CNN Reporting Only 36 Hours Left to Evacuate Americans and Afghan Allies (UPDATE: Pentagon Denies)

Ken MeyerAug 26th, 2021, 7:28 am
 

Even though the Biden administration has 5 days left until August 31st, CNN is reporting that the Biden administration will conclude evacuations from the country in 36 hours.

John Berman and Brianna Keilar said Thursday on New Day that government sources have told the network that the Afghan evacuation effort will wrap up in another day and a half. The news comes just after Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that 1,500 Americans at the most are still in Afghanistan and need help escaping the country.

“Overnight, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned all Americans do not travel to the airport. And for people already gathered at certain airport Gates, the message was even more urgent, it was leave immediately,” Keilar reported. “One defense official told CNN there’s a very specific threat stream from ISIS-K about planned attacks against crowds there. And this warning specifically names three airport gates.”

CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh noted that the operational total of Americans who need to be evacuated may be closer to 150, a significant reduction from Blinken’s numbers. He also reported that gates around Kabul airport have been closed down aside from the one Afghan security forces are unofficially using to channel people through.

The remaining challenge is in evacuating the Afghan staff who worked for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, plus the remaining hordes of Afghan refugees trying to escape the Taliban. The White House claims that approximately 13,000 people were flown out of Afghanistan over the last 24 hours, which brings their total of airlifted citizen to over 100,000.

UPDATE – 9:08 a.m. ET: Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby is denying that evacuation operations will end in 36 hours.

Watch above, via CNN.

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