The US is reporting this morning that the Taliban is agreeing to let 200 Americans and other foreign nationals leave on a charter flight to Qatar:
REUTERS – Taliban authorities have agreed to let 200 American civilians and third country nationals who remained in Afghanistan after the end of the U.S. evacuation operation to depart on charter flights from Kabul airport, a U.S. official said.
The Taliban were pressed to allow the departures by U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, said the official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The departures were expected on Thursday. The official could not say whether these Americans and third country nationals were among people stranded for days in Mazar-i-Sharif because their private charters have not been allowed to depart.
There isn’t much more information on this out there right now. Hopefully this flight is allowed to leave, because it’s not out until it’s truly out.
I do wonder, however, what the US did to get the Taliban to let this flight of Americans leave Kabul. Will we be dropping of pallets of cash at the airport later today? Seriously, I doubt the Taliban is allowing this out of the goodness of their hearts. What did Biden promise them?
UPDATE: The flight was allowed to take off for Qatar:
BREAKING: Qatari flight carrying Americans and other internationals has taken off from Kabul en route to Doha.
— Raf Sanchez (@rafsanchez) September 9, 2021