Secret spy meetings in Kabul.
There’s a new report out that CIA Director Williams Burns met secretly with the Taliban’s de facto leader in Kabul on Monday.
It’s the highest-level face-to-face meeting between the Biden administration and the Taliban since the militants seized the Afghan capital less than two weeks ago.
According to the Washington Post, the talks likely involved the August 31st deadline for the U.S. military to conclude the airlift of U.S. citizens and Afghan allies.
President Biden has called it “one of the largest, most difficult airlifts in history.” Thousands of Afghans, terrified by the return of the Taliban militants, are still desperately trying to enter Kabul airport with the hope of fleeing their war-torn country.
In a recent update the Pentagon says the number of evacuations out of Afghanistan has been ramped up significantly. Army Major General William D. “Hank” Taylor says 21,600 have been flown out of the Kabul airport over the past 24 hours.
Taylor says they were able to achieve that number thanks to the U.S. military working around the clock. It is not clear how many of those are American citizens or other foreigners, and how many are Afghans.
The CIA declined to comment on the meeting, citing the agency’s policy of never discussing the travels and meetings of its director.
