The Taliban is blocking the take off of at least six planes chartered to evacuate hundreds of people seeking to flee Afghanistan, a top Republican revealed on Sunday.
‘We have six airplanes at Mazar Sharif Airport, six airplanes with American citizens on them as I speak, also with these interpreters, and the Taliban is holding them hostage for demands right now,’ Representative Michael McCaul of Texas told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace.
‘The state has cleared these flights and the Taliban will not let them leave the airport,’ he detailed.
The airport in question is more than 260 miles from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in the capital city of Kabul, where military flights evacuated thousands of Americans and allies from the country amid the Taliban takeover.
Senator Ted Cruz, who serves on the Committee on Foreign Relations, appeared to further substantiate that claim in a Sunday tweet.
‘Joe Biden abandoned Americans in Afghanistan,’ the Texas senator wrote. ‘Members of Congress, including me and my office, have been working around the clock to get them out – and for days Biden’s State Dept. couldn’t even get out of its own way.’
‘Now there are deeply disturbing reports of a hostage crisis,’ he added.
McCaul, the top Republican on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that since the total troop U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, no Americans have been evacuated from the country.
‘Since we left the country on Friday, how many Americans have gotten out of Afghanistan?’ Wallace asked. ‘Since we pulled out, how many Afghan allies have gotten out since the Taliban was in complete control of the country?’
‘Zero,’ McCaul shot back. ‘I’m sorry, the answer to your question is zero.’
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Source: Daily Mail
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