WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2021) The United States is expecting to see an increase in the flow of people out of Afghanistan with an additional airport gate is opened and more consular officers are available on the ground, Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.
"By opening up another gate, by adding consular officers now, we believe that we will soon begin to see an opening up the aperture, and we are hopeful that that means a more consistent increase in the flow," Kirby said during a press briefing.
Kirby also said that even though the United States is poised to see an increase in evacuation capacity, it is hard to make predictions in the existing situation.
On Wednesday, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said the Biden administration plans to nearly double the number of consular officers in Afghanistan by Friday to increase the number of non-combatant evacuees.
Defense Department officials said the US government managed to evacuate approximately 2,000 people out of Kabul airport in the past 24 hours.
