What planet are they on? White House officials claims Afghan allies are being let into Kabul airport - but reporter on the ground says NONE have been allowed through its gates for two days and Taliban are brutalizing them
Kabul airport has closed its gates to Afghans for the past two days, it has been claimed, despite the White House claiming at-risk locals were still free to leave.
CNN reporter Sam Kiley - who is based in the Afghan capital - reported that the airport's gates have been shuttered for the last 48 hours.
Reporting from the evacuation zone Monday night, Kiley said: 'All of the gates are officially closed to Afghans, even those carrying Special Immigrant Visas.
'That's been the case now for about 48 hours.
Addressing claims from the White House that the evacuation is ongoing, he added: 'Lot of political spin involved there. What there is is an estimate of some thousands of Americans who -- some of whom -- or many of whom want to get back to the United States or get out of Kabul.
'The authorities here, at the moment, are struggling to get them safely into this location. All of the Gates are officially closed to Afghans.
'Even those carrying the special immigrant Visas in order to try to facilitate this. They are prioritizing here the bringing in of people with permanent residence in the United States or United States passports
'But to do so, they have had to use what they call alternative routes which are essentially special forces operations try and go grab them and find safe routes for them in through Taliban lines and into the headquarters here.'
CNN reporter, pictured right with Anderson Cooper, center, and Clarissa Ward, left, said the gates to Kabul airport's evacuation center have been closed for 48 hours
Referring to sporadic gunfire heard in the vicinity, Kiley added: 'The more it grows, Anderson, the harder it's going to be to get them in.'
One Afghan man who said he had the proper travel documents and had been summoned to the airport to board an evacuation flight, told The New York Times he gave up because he had four children under the age of six, and could not risk them getting lost or trampled in the heaving crowd outside the gates.
'There is no way for families with kids,' said the man.
Those claims were in stark contrast to comments made by the White House on Monday insisted that evacuations from Kabul, which fell to the Taliban on August 15, were running smoothly.
U.S. government officials said on Monday that 47,000 Americans have been evacuated so far, including 10,900 on Monday.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, on Monday angrily rejected the idea that Americans were 'stranded' in the country, and the State Department denied the accounts of Afghans' being turned away.
In a statement responding to questions from The New York Times, the department said: 'Our overriding priority remains to put as many people as possible on departing planes as quickly as possible.'
General view of the crowds of people near the airport in Kabul on Monday. As many as 20,000 are waiting at the airport and 33 C-17 jets are on the way which could carry almost all of them but US officials are said to have changed the policy to only allow through US citizens
General view of the crowds of people near the airport in Kabul on Monday. An unnamed official cited by CNN on Monday said the troops on the ground were going to start only allowing US citizens or citizens of NATO countries through airport gates
John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, has been among the administration officials insisting that Afghans are being allowed to pass through Kabul airport. Yet reporters on the ground say that the gates have been closed for 48 hours
Large crowds are seen outside Kabul airport in aerial scenes captured on Monday
Crowds of people are seen waiting on the tarmac in Kabul on Monday, with a US Air Force plane nearby
'I couldn't bring them with me because of the crush. We tried for almost a week but couldn't reach the gate.'
Jake Sullivan, the National Security Adviser, claimed the Biden administration 'shaved months' off the slow visa process for Afghans who helped US troops and blamed the Trump administration for not filing a 'single application' from March 2020 during his press briefing.
There are still around 20,000 Afghans waiting for their SIVs to be processed so they can escape the Taliban in Kabul after fighting alongside American forces.
They are now facing death threats from the Taliban and are struggling to get through checkpoints on the way to Kabul airport.
Sullivan and the administration are being accused of potentially stranding a substantial cohort of those allies – even as Biden and the White House vow that every American who wants to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so.
'When we took office in January, the Trump Administration had not processed a single Special Immigrant Visa since March of 2020,' said White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday
Sullivan, who spoke to reporters at the White House on a day Biden didn't take questions on Afghanistan, said those visas were ' never designed for mass evacuation circumstances.'
He said they typically took 18-24 months per person to get through vetting requirements.
'When we took office in January, the Trump administration had not processed a single Special Immigrant Visa since March of 2020 – in nearly a year,' he said.
It was under Donald Trump that the original May 1 withdrawal date was negotiated with the Taliban.
Sullivan's swipe came after Biden himself last week pointed out that Trump had negotiated the withdrawal that he decided to maintain after he took office.
