WASHINGTON: The Taliban have strengthened their measures of access and control around the Kabul airport, the Pentagon has said.
The Hamid Karzai International Airport is the only access point for the international community to reach out to people in Afghanistan, a land locked country.
"The Taliban have bolstered their own security at their checkpoints and have gotten involved in crowd control. Every day is a different day, and yesterday we estimated that crowds were about half the size they had been the previous days," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
"We still haven't seen them rise to the level they were in the early days of this. But yes, part of the reason is, certainly that the Taliban have strengthened their measures of access and control around the field," he said.
Responding to questions from reporters, Kirby said after August 31, it would not be the responsibility of the US to manage the Kabul airport.
He said the US embassy is currently running from the airport.
The Taliban are responsible for running an airport that's in a city that they are now the titular heads of government there, Kirby said.
There's no military assets guarding the embassy compound.
The US embassy is operating out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport and "as for the Turks, they are still on the ground at the airport assisting in this security mission that we have there", he said.
"I won't speak for their intentions one way or another going forward, but there's not going to be when the mission is over and when we are leaving the airport, the airport will not be the US' responsibility anymore. How it gets managed going forward will be something that the Taliban. Will have to manage on their own with -- and I assume with, you know, with the international community. But that won't be an American responsibility," Kirby said.
The US, he said, is in daily communication with Taliban commanders about who they want to see get in and what the credentials are, what they look like, what's valid.
"That communication happens literally every day. We have been nothing but open with the Taliban about who we expect them to let in. Again, fully recognise that not every step of this process is in our firm control and that there are going to be incidences where it doesn't work as advertised," Kirby said.
The British government is warning its citizens in Afghanistan to stay away from Kabul airport, citing the "ongoing and high threat" of a terrorist attack.
The Foreign Office says anyone in the area of the airport should "move away to a safe location and await further advice".
It is unclear how many Britons remain in Afghanistan.
UK military flights have evacuated more than 11,000 people in recent days, including several thousand British citizens and more than 7,000 Afghans.
Britain is planning to end its evacuations before US forces depart at the end of the month.
The US has so far evacuated over 82,000 people from Kabul, with about 19,000 in the last 24 hours alone, in "one of the largest" airlifts in the world history, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Starting on August 14, the day when the Taliban toppled the US-backed Afghanistan government, there were 6,000 American citizens in the war-torn country who wanted to leave.
Over the last 10 days, roughly 4,500 of these Americans have been safely evacuated along with their immediate family members, Blinken told reporters here on Wednesday.
"Since August 14th, more than 82,300 people have been safely flown out of Kabul. In the 24-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday, approximately 19,000 people were evacuated on 90 US military and coalition flights. Only the US could organise and execute a mission of this scale and this complexity," he said.
Blinken said, "This is one of the largest airlifts in history, a massive military, diplomatic, security, and humanitarian undertaking."
"Over the past 24 hours, we've been in direct contact with approximately 500 additional Americans and provided specific instructions on how to get to the airport safely," he said, adding that the US is aggressively reaching out to the remaining roughly 1,000 contacts.
Noting that the US is operating in a hostile environment in a city and country now controlled by the Taliban, with the very real possibility of an ISIS-K attack, the secretary said the US is taking every precaution, but this is very high-risk.
The US is "on track" to complete its mission by August 31 provided the Taliban continue to cooperate and there are no disruptions to this effort, Blinken said, adding that President Joe Biden has also asked for contingency plans "in case he determines that we must remain in the country past that date".
"But let me be crystal-clear about this: There is no deadline on our work to help any remaining American citizens who decide they want to leave to do so, along with the many Afghans who have stood by us over these many years and want to leave and have been unable to do so. That effort will continue every day past August 31," he asserted.
Blinken said the Taliban have made public and private commitments to provide and permit safe passage for Americans, third-country nationals and Afghans at risk going forward past August 31.
"The US, our allies and partners, and more than half of the world's countries, 114 in all, issued a statement making it clear to the Taliban that they have a responsibility to hold to that commitment and provide safe passage for anyone who wishes to leave the country, not just for the duration of our evacuation and relocation mission, but for every day thereafter," he said.
"We are developing detailed plans for how we can continue to provide consular support and facilitate departures for those who wish to leave after August 31. Our expectation, the expectation of the international community, is that people who want to leave Afghanistan after the US military departs should be able to do so. Together we will do everything we can to see that that expectation is met," Blinken said.
The US has said it is looking at a number of "options" on its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan after the August 31 withdrawal deadline.
August 31 is the cut-off date set by both the US and the Taliban for America's pullout from the war-torn country.
"With regard to our own potential presence going forward after the 31st, we're looking at a number of options," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
"I'm sure we'll have more on that in the coming days and weeks, but we're looking at a variety of options," he said, referring to America's diplomatic presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal deadline.
Over the next few days, Blinken said, the focus of the US is on getting American citizens, other Afghan partners, third-country partners -- who were working in Afghanistan with the US -- out of Afghanistan and to safety.
And for that purpose, "whether we like it or not", it's important to work with the Taliban, who are "largely in control of Afghanistan", to try to facilitate and ensure the departure of all those who want to leave, Blinken said.
"And that has actually been something that we've been focused on from the beginning of this operation, because as a practical matter it advances our interests," he added.
According to Blinken, the US has been engaged with the Taliban for some time diplomatically going back years in efforts, to try to advance a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.
"There's still talks and conversations underway even now between the Taliban and former members of the Afghan government with regard, for example, to a transfer of power and some inclusivity in a future government. I think it's in our interest where possible to support those efforts," he said.
Going forward, Blinken said, the US will judge its engagement with any Taliban-led government in Afghanistan based on one simple proposition: America's interests, "and does it help us advance them or not".
"If engagement with the government can advance the enduring interests we will have in counterterrorism, the enduring interest we'll have in trying to help the Afghan people who need humanitarian assistance, in the enduring interest we have in seeing that the rights of all Afghans, especially women and girls, are upheld, then we'll do it," he said.
But fundamentally, the nature of that engagement and the nature of any relationship depends entirely on the actions and conduct of the Taliban, Blinken asserted.
"If a future government upholds the basic rights of the Afghan people, if it makes good on its commitments to ensure that Afghanistan cannot be used as a launching pad for terrorist attacks directed against us and our allies and partners, and in the first instance, if it makes good on its commitments to allow people who want to leave Afghanistan to leave, that's a government we can work with," he said.
"If it doesn't, we will make sure that we use every appropriate tool at our disposal to isolate that government, and as I said before, Afghanistan will be a pariah," said the top American diplomat.