US evacuates local staff of Afghan embassy

The United States has evacuated all the local Afghan staffers at the United States Embassy in Afghanistan along with their families, said media reports.

According to an internal report of ABC News, about 2,800 Afghans have been successfully evacuated as of Saturday night at 8.30 pm ET on Saturday.

The Hill reported that an internal State Department Cable sent out last week reportedly said local Afghanistan embassy staffers were ‘deeply disheartened’ by the US evacuation operations.

The cable relayed reports of staffers being harassed, being spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints.

“Our local staff and their families have suffered hardship, pain and loss because of their dedication to working with us to build a better future for all Afghans. We have a special commitment to them because of that,” a State Department spokesperson had said.

The United States and its partner countries in a joint statement on Sunday reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring the safe travel of their citizens and at-risk Afghans outside Afghanistan.

Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 114,400 people.

Since the end of July, the US has relocated approximately 120,000 people.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Friday had said that the US will be engaging with the Taliban to ensure the safe evacuation of people from Afghanistan following the August 31 deadline for withdrawal, “The President directed the Secretary of State to continue diplomatic efforts with international partners to secure means for third-country nationals and Afghans with visas to leave the country even after the US military presence ends.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)