Blinken Says Taliban Reminded of Pledge to Allow People to Leave Afghanistan
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday the Taliban had been reminded in recent hours that the international community is holding the group to its commitment to let anyone with valid travel papers leave Afghanistan if they choose.
Speaking during a visit to Qatar, Blinken said the number of U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, believed to still be in Afghanistan is about 100. He said the State Department is in direct contact with them, with case managers assigned to each one to make sure those who want to leave can do so. He said in the past 24 hours the Taliban had upheld its commitment in the case of a family of four Americans who had safely left Afghanistan using an overland route. A senior State Department official said Monday the Taliban was aware of the crossing, without specifying which country the Americans entered. Blinken also expressed “deep gratitude to the Qatari people” for the country’s role in the massive evacuation of U.S. citizens, at-risk Afghans and foreign nationals following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. He said that for many of the 58,000 people who transited through Doha, the stop in Qatar was the first “on a journey to a more peaceful and hopeful future.”A person votes at a polling station during a special voting day, ahead of South Africa's general elections to elect a new National Assembly, in Cape Town, South Africa, May 27, 2024. Elderly special voter Thelma Thembeka Dingaan, 65, checks her ballot papers at her home in the Yeoville neighborhood of Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 27, 2024.
This undated handout photo taken by the UN Development Programme and released on May 28, 2024 shows locals digging at the site of a landslide at Mulitaka village in the region of Maip Mulitaka, in Papua New Guinea's Enga Province. This photo released by UNDP Papua New Guinea, shows a landslide in Yambali village, in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, May 27, 2024. Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's recent mass-casualty disaster.
Ali Larijani, left, and Saeed Jalili, right, are seen in this 2008 photo by Iranian state-approved news site Asr Iran in 2008. (Asr Iran) Iran's interim president Mohammad Mokhber speaks during the opening ceremony of Iran's 12th parliament in Tehran, Iran, May 27, 2024. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS FILE - Presidential candidate Saeed Jalili attends an election debate at a television studio, in Tehran, Iran June 8, 2021. Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/YJC/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS FILE - Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani attends a news conference at the Iranian embassy in Beirut's southern suburbs, as a picture of late Iran's Quds Force top commander Qassem Soleimani is seen in the background, Lebanon February 17, 2020. FILE - Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bazrpash and the Russian Ministry of Transport Vitaly Savelyev during a ceremony in Tehran, Iran, May 17, 2023. Iran's Presidency /WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS Parviz Fattah, head of Iranian state-owned enterprise Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order (EIKO), is seen in this photo posted on the EIKO website on May 14, 2024. (EIKO)
A TV screen shows a file image of North Korea's rocket launch during a news program at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. FILE - Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi speaks to reporters in Colombo, July 29, 2023. FILE - A TV screen shows a report of North Korea's spy satellite into orbit with its third launch attempt this year with an image of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 22, 2023.