Hundreds wait for clearance to leave Afghanistan’s Mazar airport

Afghan girls from a US-based NGO and a number of Americans among group that has been trying to leave for a week.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is facing mounting pressure amid reports that several hundred people, including Americans, have been prevented for a week from flying out of an airport in northern Afghanistan. Marina LeGree, the founder and executive director of a small US non-governmental organisation active in Afghanistan, said on Monday that some 600 to 1,300 people, including girls from her group, had been waiting near the Mazar-i-Sharif airport for as long as a week, amid confusion involving the Taliban and US officials. That number is understood to include 19 Americans, though none are with LeGree’s group. Those waiting are being housed in various places in the city, she said.