In a chaotic US and NATO pullout that effectively ended a nearly 20-year military intervention on August 31, thousands of Afghans tried to flee the country, including collaborators with foreign troops, flocking to the runway at Kabul airport, the only way out. There are several hundred Americans still left in the country.
At least four planes chartered to evacuate hundreds of people fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban* takeover have been unable to leave the country for days, with conflicting accounts emerging about why the flights were unable to take off, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.
However, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, claimed on “Fox News Sunday” that the group included Americans who were seated on the planes, and the Taliban were preventing them from departure, effectively “holding them hostage.” The representative did not reveal the sources where he obtained that information, though.
McCaul told the show’s host Chris Wallace that a total of six planes were being held at the airport with American citizens and Afghan interpreters on board when asked about how many US citizens and evacuees have left Afghanistan after the withdrawal completion.
The congressman asserted that the Taliban was creating the situation in order to “demand more and more, whether it be cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistan.”
“They’ve sat at the airport for the last couple of days, these planes, and they’re…
