U.S. Secretary Antony Blinken discusses refugee programs for Afghans that have aided the U.S. at a briefing at Washington, DC's State Department on August 2, 2021.
WASHINGTON - Wednesday's statement by Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, indicated that less than 1,000 Americans are still seeking to evacuate from Afghanistan. This calculation was described by Blinken as "difficult" and "difficult at any moment."
Blinken stated that the U.S. is currently "aggressively reaching" approximately 1,000 contacts "multiplely times per day, through multiple communication channels" in order to determine if they want to stay and give them instructions on what to do. Blinken indicated that the final number could be less.
Blinken stated that the U.S. government doesn't track Americans' movements around the globe. He said that there could be additional Americans in Afghanistan, some of whom have not yet registered with the Embassy and others who ignore evacuation notices.
"We have also discovered that many people who contact US and claim to be American citizens by filling out repatriation assistance forms and calling us, are in fact not U.S. citizens. This can be difficult to verify. The top diplomat of the country said that some Americans might choose to remain in Afghanistan.
Blinken stated that the State Department had been in direct contact in the last 24 hour with 500 Americans with instructions on how to travel safely to the airport to evacuate.
As U.S. forces intensify emergency evacuation flights, Blinken's first press conference since the fall of the Afghan government to Taliban over a week ago is his.
According to the Pentagon, 19,000 people were evacuated from Kabul by Western forces in the last 24 hours on 90 military cargo plane flights. This corresponds to a departure flight approximately every 39 minutes.
