The United States tapped several major airlines to assist in the evacuation of thousands of Afghans and Americans who want to leave the country after the Taliban take over.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin activated the rarely-used Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) to help in the evacuation.
“We’re going to try our very best to get everybody, every American citizen who wants to get out,” Austin said in an interview with CBC.
According to the latest evacuation figures, as many as 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan.
The US government said it is prepared to take more than 20,000 Afghans who are candidates for Special Immigrant Visas.
Eighteen civilian craft from American Airlines, Atlas, Delta, Omni, Hawaiian and United will join forces in the evacuation.
The planes will transport people from US bases in Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to European countries before heading to the United States.
Washington hopes to finish the repatriation before August 31.
“We’re going to continue to assess the situation. And again, work as hard as we can to get as many people out as possible. And as we approach that deadline, we’ll make a recommendation to the president,” Austin added.
