Tens of thousands waiting for US flights out of Afghanistan

The backlog forced flights from Kabul’s international airport to stop for several hours

In this image provided by the U.S. Marines, U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Crisis Response – Central Command, provide assistance during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. Picture: Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara/U.S. Marine Corps via AP

Tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan are waiting nervously to see whether the US will deliver on Joe Biden’s pledge to evacuate all Americans and all Afghans who aided the war effort, as American helicopters plucked people from locations beyond the chaotic Kabul airport and its Taliban checkpoints.

Time is running out ahead of the US president’s August 31 deadline to withdraw most remaining US troops, and on Friday night he did not commit to extending it.