Sullivan said the administration moved 'as rapidly as possible to process as many applications as possible as fast as possible, trimming months and months and months off that process' and working with Congress to change the law.
US officials claim they will be able to get every remaining American out of Afghanistan by August 31, even though they have no idea how many remain in the country.
Afghans walk along fences as they arrive in Pakistan through the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing point in Chaman on Monday
There has been less certainty about the commitment to the Afghans.
A senior State Department official said at a briefing on Monday: 'Our commitment to at-risk Afghans doesn't end on August 31,' suggesting the possibility that the U.S. would continue efforts after the military departs.
'We've heard from the Taliban ... that they want a functioning airport well after the U.S. military has left,' the official continued.
'The Taliban has also agreed to permit safe passage to the airport and this commitment doesn't have an expiration date on it.'
Sullivan's swipe at Trump came as the White House repeatedly refused to address the Taliban's August 31 deadline to get US troops out of Afghanistan.
Biden has reportedly been told by his top military commanders that he must make a decision on Tuesday, to give them time to prepare the 5,800 troops either to depart or to extend their stay.
The Taliban's spokesman issued the sternest threat yet to Biden on Monday morning, saying there will be 'consequences' if US troops - who are holed up at the airport in Kabul evacuating tens of thousands of people and fending off an increasingly desperate crowd - don't leave in the next eight days.
With no numbers on how many Americans remain in the country, much less where those Americans are, the government is under intense pressure to explain how it will meet the deadline.
Even removing the estimated 5,800 troops providing security would take precious time off the clock.
Following Sullivan's comments, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki snapped at Fox News reporter Peter Doocy for referring to Americans still in Kabul as 'stranded'.
'I think it's irresponsible to say that Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home,' Psaki said.
In another sign of the challenges on the ground, a veterans' group is using an online network of allies to help guide Afghan interpreters to safety.
The 'Digital Dunkirk' campaign is comprised of a network of 'hundreds of thousands of people' and utilizes satellite imagery and other intel to locate Taliban checkpoints.
Matt Zeller, an Afghanistan war veteran and former CIA analyst, told Fox News the interpreters were essential allies to U.S. troops, serving as America's 'eyes and ears on the battlefield'.
Officials have ordered troops to only allow American citizens, Green Card holders and other foreign nationals through the gates of Kabul airport to board evacuation flights, leaving tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees stranded outside while the Taliban tightens its grip, CNN has reported.
Troops have been processing both Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans for translators or others who helped in the war.
'We've been able to evacuate several thousand Americans,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday morning, without giving a number for how many remain stuck.
'We've been able to evacuate several thousand Americans,' Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Monday morning without giving a number for how many remain stuck. No one from the Pentagon, White House or State Department can say how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, but they insist they'll get them all out by August 31
He added that Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans would still be processed to put vulnerable Afghans on flights.
'Afghans in need are still being processed and facilitated. The goal is to get as many people out as fast as possible. The focus is on doing this as best we can by the end of the month,' he said.
Biden had said he was confidant he would be able to rescue all remaining US citizens by August 31 and that he would do his best to get as many vulnerable Afghans out as possible, but there has been no promise the US will stay past the deadline to save Afghan refugees once all Americans are out.
Despite the huge numbers of people leaving every day, the crowd size at the airport in Kabul is unrelenting and becoming more aggressive.
This letter is a Taliban death warrant for the brother of an Afghan translator who helped the US in the war
The hold-up is largely down to paperwork backlogs on the ground, with some people unable to board flights unless they are given visas.
An unnamed source cited by CNN on Monday said it would take four days to make a dent in the numbers outside the airport walls.
The chaos worsened over the weekend when the State Department started administering nameless, digital SIV visas to Afghan refugees on smartphones and computers.
The refugees screenshotted the documents and shared them with friends and family, which resulted in thousands turning up with approval to board flights.
'I don't think consular, or the administration frankly, realizes how badly they f*****d up by sending that stupid visa and letting everyone in for 24 hours straight,' said the source.
'Some people are saying there's no way they'll get even those currently on airport out of here in four days.'
In the city, the Taliban - which had promised to be more moderate and modern - is already resorting to medieval violence.
Leaders have issued a death sentence for the brother of one Afghan translator who was able to get out.
It reads: 'You have been accused of helping the Americans. You are also accused of providing security to your brother, who has been an interpreter.'
