Pakistan ready to provide ‘every support’ to evacuate US citizens – envoy

Belgian military personnel board a Defense aircraft for Islamabad, Pakistan, at the military airport in Melsbroek, near Brussels, on August 18, 2021. (AFP)

• Ambassador Khan says Islamabad to continue evacuation efforts after reports of four Americans leaving Afghanistan through a land route
• Washington mobilized ‘unprecedented, global effort’ to evacuate over 120,000 from Kabul, US state department says

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed Khan has said that Islamabad is willing to facilitate the evacuation of US citizens from Afghanistan through land routes, following media reports that four Americans had left the country overland.
Since the Taliban’s stunning takeover of Kabul last month, the US and its allies had been racing against time to meet an August 31 evacuation deadline set by US President Joe Biden and reinforced by the Taliban.
Over 120,000 were flown out of Kabul airport in the past few weeks before Biden ended the chaotic evacuation process and America’s longest war in Afghanistan on August 30.
Pakistan and other countries facilitated the evacuation process. However, other Americans who wanted to flee Afghanistan were left behind, with Biden saying his administration was now focused on a “diplomatic mission” to help them leave.
“Pakistan has been providing every support that it could to facilitate the evacuation of all those wanting to leave Afghanistan,” Ambassador Khan told English daily Dawn.
He added that Islamabad had “transited over 9,000 foreign nationals through the country, and assistance in evacuation (efforts) will continue.”
On Monday, ABC News reported that the State Department had facilitated the evacuation of four US citizens across one of Afghanistan’s land borders, the first to leave Afghanistan with Washington’s help.
Ambassador Khan told Dawn that while Pakistan was unaware of “what route they used, we have no problem facilitating the evacuation of US citizens from Afghanistan.”
In a statement on Monday, the State Department said that Washington had mobilized an “unprecedented, global effort through diplomatic channels to evacuate its citizens and personnel from partner nations and at-risk Afghans from Kabul.”
“In total, the United States and our partners relocated more than 124,000 people to safety, including 6,000 US citizens,” it said, adding that partners and allies, including Pakistan, had helped transit Americans and others to safety.
Tens of thousands, looking to escape Afghanistan’s new rulers, had thronged the Kabul airport since the Taliban’s blitzkrieg on August 15, amid fears the group would reinstate their harsh style of governance similar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
However, since returning to power, the Taliban have vowed to install a more moderate and all-inclusive government with talks underway to set up the new regime soon.