US pulls off record single-day evacuation flights from Afghanistan, over 20,000 flown out

Pulling off its biggest day in terms of evacuation flights from Afghanistan, the US airlifted over 20,000 from the country on Tuesday.

The US military on Tuesday pulled off its biggest day of evacuation flights from Afghanistan since the operation began. But deadly violence that has blocked many desperate evacuees from entering Kabul's airport persisted, and the Taliban signaled they might soon seek to shut down the airlifts. Amid the tense operation to get people out of the country, CIA Director William Burns secretly swooped into Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban's top political leader, a US official told The Associated Press.