US and German forces joined in a gun battle this morning at Kabul airport after Afghan guards and unknown assailants exchanged fire, with one guard killed, the German army said. Pictured: British and Canadian soldiers help an Afghan climb up on the wall of a canal at Kabul Airport this morning
Kabul airport has seen chaotic scenes as tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans seek to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban swept back to power more than a week ago. Pictured: British and Canadian soldiers stand guard near a canal at Kabul airport as a crowd of Afghans wait nearby
The shooting near the military side of the airport came as the Taliban sent fighters to the north of the capital to eliminate pockets of armed resistance to their lightning takeover earlier this month
Afghanistan's security forces collapsed in the face of the Taliban advance, despite 20 years of Western aid, training and assistance.
But some armed Afghans remain at Kabul airport assisting Western evacuation efforts.
Sullivan, who raised the prospect of sending US troops back into Kabul, said: 'I know that the scenes around the airport are heartbreaking, large crowds of people wanting to leave.
'I know that there is complexity and there is turbulence on the ground and in Kabul, and it's very risky and dangerous because there's a genuine threat from ISIS. That is the reality of what we are up against, and I'm not going to sugarcoat that reality.'
The tragic scenes around the airport have transfixed the world, as Afghans poured onto the tarmac last week and some clung to a U.S. military transport plane as it took off, later plunging to their deaths.
At least seven people died that day, in addition to the seven killed on Sunday.
The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the U.S. military, saying there's no need for Afghans to fear them, even though their fighters shoot into the air and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter. Pictured: Afghans wait outside the military-controlled area of the airport in Kabul as they attempt to flee the Taliban
Pictured: Members of the British and US armed forces pose together for a photo while working together at Kabul Airport yesterday
The Taliban blame the chaotic evacuation on the U.S. military, saying there's no need for Afghans to fear them, even though their fighters shoot into the air and beat people with batons as they try to control the crowds outside the airport perimeter.
The Taliban have pledged amnesty to those who worked with the U.S., NATO and the toppled Afghan government, but many Afghans still fear revenge attacks.
There have been reports in recent days of the Taliban hunting down their former enemies.
It's unclear if Taliban leaders are saying one thing and doing another, or if fighters are taking matters into their own hands.
The Taliban said they retook three districts that fell the day before and had surrounded Panjshir, the last province that remains out of their control. Pictured: Taliban fighters are seen sitting on top of storage containers at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, with a line of British soldiers beneath them
Biden said on Sunday evening that U.S. forces may stay beyond his deadline of August 31
In a shining moment, a US Marine is seen on video handing out water to children
Smiles are the rarest site in and around the Kabul airport over the last two weeks, but it was all over this viral video of a Marine helping children
A child drinks water in Kabul, which has been between 85 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit nearly everyday for the last two weeks, as dehydration and heat exhaustion set in
Pictures like this of a US Marine comforting an infant while they wait for the mother during the evacuation is the seldom scenes glimpses of humanity during dangerous times
A child and a US Marine pour water on each other to protect against dehydration and heat exhuastion as temperatures in Kabul climb over 90 degrees Fahrenheit
A woman and children wait for transportation to the terminal at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Missing child posters like this one are on the fences of Kabul airport today
Taliban fighters stand guard as Afghans gather outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport to flee the country, in Kabul on on August 21
Dusty, rubbish strewn street filled with thousands of people desperate to take the steps needed to get into Kabul airport and out of the Taliban-run country
Taliban fighters on containers overlook the streets outside of Kabul airport
And now terrorist threats - particularly from the local affiliate of ISIS, which are enemies of both the U.S. and the Taliban - are making the evacuation more complicated, the scene tenser and ramping up the urgency to get people out of the country.
There's concern that ISIS leaders see this as an opportunity to kill Americans while challenging Taliban for control of Afghanistan.
That threat prompted the US Embassy to issue a warning Saturday telling Americans not to brave the chaos around the airport unless they have been told to report.
In the ensuing hours, details emerged that evacuation flights were dropping flares and making steep combat landings after warnings that terrorists of the Islamic State might try to shoot down a plane.
To hasten the evacuation pace, six commercial airlines have agreed to help the US government transport people out of Kabul.
On Sunday, the US called up 18 civilian aircraft from United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air and others to carry people from temporary locations after they landed on flights from Afghanistan, leaning on the industry it last called on during the Iraq War in 2003.
The move highlights the difficulty Washington is having carrying out the evacuations following the Taliban's swift takeover.
American and Delta said they would start relief flights on Monday.
A U.S. Marine carries a girl to the gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport, August 20
The Marines and military forces are seen in pictures like this doing what they can to help the situation in Kabul airport, which has spiraled out of control
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