16,000 evacuated from Kabul airport in past 24 hours: Pentagon

Around 16,000 people were evacuated from Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, through the Kabul airport, the Pentagon says, as the US speeds toward completing its airlift by an August 31 deadline.

General Hank Taylor tells reporters that 61 military, commercial, and charter flights involving a number of countries flew out from Hamid Karzai International Airport in the 24 hours to 3:00 a.m. Monday (0700 GMT) carrying people escaping the country after the Taliban seized power.

Of the total evacuated that day, 11,000 were taken out by the US military airlift operations, Taylor says.

Taylor says the number of people relocated from Afghanistan since July on US flights hit 42,000, with 37,000 of those since the intense airlift operations started on August 14 as the Taliban moved to take Kabul.