
Some Afghans trying to flee country face exorbitant costs as Blinken touts success of efforts to help Americans
CNN
Afghans desperate to flee the country are increasingly having to negotiate with private operators charging exorbitant sums while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Friday that all Americans who have asked to leave Afghanistan have been offered an opportunity to do so.
There are fewer than 100 American citizens in Afghanistan who are ready to leave, according to the State Department, and Blinken said Friday that there are a "couple hundred" more who, for now, want to stay.
But in addition to those Americans there are countless Afghans, including thousands who worked for or aided the US during the nearly 20-year war or believe they are in danger of being targeted by the Taliban, who are frantically trying to leave.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.












