US urges citizens to immediately leave Afghanistan

The United States on Saturday urged citizens to leave the war-torn Afghanistan as the Taliban recently intensified its attacks.In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said, “The United States is urging citizens to leave Afghanistan immediately with available commercial flight options. Given the security situation and headcount reductions, Afghanistan’s The embassy’s ability to support US citizens is also very limited within Kabul. ”
The US Embassy further stated that it can provide a repatriation loan to its nationals who cannot afford to purchase a ticket for a commercial flight to the United States. The US state department has maintained the travel advisory for Afghanistan at Level 4, the highest of all, owing to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, armed conflict, and coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. “Domestic flights and ground transportation routes outside of Kabul are severely limited and subject to cancellation or closure,” the US embassy added.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki told a media briefing Friday that the Biden administration is “closely tracking” and is “concerned about” the reports of atrocities and retaliatory killings of civilians in Taliban-controlled areas. Psaki, however, stressed that the US will complete its troops' withdrawal. The militants of the Islamist fundamentalist group have surrounded several Afghan cities and taken control of a provincial capital. Since the foreign troops started leaving Afghanistan, the Taliban had been extensively fighting with the Afghan government in an attempt to gain control of key areas.