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The Biden administration is telling staffers that up to 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan following the Taliban's swift takeover of the country. While all staff members at the U.S. Embassy have been evacuated, many others are waiting to get out while hiding from the Taliban.
"My office has heard from over 100 Americans who need help getting out of Afghanistan," Senator Tom Cotton told Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin. "We can't fly planes or open gates, but we can at least give people information. The Biden administration needs a plan to get our fellow Americans out."
The Pentagon believes that between 5,000 and 10,000 of those citizens are near Kabul and said they can safely make their way to the airport.
"We think there are certainly thousands of Americans. We don't have an exact count. I would say somewhere best guess between 5 and 10,000 near Kabul," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told CNN. "They can begin movement to the airport for processing flights out."
The Biden administration is working around the clock to evacuate U.S. and Afghan citizens who helped the U.S. during the 20-year war. Officials said that by Tuesday, 1,100 people have been evacuated on 13 flights. The government said it is working to relocate 20,000 Afghan civilians who are candidates for Special Immigrant Visas to U.S. bases.
"The Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport, and we intend to hold them to that commitment," national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. "We are getting people through the gate, we are getting them lined up, and we are getting them on planes, but this is an hour-by-hour issue."
The White House said that it expects to increase the number of flights in the coming days.
"Now that we have established the flow, we expect those numbers to escalate," the White House said in a statement.