Pentagon chief suggests U.S. has to rely on Taliban to ensure safe passage of evacuees

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Wednesday that the United States does not currently "have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people" amid the evacuation rush in Kabul. "The forces that we have are focused on security of the" Hamid Karzai International Airport, where evacuation flights are departing, he added. "We have to make sure that we can not only secure the airfield, but defend it, as well."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.