Evacuation flights from Kabul airport resumed after hours-long delay

According to Al-Jazeera, the United States (US) President Joe Biden has said that he could not guarantee the outcome of the emergency evacuation from Kabul’s airport, calling it one of the most “difficult” airlift operations ever.

“This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” Biden said in a televised address from the White House on Friday. “I cannot promise what the final outcome will be.”

Biden further stated that the US forces have evacuated 13,000 people out of Afghanistan since August 14, and 18,000 since July.

Shabia Mantoo, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has welcomed the evacuation of Afghan nationals through such separate bilateral programmes, but stressed that they should not substitute for an “urgent and wider international humanitarian response”.

“The vast majority of Afghans are not able to leave the country through regular channels,” she told a Geneva news briefing. “As of today, those who may be in danger have no clear way out.”

A UN threat assessment report says Taliban fighters are conducting “targeted door-to-door visits” of people who worked with the US and NATO forces, increasing the fear of revenge.