Over 1,000 await flight clearance to leave Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif: Report
About 1,000 people, including Americans, have been stuck in Afghanistan for days awaiting clearance for their charter flights to leave, an organizer told Reuters, blaming the delay on the US State Department.
The confusion was the latest flashpoint following a chaotic US military withdrawal completed after Taliban Islamist insurgents seized power in Kabul on Aug. 15, after the Western-backed government collapsed.
Exasperated by the delays, the organizer said the State Department had failed to tell the Taliban of its approval for flight departures from the international airport in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif or validate a landing site.
“They need to be held accountable for putting these people’s lives in danger,” said the organizer, who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
