Latest from Afghanistan: All gates at Kabul airport closed as thousands left desperate to evacuate – USA TODAY

All gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport were closed Saturday because of a backup at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, according to a Defense department official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Most U.S. military evacuation planes fly from Kabul to Qatar and the inability to handle more evacuees there is causing a ripple effect.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned Americans on Saturday not to travel to the airport without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative” because of potential security threats outside the gates.

FOR YOU: How to help Afghan civilians at risk of Taliban violence

The warning about the chaotic conditions at the airport, where thousands of people are waiting to leave, came a day after President Joe Biden said he wasn’t aware of any problems getting from downtown Kabul to the airport.

“We have no indication that they haven’t been able to get – in Kabul – through the airport,” Biden said Friday.

President Joe Biden said Friday the administration still hopes to complete the military withdrawal by the deadline, but would continue until all Americans are out. He also committed to evacuating Afghans who helped U.S. forces.

“This is one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history,” Biden said. “We’re going to do everything that we can to provide safe evacuation for our Afghan allies, partners, and Afghans who might be targeted because of their association with the United States.”

GRAPHIC WARNING:Video from Kabul shows gunfire, children as Afghans try to get into airport

The U.S. military has about 6,000 troops on the ground, with the 82nd Airborne providing runway security at the Kabul airport, the Army 10th Mountain Division standing guard at the airport and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit assisting the civilian departure.

Biden said 169 Americans got over the airport wall Thursday with military help, despite chaos at the airport. Flights paused for “a few hours” Friday to ensure officials could process evacuees, Biden said.

The U.S. has evacuated 13,000 since the airlift began Aug. 14, including 5,700 on Thursday, Biden said.

‘Wholly inadequate’: Democratic committee chair wants to investigate evacuation plans

The Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has joined calls to investigate what went wrong in the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“The plan to evacuate civilians was wholly inadequate,” Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a statement Friday night. “In the coming months, we need to examine why it has happened this way and make sure it never happens again.”

Smith also said the intelligence relied on to guide the evacuation must be scrutinized to determine “whether it provided any clarity regarding how swiftly the Taliban would move in and what our response should have looked like.”

Biden has said the intelligence community expected the Taliban to take over the country but vastly underestimated how quickly the Afghan government and security forces would give up.

“The consensus was that it was highly unlikely that in 11 days they’d collapse and fall, and the leader of Afghanistan would flee the country,” Biden said Friday. “I made the decision. The buck stops with me. I took the consensus opinion.”

BLAME GAME:How did Afghanistan end this way? The finger pointing begins

The Senate Intelligence Committee is working with Democrats and Republicans on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees to coordinate a series of planned investigative hearings into actions taken by the White House, Pentagon, State Department and intelligence agencies.

But Smith, as Biden has done, emphasized that the immediate focus should be on safely evacuating Americans and allies from Afghanistan as quickly as possible.

–Maureen Groppe

Biden on the line with other countries

As analysts say the events in Afghanistan may hurt Biden’s relationship with foreign allies, the president spoke Friday with leaders of Qatar and Italy to thank them for helping evacuate U.S citizens from Afghanistan, along with vulnerable Afghan refugees.

‘WHIPLASH’: Biden told the world ‘America’s back’ but to many, this doesn’t feel like it

Biden thanked Amir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar for facilitating talks among Afghans, according to a White House summary. The leaders underscored the importance of close coordination in Afghanistan and the Middle East, as a regional summit in Baghdad approaches at the end of the month.

The leaders of seven countries with the largest economies are expected to discuss a common approach to Afghanistan next week during a virtual meeting, according to a summary.

Biden spoke Thursday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel about Afghanistan and the summit.

–Bart Jansen

Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook

Dig deeper with subscriber-only journalism:

‘No possible life’ under Taliban rule: Afghan women fear murder, oppression after US withdrawal.
Is Kabul ‘Biden’s Saigon’? The haunting images of a chaotic exit out of Afghanistan are evoking images of the retreat from Vietnam.
Exclusive analysis from USA TODAY’s Susan Page: This is President Biden’s biggest defeat, fair or not.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/08/21/latest-afghanistan-news-kabul-airport-evacuations-stuck-taliban-leader/8227068002/

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Latest from Afghanistan: All gates at Kabul airport closed as thousands left desperate to evacuate – USA TODAY

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