Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that al Qaeda and ISIS are still present in Afghanistan but not in significant numbers to threaten the US soil.
“We know that al Qaeda and ISIS are still present in Afghanistan. The number is not exorbitantly high, but we do not have an exact figure because our intelligence gathering capacity in Afghanistan is no longer what it used to be,” he said, speaking to the reporters.
The statement comes a few minutes after the President of the United States, Joe Biden, stated that al Qaeda no longer exists in Afghanistan. “We went to Afghanistan with the aim of getting rid of Al Qaeda Afghanistan and Osama bin Laden, and we did. You have known my position for a long time. It was time to end this war,” Biden said.
Responding to a reporter who pointed out the inconsistency with Biden’s words, Kirby said “What we think is that there is not a presence significant enough to become a threat to our homeland as happened on September 11, 20. Years ago”.
About 6 thousand people evacuated in the last 24 hours
In the past 24 hours, the United States has evacuated nearly 6,000 people, Americans, and Afghans, from Kabul airport, aboard 17 aircraft, said General Hank Taylor, Deputy Director of Logistics for the United General States, quoted by CNN. The general confirmed that the flights resumed after a pause, which was used “to adjust resources and personnel in order to resolve a temporary issue of capacity in one of the transit posts.”
Taylor’s words come after long hours of flight stoppages due to the saturation of an airbase in Qatar where refugees have been brought. According to the Washington Post, the United States intends to expand the number of bases for the passage of people rescued.