{"id":55099,"date":"2021-08-25T18:02:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T18:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/25\/pentagon-kabul-evacuations-will-continue-until-last-troops-are-out\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:40:56","slug":"pentagon-kabul-evacuations-will-continue-until-last-troops-are-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/08\/25\/pentagon-kabul-evacuations-will-continue-until-last-troops-are-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon: Kabul evacuations will continue until last troops are out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several hundred troops have left Hamid Karzai International Airport<\/a> over the past day or so, Pentagon officials confirmed Wednesday, but their departures will not hamper evacuation efforts<\/a>, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After President Joe Biden\u2019s Tuesday announcement that the U.S. would not be extending its Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline<\/a>, with full confidence that every willing American and vulnerable Afghan there would have the chance to get out, troops on the ground are preparing to begin their own drawdown while continuing to evacuate civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe commander on the ground, [Rear Adm. Peter] Vasely, in trying to manage time and space at the airport, determined that it was the prudent thing to do to let several hundred troops leave the airport,\u201d Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday. \u201cSome of these troops did come in with the troops that were added for the non-combatant evacuation. Some of them were troops that were already there, at Hamid Karzai International Airport, before any additional troops flowed in for the non-combatant evacuation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They included some maintainers, headquarters staff and other personnel whose \u201cmission was complete,\u201d Kirby added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will continue to evacuate needed populations all the way to the end if we have to, and we need to. If you\u2019re an evacuee that we can get out, we\u2019re going to get you out,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cIn those last couple of days, we will begin to prioritize military capability and military resources to move out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will mean some reduced capacity for evacuees, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, 37 C-17 Globemasters and five C-130 Hercules aircraft evacuated 11,200 people, Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, deputy director of the Joint Staff for regional operations, told reporters, while 7,100 more left on flights not operated by the U.S. military. Taylor did not elaborate on the origin of those flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brings the total evacuees to 88,000 since late July, 4,400 of those American citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday also saw a third evacuation via helicopter from Kabul to the airport, of fewer than 20 people, Kirby confirmed, though he would not say whether they were Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\t