Planes Stranded At Mazar-I-Sharif Airport Waiting To Leave

A US lawmaker has accused the Taliban of stopping Afghans and Americans from leaving Afghanistan via Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport.

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A US lawmaker has accused the Taliban of stopping Afghans and Americans from leaving Afghanistan via Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport.

Republican House member Michael McCaul said on Sunday that planes had been trying to leave the airport “for the last couple of days”. An NGO also confirmed to News Correspondents that it had people waiting to board one of the flights.

The Taliban has denied the claims, labelling them as propaganda.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said this was not true and that their Mujahideen have nothing to do with ordinary Afghans. This is propaganda and we reject it.”

McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News there were six planes carrying American citizens and Afghan interpreters waiting at the airport.

In an email to members of Congress seen by CBS News, the State Department acknowledged there were charter flights at Mazar-i-Sharif that the Taliban will not allow to fly until they have approved the departure.

Marina LeGree, founder and CEO of the NGO Ascend Athletics which works with Afghan girls and women, said the number of planes could be higher than six, saying she has heard there could be as many as 1,000 people waiting to get out.

Her organisation has a group of 34 people who have been waiting to leave for six days, among them 19 Americans and two green card holders.

They are part of a larger organised evacuation under the auspices of the US government.

Ms LeGree said she believed a dispute or negotiation between the Taliban and the Afghan airline Kam Air was holding up the flights.


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