6 Planes Waiting For 7 Days In Mazar-i-Sharif As Taliban Blocks Evacuation

Six planes that flew in seven days ago to the Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport in northern Afghanistan to evacuate 1,000 people including Americans are still sitting there as the Taliban is yet to clear their departure.

Satellite images released by Maxar Technologies show the planes, one on a runway and others outside terminal buildings. However, the people are not "physically on board" the aircraft, reports NPR.

Marina LeGree, founder of a U.S. non-profit active in Afghanistan, told NPR that over 600 people have been waiting near the airport for as long as a week. This includes at least 19 American citizens and two U.S. green cardholders. Those stranded include hundreds of members of NGOs, journalists and women at risk.

Representatives of organizations trying to evacuate the people say negotiations have been dragging for days. Reports add the confusion reflects the chaotic situation in Afghanistan and the concerns that the Taliban will fail to honor their promises to respect human rights and not persecute Afghans who cooperated with the previous American-backed government.

"The reason the Taliban wants to prevent these people from leaving is likely because they intend to punish them for their cooperation with the U.S.," Mick Mulroy, a former senior Pentagon official who worked to help evacuate Afghans from the country, told The New York Times. He added that if the Taliban is indeed using people as a bargaining chip, then that "is unacceptable."

A State Department spokesperson said Monday that their "resources in Afghanistan are seriously limited" and Republicans have taken up the issue, hitting out at the Biden administration, which is already facing flak over the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal.

Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Sunday said the Taliban were holding people "hostage" and that there were "six airplanes with American citizens on them as I speak."

McCaul said the Taliban wanted "something in exchange," and added he believed they wanted "full recognition from the United States of America."

The State Department and organizers of the rescue flights on the ground in Qatar have brushed aside the suggestion the people were being held hostage, adding that the planes had "necessary clearance and were awaiting final approval from the Taliban," says The New York Times.

LeGree too denied that the evacuees were being held hostage. She says they are free to leave to the airport, as some have. But it is frustrating and frightening, she added.

"The pressure is building. The crowd is growing. It’s just a nasty scene. For us, we can’t go back. The girls are terrified. My girls are all Hazaras. Going back is just not an option. They’re truly desperate to leave," LeGree was quoted by The New York Times.

Hazaras are an ethnic minority in Afghanistan that has been previously targeted by the Taliban.