Berlin: Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Tuesday (local time) and discussed coordinating efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover last week.
The information regarding the talks between the two leaders was shared by US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price.
“@SecBlinken spoke today with German Foreign Minister @HeikoMaas. We are committed to closely coordinating efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan,” tweeted Price. Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Maas shared their views about close coordination between the two countries in Afghanistan, including the transit of thousands of people out of Afghanistan through Ramstein Air Base and other locations in Germany, read US Department of State release.
The Secretary and the Foreign Minister also discussed the broader situation in Afghanistan and the way ahead. The US is flying thousands of people out of Afghanistan every day from Kabul airport. The US forces took control of the airport last week to evacuate its citizens after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.
Moreover, after US President Joe Biden hinted at extending the Afghanistan evacuation mission, the Taliban on Tuesday gave an ultimatum stating that American forces should exit the country by August 31. Since August 14, the US has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 58,700 people while the country has re-located approximately 63,900 people since the end of July, the White House informed in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the number of people evacuated by the German armed forces from Afghanistan over the past week has surpassed 2,700, the Federal Foreign Office said on Monday. A few days back, President Biden had also termed the evacuation from Afghanistan the ‘most difficult and largest airlift’ ever in history. He had assured to get all Americans and allies out of the war-torn country.