America flew just 2,000 people out of Kabul overnight on jets that could have taken 10,000, putting just 100 people on planes that can take 600 in the latest night of shambolic efforts to get tens of thousands of people out of Afghanistan and away from the Taliban.
Overnight, 18 C-17 US Air Force jets left Kabul carrying 2,000 people including 365 Americans, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on a phone briefing with journalists on Wednesday morning.
The jets can easily carry 500 people and on Sunday, one was used to get 640 people out of Kabul.
But most of the planes that left on Tuesday night had just 100 people on board. One, that was carrying a CBS reporter who filmed inside, had just 300 people on board - half the number that were rescued on one plane on Sunday.
While they took off, thousands of people were at the gates of the airport in Kabul, screaming, crying and begging to be saved from the Taliban.
Flights bound for Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, France and Italy took off on Wednesday with just a few dozen people on board despite having capacity to take hundreds. In one shocking case, a German plane with room for 150 departed Kabul on Tuesday with just seven on board.
The reason for the woefully low passenger counts is that no one can get to the airport and through processing in time. The Taliban is controlling all of the streets surrounding the airport and the US - and other countries - are relying on its fighters to let people through.
But already, the terrorist group has abandoned its promise of peace in the streets by parading thieves with ropes round their necks, beating children and relentlessly shooting in the air.
The White House is offering no promises on how long troops will stay in the region to help. If Americans can't get out in time on flights, they could become Taliban hostages.
Afghan interpreters, translators, diplomats or anyone who helped the West in the war on terror faces near certain death if they aren't removed soon, and no one is helping them get through.
A CBS reporter was on board one of the US jets that took off on Tuesday night. She said there were 300 people on board - half the number that were removed on the same type of jet on Sunday
On Sunday, a C-17 took off with 640 Afghan refugees on board. They ran on without paperwork to be flown to safety when the Taliban first took over. The US Air Force crew took off anyway, making the decision to get them to safety
This is the scene at the city entrance to the airport in Kabul. It is being controlled by the Taliban and US forces are on the inside but the people waiting to fly out can't get through the fighters at the front, and are being given no help by the State Department
Women were filmed pleading with US troops that the 'Taliban are coming' in footage that appeared to have been taken at Kabul airport this morning as thousands of desperate Afghans try to flee Islamist rule
Taliban fighters patrol in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. The group is becoming increasingly violent, abandoning promises to be peaceful, and their cooperation is what the evacuation mission is relying on
The Taliban turned on the crowd at Kabul airport on Tuesday, driving the hundreds back from the airport perimeter as they pushed to flee the country. They had promised to be peaceful but have already given up on it
A young woman was shot dead for allegedly refusing to wear a hijab by marauding jihadists when they captured the northern town of Taloqan in Takhar province last week. She is seen lying in a pool of blood as her distraught parents crouch beside her body in an image shared by the Afghan Ambassador to Poland Tahir Qadry who denounced the 'butchering of civilians.'
A man cries as he watches fellow Afghans get wounded after Taliban fighters use gunfire, whips, sticks and sharp objects to maintain crowd control over thousands of Afghans who continue to wait outside Kabul airport for a way out
A Taliban fighter patrols in Wazir Akbar Khan in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. Americans cannot get to the airport, which is surrounded by Taliban fighters, and the only area where troops are is inside
Taliban fighters stand guard at a checkpoint in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021
Taliban fighters have now encircled the airport in Kabul and are deciding who gets to come in and who has to stay out. Checkpoints have been set up on both the civilian south side of the airport and the military north side, with gunshots fired in both locations to keep crowds back
At a conference call briefing with journalists on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby talked about the ongoing 'processing' issues and delays in getting people their necessary paperwork.
'We're still working on the processing here...We're not unaware that there has been issues out in town and harassment of individuals, that's one of the reasons we're in touch with the Taliban to try to make sure that doesn't happen.
'I don't have a specific next step. We are in communication with the Taliban. We want to see this go more smoothly, we want to see this go faster,' he said.
There are at least 11,000 US citizens still stuck in Afghanistan and tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the US in the war and are trying to get Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to be removed before the Taliban gives up on the goodwill and kills them.
There are now thought to be around 50,000 people - mostly Afghans - gathered outside two entrances to Hamid Karzai airport - the civilian south side and military north side, both of which are under Taliban control.
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