According To Anthony Blinken, Are Not Blocking Americans From Leaving The Country.
Key Sentence:
- Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday denied reports that the Taliban had blocked Americans from trying to take off from the northern Afghan city.
- But said the group did not allow charter flights because some people did not have valid travel documents.
In recent days, there have been reports that 1,000 people, including Americans, have been stranded at Mazar-i-Sharif airport for days waiting to be allowed to disembark from their charter flights. One organizer blamed the Foreign Ministry for the delay.
Blinken speaks at a news conference in Qatar. The US ally has been a key interlocutor for the Taliba. Blinken said Washington had identified a "small number" of Americans planning to leave Mazar-e-Sharif. However, one of the biggest challenges in trying to depart on a charter flight is that some people don't have valid travel documents, effectively blocking the departure of the entire group, he said.
"As far as I understand, the Taliban are not refusing to release someone who has valid documents, but they are saying that those without valid documents cannot leave the country at this time," Blinken said.
"Because all these people are grouped together, it means flights are banned," he said.
The latest outbreak is confusion following the chaotic US military retreat that ended after the Taliban insurgents were captured. Blinken added that the Taliban kept their promise to allow Americans with valid travel documents to leave the country.
"We didn't know that someone was being held on an airplane or held hostage in Mazar-e-Sharif. So we had to address different requirements and that's what we did," he said.
Speaking to Blinken, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said his country hopes Kabul Airport will be opened to passengers in the next few days. However, there is no agreement on the form of government.
Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are in Qatar to work on the evacuation of at-risk Americans and Afghans after the Taliban came to power and to reach consensus among allies on the Islamist movement's reaction.