US deploys extra troops in Kabul to evacuate civilian personnel as Taliban closes in

The Biden administration is deploying a number of hundreds of its troops to the Kabul airport to assist the orderly and secure discount of civilian personnel primarily from its embassy, officers on the Pentagon and the State Department stated Thursday.

“We are further reducing our civilian footprint in Kabul in light of the evolving security situation. We expect to draw down to a core diplomatic presence in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. In order to facilitate this reduction, the Department of Defence will temporarily deploy additional personnel to Hamid Karzai International Airport,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price instructed reporters at his every day information convention. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday spoke over telephone with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to coordinate the planning, he stated.ALSO READ | Taliban seize Afghanistan’s greatest cities Kandahar, Herat, US begins evacuating embassies“The embassy remains open and we plan to continue our diplomatic work in Afghanistan. The United States will continue to support consular services, and that includes the processing and operations of the Special Immigrant Visa Program, and we’ll continue to engage in diplomacy with the Afghan government and the Afghan people. Additionally, we will continue our focus on counterterrorism,” he stated.Giving particulars of the deployment of US troops to Afghanistan, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated that the primary motion will encompass three infantry battalions which might be presently within the Central Command space of duty.They will transfer to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul throughout the subsequent 24 to 48 hours. Two of these battalions are United States Marines and one is a US Army battalion, he stated.ALSO READ | Taliban achieve management of Mi-24 assault helicopter India had gifted Afghan forcesThe subsequent motion will encompass a joint US Army-Air Force assist factor of round 1,000 personnel to facilitate the processing of SIV candidates. Initial parts of this motion, of this factor, will arrive in Qatar within the coming days, he added.“The third movement is to alert and to deploy one Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Bragg to Kuwait, where they will be postured and prepared, if needed, to provide additional security at the airport. We anticipate those forces will reach Kuwait sometime within the next week,” Kirby stated.The US embassy in Kabul has been on ordered departure since April 27, Price stated. “We have been evaluating the security situation every day to determine how best to keep those serving at our embassy safe. This is what we do for every diplomatic post in a challenging security environment,” he stated.WATCH | Taliban continues to realize floor in Afghanistan