Marine Corps via AP)The US has the capacity to evacuate approximately 300 US citizens remaining in Afghanistan who want to leave before Joe Biden’s Tuesday deadline, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. Mr Biden has pledged to keep up air strikes against the Islamic extremist group whose airport attack killed scores of Afghans and 13 American service members. Mr Sullivan said that for those US citizens seeking to leave Afghanistan by Mr Biden’s deadline, “we have the capacity to have 300 Americans, which is roughly the number we think are remaining, come to the airport and get on planes in the time that is remaining”. Mr Sullivan said the US would continue strikes against IS and consider “other operations to go after these guys, to get them and to take them off the battlefield”. He added: “We will continue to bring the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan to make sure they do not represent a threat to the United States.”The administration’s plan “is not to have an ongoing embassy presence in Afghanistan”, Mr Sullivan said.

Source: Irish Independent August 29, 2021 12:56 UTC