16,000 evacuated from Kabul airport in past 24 hours: Pentagon

Around 16,000 people were evacuated over the past 24 hours from Afghanistan through the Kabul airport, the Pentagon said Monday, as the US works toward completing its airlift by an August 31 deadline.

General Hank Taylor told reporters that 61 military, commercial and charter flights involving a number of countries flew out from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the 24 hours to 3:00 am Monday (0700 GMT) carrying people fleeing after the Taliban seized power.

Of the total evacuated that day, 11,000 were taken out by US military airlift operations, Taylor said.

Taylor said the number of people relocated from Afghanistan since July on US flights hit 42,000, with 37,000 of those since the intense airlift operations started on August 14 as the Taliban took Kabul.