As the world watched in shock the Taliban militants entering the Afghan capital and taking over the government in the span of hours, social media platforms flooded with news detailing the struggles faced by foreign entities trying to evacuate their members from Afghanistan.
Credible report that the US is offering vast sums of cash to the Taliban in order to allow evacuations to proceed. Hope US media is on top of this story
— Bruno Maçães (@MacaesBruno) August 15, 2021
While security and military experts expected the Taliban to take over the country within 90 days, the reality showed that the militant group that governed Afghanistan 20 years ago was able to recapture the country including the capital in just a few days, leaving foreign delegations in limbo.
As soon as news of the Taliban being at the outskirts of Kabul broke out, questions over foreign embassies started to rise, especially that previous statements had confirmed no plans to evacuate anyone since intelligence reports did not warn of an approaching take over by the Taliban.
3. There is reporting that the US is paying vast sums of cash to Taliban to allow the evacuation to proceed. Is this true?
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) August 15, 2021
4. What steps are being taken to ensure the billions of reserves in the Afghanistan Bank are not accessed by the Taliban?
However, the unanticipated arrival of the Taliban at Kabul on Sunday accelerated efforts to transfer diplomats and embassy personnel to Kabul's international airport on very short notice, which urged western governments to "buy more time" to complete the process.
Some unverified online sources have reported that the US has offered the Taliban "vast sums of cash" so it can evacuate their staff, an offer believed to have been approved by the Taliban.
Overnight, the US, French, German, Saudi, and other diplomatic missions' staff have been able to reach the airport and leave Afghanistan for good, with no attacks by the Taliban.
