According to Al-Jazeera Arabic, the Taliban will let more American and European passport holders leave the country on Thursday.
In a tweet, the Qatar-based network said: “A Taliban source to Al-Jazeera: The Americans and those with European passports will leave this Thursday noon from Kabul Airport.”
Reuters also reported Taliban authorities had agreed to allow 200 American civilians and third-country nationals, who were left in Afghanistan following the August 31 withdrawal deadline, to finally leave the country.
The official, who spoke to the agency on the condition of anonymity, said U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad had pressed the Taliban to allow further authorized departures from Kabul.
According to Reuters, the official did not confirm whether those Americans and Europeans were among the people who had been stranded for days in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city more than 185 miles northwest of Kabul.
It also reported the departures from Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport would take place on Thursday.
Newsweek has contacted a Taliban spokesperson and the U.S. Department of State for comment.
Western nations have been working to get their citizens out of Afghanistan after the U.S.-led troop withdrawal concluded on August 31.
The desperate situation underpinned the chaotic withdrawal operation which was forced to unfold rapidly as the Taliban quickly made gains across Afghanistan.
A pregnant woman from California, who was only identified as Nasria, said last week that she was trapped in the capital Kabul and claimed the Taliban were hunting Americans during door-to-door searches.
Speaking to Voice of America on Friday, the 25-year-old said she had traveled to Afghanistan in June to visit family and get married and had found herself stranded.
She told the network: “There’s been days, you know, where I think to myself, ‘Am I gonna make it home? Am I gonna to end up living here? Am I gonna end up dying here?”
Nasria said she and her husband had tried to get an evacuation flight from Kabul, but that the Taliban had not allowed her to pass—despite showing them her U.S. passport.
President Joe Biden’s administration has been strongly criticized in the U.S. and beyond over its handling of the withdrawal and evacuation effort.
Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) joined his fellow Republicans and called for Biden to resign over the withdrawal.
He told Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine last week: “What happened in Afghanistan was wrong. It was terrible. But frankly, it wasn’t surprising because what has this guy done right?”
