Taliban Reportedly Refusing to Let Planes with Americans Take Off at Northern Afghanistan Airport; McCaul: Taliban Holding Six Planes Loaded With Americans, Translators, and related stories

Taliban Reportedly Refusing to Let Planes with Americans Take Off at Northern Afghanistan Airport:

The Taliban are refusing to allow flights to leave with evacuees from the Mazar-i-Sharif Airport in northern Afghanistan, including Americans and green-card holders, according to reports and an NGO with staff waiting to fly out.

The State Department sent an email to members of Congress saying that several charter flights are cleared to fly from Mazar-i-Sharif to Doha, Qatar, “if and when the Taliban agrees to takeoff,” CBS News reported. State Department sources told CBS that American citizens and permanent residents are among those prevented from flying out.

It was not immediately clear why the Taliban are refusing to let the planes take off. An Afghan official at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport, who asked not to be identified, said many passengers were Afghans who did not have the correct travel documents needed to leave, in comments to the Associated Press.

The State Department sources told CBS that the Taliban’s refusal to allow the flights to take off did not resemble a hostage situation. However, the situation on the ground is a “bad scene,” Marina LeGree, executive director of the NGO Ascend, which teaches young women leadership skills through mountaineering, told National Review in emailed comments. —>READ MORE HERE

McCaul: Taliban holding six planes loaded with Americans, translators

The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Sunday the Taliban are preventing flights filled with American civilians and allies from leaving Afghanistan.

Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas said on “Fox News Sunday” the Taliban are not clearing the airplanes to depart despite approval from the State Department.

“In fact we have six airplanes at Mazar-i-Sharif airport, six airplanes, with American citizens on them as I speak, also with these interpreters, and the Taliban is holding them hostage for demands right now,” Mr. McCaul said.

“The Taliban wants something in exchange, this is really … turning into a hostage situation where they are not going to allow American citizens to leave until they get full recognition from the United States of America,” he said. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

‘Holding them hostage’: GOP lawmaker says Taliban are refusing to let planes with Americans depart

Top House Republican Says Taliban Holding 6 Planes With Americans, Afghans ‘Hostage’

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