An estimated 6,500 people were waiting for evacuation flights inside Kabul airport on Tuesday morning, a source close to the situation told CNN, as G7 leaders prepared to meet for an emergency summit to discuss the Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of American troops.
The vast majority of those still trying to get out of Kabul were Afghans, the source said, adding that applicants for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program – an avenue for Afghans who worked for United States forces and agencies to get out of the country – are now permitted onto the airport.
SIV applicants were told not to come to the airport on Monday as the US tried to clear backlogs of evacuees and ensure US passport and green card holders got on aircraft out of Kabul before the Aug. 31 deadline to complete evacuations.
But solid estimates of the number of people both on and leaving the airport were hard to determine.
The Pentagon said early Tuesday that 17 US military and partner nation aircraft evacuated approximately 16,000 people from Harmid Karzai International Airport within the previous 24 hours, with the US Air Force transporting just under 11,000 of them.
That gave an opening to expand the evacuation, the source said.
“The aperture has widened,” they said. SIV holders plus immediate family and anyone who can “clearly and credibly articulate a clear and credible connection” with the US government could now get out, the source said.
Despite that relaxation of restrictions, the gates to the airport remained closed, the source said.
“But the people who are already there or being pulled in individually, they’re flexing a bit,” they said.
About 300 US citizens had been brought in overnight, and moves were coordinated with the Taliban, the source said.
The closure of the airport’s gates, however, significantly reduces the number of SIV applicants who can reach the base.
Afghan security forces continued to use unofficial means to get their colleagues and friends onto the base, the source said. “Not sure who the Afghans are still pulling in, but it seems to be a steady trickle,” they said.
The source also said there had been no progress in the evacuation of locally employed embassy staff, although planning was underway.
While the backlog of evacuees was being whittled down in Kabul, strain was showing up elsewhere in the route that would eventually lead evacuees to resettlement outside Afghanistan.
One of the main waypoints for evacuees, the massive US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, had reached its capacity of 7,800 evacuees on Monday.