SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Most US troops to arrive in Kabul by end of weekend: Pentagon
Washington, Aug 13 (AFP) Aug 13, 2021
Most US troops on a mission to evacuate the Kabul embassy will arrive by Sunday and will be prepared to airlift thousands of people per day, the Pentagon said.

The first Marines have arrived at Kabul's international airport as part of a mission ordered a day earlier by President Joe Biden as the Taliban makes sweeping gains following his withdrawal of US troops.

"I expect that by the end of the weekend the bulk of the 3,000 (troops) will be in place," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday.

Some 4,200 people were working as of this week at the sprawling embassy in the Afghan capital and thousands more Afghans who served as interpreters or in other support roles in the 20-year US mission are eager to escape for fear of Taliban retaliation.

"Capacity is not going to be a problem," Kirby said of the airlifts.

"We will be able to move thousands per day."


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Detection of ancient water ice suggests interstellar origins predating the Sun
Missing Matter in Universe Found
What if the Big Bang wasn't the beginning? Our research suggests it may have taken place inside a black hole

24/7 Energy News Coverage
World Bank lifts ban on nuclear energy financing
Waymo leads autonomous taxi race in the US
MXene infused printed nanogenerator advances ecofriendly wearable energy systems

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Israel, Iran exchange more deadly airstrikes on fifth day of conflict
Amid Israel-Iran war, Nimitz aircraft carrier to join Vinson in Middle East
B61-13 gravity bomb reaches first production milestone ahead of projected timeline

24/7 News Coverage
China expands disaster monitoring with launch of Zhangheng 1B satellite
Heat tolerant crops achievable but require long timelines and major investment
S.African president blames climate change for 'catastrophic' floods



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.