Afghanistan Update: U.S. Officials Say 'We’ve Evacuated Approximately 17,000'

“Since the beginning of this evacuation operation on August 14, we’ve evacuated approximately 17,000,” Army Maj. Gen. William D. "Hank" Taylor said during a press briefing on Afghanistan.

Senior Taliban leaders, including Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul on Saturday to get down to the business of forming a new government, less than a week after seizing the capital as U.S.-led troops prepared to depart.

President Joe Biden said Friday the U.S. made “significant progress” securing the Kabul airport and evacuating U.S. citizens, Afghan allies and others amid mounting evidence the Taliban are cracking down on dissent in Afghanistan.

Biden’s remarks came amid sustained efforts by the White House to defend the botched U.S. withdrawal and reports of the Taliban carrying out reprisals, even after their leadership promised an amnesty.

Yet the U.S. embassy was out with a new statement on Saturday advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport if possible without “individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so” because of “potential security threats outside the gates.”