As US wraps up Kabul withdrawal, thousands of Afghans are left behind

The biggest air evacuation in history is drawing to a close amid the threat of further violence in the final hours before an August 31 deadline for US troops to pull out of Afghanistan.

The United States and its allies have airlifted 114,000 of their own citizens and Afghans who helped them over 20 years of war out of Afghanistan since the chaotic withdrawal began.

Two US officials said the "core" diplomatic staff had withdrawn on Monday morning. They did not say whether this included top envoy Ross Wilson, expected to be among the last to leave before the final troops themselves.

Later on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that some 6,000 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan so far.

The Biden administration is still trying to determine how many Americans are left in the country who want to leave ahead of Tuesday's deadline to withdraw US troops, Psaki said. She believes the number is small.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said it was not too late for any remaining Americans to get to the Kabul airport for evacuation flights.

“There is still time,” Kirby said.

Tuesday's deadline for all troops to leave was ordered by President Joe Biden, fulfilling an agreement reached with the Taliban by his predecessor Donald Trump to end Washington's longest war.

But having failed to anticipate that the Taliban would so quickly conquer the country, Washington and its NATO allies were forced into a hasty evacuation. They will leave behind thousands of Afghans who helped Western countries and might have qualified for evacuation but did not make it out in time.

The Taliban, who oppressed women and governed violently when last in power 20 years ago, have said they will safeguard rights and not pursue vendettas. They say that once the Americans leave, the country will at last be at peace for the first time in more than 40 years.

'We are in danger'

But countless Afghans, especially in the cities, fear the group will again prove as ruthless as before. And the United Nations said the entire country now faces a dire humanitarian crisis, cut off from foreign aid amid a drought, mass displacement and Covid-19.

"The evacuation effort has undoubtedly saved tens of thousands of lives, and these efforts are praiseworthy," said UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi.

"But when the airlift and the media frenzy are over, the overwhelming majority of Afghans, some 39 million, will remain inside Afghanistan. They need us – governments, humanitarians, ordinary citizens – to stay with them and stay the course."

Outside the airport, people described themselves as foresaken by the departing foreign troops.

"We are in danger," said one woman. "They must show us a way to be saved. We must leave Afghanistan or they must provide a safe place for us."

Two US officials told the news agency Reuters that evacuations would continue on Monday, prioritising people deemed at extreme risk. Other countries have also put in last-minute requests to bring out people in that category, the officials said.

The Taliban will take full control of Kabul airport after the American withdrawal on Tuesday, Qatar's Al Jazeera television network cited an unidentified Taliban source as saying.

Threat of further violence

Even as the US troop presence in Afghanistan drew to an end, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that it was "a particularly dangerous time right now".

"The threat stream is still real, it's still active, and in many cases it's still specific," he said on Monday.

A US official said initial reports did not indicate any US casualties from five missiles fired on the Kabul airport on Monday. Daesh-K – enemies of both the West and the Taliban – claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks in the group's Nasher News Telegram channel.

The rockets followed a massive Daesh suicide bombing outside the teeming airport gates on Thursday, which killed scores of Afghans and 13 US troops.

In recent days, Washington has warned of more attacks, while carrying out two air strikes against Daesh targets, including one on Sunday it said thwarted an attempted suicide bombing by blowing up a car packed with explosives.

"People are terrified and worried about the future, worried that the rocket launching might continue," said Farogh Danish, a Kabul resident, near the wreckage of the car from which the rockets were launched.

Russia plans extra evacuation flights, holds drills

Russia's embassy in Kabul said on Monday it was laying on extra evacuation flights from Afghanistan, while Russian troops carried out military drills close to the Afghan border amid heightened regional security risks.

It was not clear whether the extra flights would continue past a Tuesday deadline for the withdrawal of the US troops who have led security at the airport since the Western-backed government collapsed.

Russia's embassy remained operational in Kabul after Western diplomats rebased to the airport following the Taliban takeover of the capital on August 15.

President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, said on Monday the embassy was working to establish relations with the Taliban.

The embassy said in a series of tweets that extra evacuation flights would be open to Russian citizens and residents as well as nationals of countries in the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a Moscow-led post-Soviet security bloc.

Russia evacuated about 360 people last week and the news agency Interfax on Monday quoted a representative of the Afghan diaspora centre in Russia as saying 500 Afghans may also be eligible as students, residents or work permit holders.

Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said around 500 Russian motorised infantry troops from Russia's military base in Tajikistan were carrying out drills in the mountains near the Afghan border, according to an Interfax report They are the third set of drills by Russia close to the Afghan border this month. 

READ MORE: UNHCR: Open borders, shared responsibility crucial in Afghan refugee crisis

UK could incorporate Afghan special forces into the British army

In a video message about the Afghanistan evacuation published on Sunday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the government would help Afghans arriving in the UK "contribute in any way possible to the life and economy of the country".

According to UK daily The Telegraph, British MPs are currently considering a proposal to incorporate Afghan troops evacuated from Kabul into the British Armed Forces.

Hundreds of the Afghan troops who have arrived in the UK over the past few weeks have been trained by the UK. According to the paper, the arrangement would be similar to the Ghurkas – soldiers from Nepal who work for the British Army.

READ MORE: Half a million more Afghans can become refugees by year end – UN