve conditions, including by bringing in air-conditioning units, improving sanitation, increasing supplies, expanding housing and surging staff to more quickly process some people out of Qatar.

“Qatar has been at the forefront of our efforts as the first evacuation site. We are grateful to the Government of Qatar for their generous assistance that has allowed us to take-in over 20,000 people and sent hundreds of U.S. citizens to the United States and thousands of Afghans to the United States, Germany, and Italy for further processing,” they added in a statement.

Beyond food and water, Qatari officials expressed concern about “whether the USG could provide sufficient medicine and health care requirements for the large numbers of Afghans incoming,” the report said. Al Khater urged U.S. military officials to “muster greater health care resources … to care for the relocating Afghans,” it said.

Qatar also has safety concerns.

Al Khater told U.S. officials there was a “danger of human trafficking in such circumstances and highlighted the cases of unaccompanied minors coming from Kabul,” according to the internal report.

The U.S. government has been working to reunite some unaccompanied minors separated from their families amid evacuation efforts, a second State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Saturday, adding they had already successfully reunited “a number” of them with parents and loved ones.

State Department and Defense Department officials at the Kabul airport were “assisting” a number of unaccompanied minors “sheltering” at a “reunification center” run by Norway, according to an internal situation report from Monday that was also obtained by ABC News.

Additionally, al Khater and other Qatari officials asked the U.S. for manifests of all incoming and outgoing flights — saying they appreciated U.S. efforts, but were concerned there wasn’t a “rigorous filtering system to board those flights” in Kabul.

U.S. intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism officials are conducting screening and security vetting on all Afghans before they can enter the U.S., the first State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday. But it’s unclear what steps are being taken to assure Qatari officials.

Despite the high-level concerns, the internal State Department report noted that cooperation between the two countries on the “Afghan relocation crisis has improved markedly in recent days,” praising the “unprecedented level of senior- and working-level teamwork.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.