US officials have announced the beginning of a ground evacuation of US citizens from Afghanistan following reports that the Taliban had not allowed planes carrying US nationals to leave Mazar-e-Sharif.
A senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN that four American nationals had crossed the border into Afghanistan by land and had been transferred to a third country.
“Our embassy welcomed the Americans to the third country after they crossed the border,” the senior State Department official said without elaborating.
He confirmed that the four Americans were the first to leave the country by land after the evacuation of US troops from Afghanistan.
It is worth mentioning that with the withdrawal of US troops, the end of evacuation flights and the refusal of commercial flights from landing and flying from Kabul airport, which has no air control, has caused thousands of Afghans to try to leave the country by land.
The media reports that more than a thousand people, including dozens of Americans, are waiting to leave Afghanistan at Mazar-e-Sharif airport but have not been allowed to leave.
Michael McCall, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also confirmed the news, saying that there were six charter flights in Mazar-e-Sharif that would not be allowed to fly.
US officials also say that because there are no US State Department staffers in Afghanistan, the State Department cannot confirm how many of them are US citizens.