State Department claims no other country has more capability in Afghanistan than the US (but can't explain why British soldiers are leaving Kabul airport to rescue their citizens while American troops are not)
State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. was aware of 'congestion' at the airport in Kabul amid the push to evacuate Americans and allied Afghans, as resisted pressure to account for the precise number of evacuees.
'We are aware of congestion around the airport,' Price said at the top of his briefing on the Afghanistan crisis on Thursday, a day after media reports of Taliban guarding military checkpoints using whips and firing in the air to maintain order.
Price also provided new data on the number of people State says are ready for evacuation – but would not provide a breakdown on how many of them are Americans.
State Department spokesman Ned Price referenced 'congestion' at the airport in Kabul during his press briefing Thursday
He said 6,000 people were at the airport and ready to board up to 20 flight heading out of Kabul per day.
'Since Aug. 14 we’ve airlifted 7,000 total evacuees. I can also confirm there are 6,000 people at the airport who have been fully processed by our consular team and will soon board planes,' he said.
The Pentagon has cited a capability of moving 5,000-9,000 people out per day, but indicated it will time to ramp up operations.
Afghan people queue up to board a U S military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021 after Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan
Price said there were about 6,000 people awaiting flights at the airport
A Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas military cargo aircraft, carrying evacuees from Afghanistan, departs from Al-Maktoum International Airport in the United Arab Emirates on August 19, 2021. Britain's operation to evacuate its nationals and protected individuals stepped up on August 19, with planes landing in Dubai before passengers travel on to the UK
'At this point, I'm not in a position to break that down much further,' Price said when asked how many of the 7,000 were Afghans with special immigrant visas or other documents.
Price said the group consists of American citizens, local Afghan staff, and third-country nationals, as well as 'vulnerable Afghans.'
'So right now, I'm not in a position to break that down further,' he added.
Price said didn't have 'access' on the real-time data on the 6,000 people at the airport.
He said the government had seen reports of people having difficulty reaching the airport, and said it was something 'we take very seriously.'
'No country has more capability inside Afghanistan than the United States,' said Price, although British and other special forces have been evacuating some of their citizens who were unable to reach the airport
'At this time, our main mission continues to be to secure HKIA, to allow those American citizens and other SIVs to come in and be processed at the airfield,' said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor,
Price also fended off a question why the military couldn't move operations outside the airport to extract people who needed to leave the country.
'No country has more capability inside Afghanistan than the United States,' said Price.
The Pentagon was pressed Thursday on the same topic.
"General Taylor, British paratroopers are leaving the airport, going into Kabul to rescue and evacuate some of their citizens who are trapped can't get to the airport because of the Taliban. Why isn't the U.S. doing that?' asked Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin at a Pentagon briefing.
'At this time, our main mission continues to be to secure HKIA, to allow those American citizens and other SIVs to come in and be processed at the airfield,' responded Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor,
He said the U.S. 'focus was on securing Hamid Karzai International Airport .'