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Afghanistan: Pentagon rebuffs question on why UK are doing more to rescue citizens than US

Maj Gen Hank Taylor says the main goal is to allow American citizens and immigrant visa applicants to be processed at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Eric Garcia
Thursday 19 August 2021 16:51 BST
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(EPA)

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The Pentagon rebuffed a question Thursday when asked why the United States was not doing as much as the United Kingdom was doing to rescue its citizens from Afghanistan.

During a press conference on Thursday, Army Major General Hank Taylor was asked about British paratroopers being dropped into Kabul and leaving Hamid Karzai International Airport, also known as HKIA, to evacuate its citizens who couldn’t leave because of the Taliban. He was then asked why the United States wasn’t doing the same.

“Our main mission continues to be to secure HKIA to allow those American citizens and other SIVs to be processed at the airfield,” he said, in reference to those who applied for special immigrant visas since they assisted the US mission in Afghanistan.

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