Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby and Army Maj. Gen. William D. “Hank” Taylor, deputy director for regional operations, led the press conference.
Taylor announced that contradictory to yesterday’s reports, the Pentagon now believes that there was only one explosion during the attack at Abbey gate. Previous reports said that an explosion also occurred near the Baron Hotel.
About 12,500 people were evacuated from Afghanistan in the last 24-hour period, Taylor said, bringing the total evacuated since the effort began up to around 111,000. More than 300 American citizens were among the evacuated, bringing that total up to 5,1000.
Taylor also estimated that 5,400 people were still awaiting evacuation near the Kabul airport.
Kirby affirmed that despite the attack, the U.S. is still planning on ending the Afghanistan mission at the end of August. Because “lives are going to be the priority” in the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, some U.S. equipment and materials may be left in the country, Kirby said.
However, those materials will be “disposed of” in a responsible way.
The live updates for this event have ended.
“It’s really more an issue for Customs and Border Patrol and the process, so I don’t want to speak to them or their process,” Kirby said.
He said that to his understanding, they “have worked through the difficulties” and wait times upon arrival are “going to get much, much shorter.”
The three bases are the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Fort Pickett, Virginia, and Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico.
These bases will “provide additional support to the US mission to evacuate Afghans, special immigrant visa applicants, their families and other at risk individuals,” Kirby said.
“And that number will change every day, obviously, as it should,” Kirby said.
He said that the U.S. continues to believe a suicide bomber carried out the attack, and there were also shooters adding gunfire to the attack.
“We’re going to need it to continue to function right up until the very end,” he said.
Kirby added that Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned the other day that some other members of the international community want to collaborate with the Taliban to keep the airport operational after the U.S. is gone.
This is to “prioritize passenger seats” as many are still awaiting evacuations before the Aug. 31 deadline draws to a close, Kirby said. Things left behind will be “disposed of” in a responsible way.
“In fact, I’d say specific, credible threats, and we want to make sure we’re prepared for those,” Kirby said.
Kirby did not elaborate on the nature of those threats, but General Kenneth McKenzie said during a Department of Defense briefing Thursday that there is still a “real” and “imminent” threat from the group ISIS-K.
While the U.S. has warned of further attacks from ISIS-K, despite there being no official confirmation that they were the group responsible, Kirby asserted that there would be an investigation.
As they get closer to the deadline, the U.S. will “begin to make those muscle movements to pull out our troops, and some of our equipment as appropriate with any retrograde,” Kirby said.
He added that it would be a “balance” between continuing evacuations and pulling U.S. troops and equipment from the country.
More than 300 American citizens were evacuated in that period, bringing the total to about 5,100, he said. About 111,000 people total were evacuated since the effort began.
Additionally, he estimated that 5,400 people were still awaiting evacuation near the Kabul airport.
Previous reports said that explosions occurred near Abbey gate and the Baron Hotel, but the Pentagon believes there was only one explosion near Abbey gate.
“We’re not sure how that report was provided incorrect, but we do know it’s not any surprise that in the confusion of very dynamic events like this can cause information sometimes to be misreported or garbled,” Taylor said.
