There Have Been No “Hostile Interactions” With The Taliban, US Defense Secretary Says – CNN
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US service members have not had any hostile interactions with the Taliban as the regime takes control of Afghanistan and the US continues to evacuate its personnel.
“There have been no hostile interactions with the Taliban. And our lines of communication with Taliban commanders remain open as they should be,” Austin said during a news briefing moments ago.
Some context: Thousands of desperate Afghans remain stranded under Taliban rule in Kabul on Tuesday, as the US and its allies, still frantically evacuating their personnel from the city’s airport, reckon with the sudden breakdown of their two-decade effort in Afghanistan.
The situation at Hamid Karzai International Airport is “stabilizing,” the UK’s foreign secretary said on Tuesday, a day after crowds of locals poured onto the tarmac and clung onto military planes, searching for a way out of the city.
Western nations continued the rush to get their citizens away from the site, with hundreds of evacuations planned for Tuesday. President Biden, who is facing intense scrutiny over his handling of the withdrawal of US forces, has ordered 6,000 more troops to the airport to assist American efforts there.
