Just days ahead of the expected United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced Thursday the U.S. will send 3,000 troops to Afghanistan over the next couple of days. The video above shows clips from Kirby’s annoucement.
Their mission is to help evacuate some personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. “This is a temporary mission with a narrow focus,” Kirby said.
In addition to the 3,000 troops, 1,000 members of an Army-Air Force task force will go to Qatar to help with visa processing for former translators and other Afghans who had worked with Americans in Afghanistan. An Army brigade combat team of up to 4,000 troops will go to Kuwait to be on standby in case more troops were needed for the embassy mission.
The Pentagon had kept about 650 troops in Afghanistan to support U.S. diplomatic security ahead of the planned withdrawal by Aug. 31.
The announcement comes as the Taliban is making huge strides in taking over the war-torn nation. They captured three more capital cities Thursday, and have captured 12 in total.
On Thursday, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul urged U.S. citizens in Afghanistan to leave immediately. This is the second such warning issued since Saturday.
“It would be wrong to conclude that there was one specific event that led to this decision,” Kirby said. “There’s a confluence of things you guys have all been reporting over the last 24 to 36 hours, the Taliban’s advances and where they are. And I think, again, cognizant of that security situation, this administration believed that this was a prudent action to take.”
While the plan is still to leave Afghanistan by the end of the month, what happens after that may be up in the air. “I won’t speculate beyond August 31st as to what the footprints are going to look like or or how many troops are going to be there and what they’re going to be doing,” Kirby said. “What I can tell you is we’re focused on trying to get them there as soon as possible to facilitate this mission, which is the reduction of civilian personnel by the end of the month.”