US leads an increasingly desperate effort to airlift thousands

US had its biggest day of evacuation flights on Monday, as Taliban said foreign troop pullout deadline is a ‘red line’.

US troops are leading an increasingly desperate effort to airlift thousands of people out of Kabul after the Taliban warned they would allow foreign forces to carry out evacuations for just one more week. The chief Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby, said the faster pace was due in part to coordination with Taliban commanders on getting evacuees into the airport. A day before, the Pentagon announced that some 16,000 people had been evacuated in the 24 hours to 3am (07:00 GMT) Monday.