Pentagon reveals only 2,500 US citizens out of 15,000 have been evacuated since Kabul fell a week ago: Biden puts commercial airlines on notice that the Civil Reserve Air Fleet could be activated to help get them out
Pentagon said Saturday that only 2,500 Americans have been rescued from Afghanistan in the past week
Up to 15,000 Americans need airlift and the administration hopes to get out a further 50-60,000 Afghans
US Embassy in Kabul tells citizens not to go to the airport amid threat of Islamic State attack
White House is considering activating the reserve fleet of commercial airliners to ferry refugees
Civil Reserve Air Fleet was created after post-WWII Berlin Airlift for activation times of emergency
It was last used to repatriate Americans stranded abroad as the pandemic descended in March 2020
Now Biden considers conscripting commercial airlines to ferry thousands in Kabul evacuation
They would not fly into Kabul, but help ferry refugees from staging bases in German, Qatar, and Bahrain
Situation remains chaotic in Kabul on Saturday with at least 12 dead so far in crush to escape
By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com and Wires
Published: 18:56 EDT, 21 August 2021 | Updated: 06:38 EDT, 22 August 2021
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9915375/Biden-considers-activating-Civil-Reserve-Air-Fleet-aid-Kabul-airlift.html