The latest: In some good news for those Americans detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Washington is working to free several Americans detained in Afghanistan and to assist 44 others trying to leave the nation.
Go deeper:
- Blinken admitted before the US Congress that Taliban authorities had detained “several Americans” and that they “are working to secure their freedom”.
- Blinken stressed that they cannot reveal their identifies as their families had asked the US government that they protect them and don’t speak publicly about their cases.
- In another revealing information, Blinken stated that there are 175 US citizens still in Afghanistan and 44 of which are ready to leave, and as per Blinken they “are working to effectuate their departure”.
- “Those who have been detained — how many other Americans are there?” asked Republican Representative Joe Wilson during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “As we speak, American citizens who identified themselves to us who are in Afghanistan — some of whom have been there since the withdrawal, some of whom went back to Afghanistan — there are about, that we’re in contact with, about 175. Forty-four of them are ready to leave, and we are working to effectuate their departure,” Blinken responded.
- The top American diplomat further said that the US State Department has already assisted 975 US citizens to leave Afghanistan. Apart from them, other US citizens and permanent residents have left the country independently, added the spokesperson.
Zoom out: Republican lawmakers have been accusing President Joe Biden of the “failed” withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and the chaos at Kabul airport in August 2021.
- Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee requested documents related to the controversial withdrawal from Afghanistan from the State Department as part of an investigation.
- During the hearing Thursday at the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Republican chairman Michael McCaul gave Blinken until the end of Monday to release an internal dissent cable written by at least 23 diplomats serving at the US Embassy in Kabul in July 2021.
