The Kabul airport gates are reportedly closed Saturday, as additional details indicate the Taliban is confiscating U.S. passports.
“All of the entrance gates to the airport were closed on Saturday morning because of the dangerous situation,” the New York Times reported, adding that the U.S. embassy in Kabul is advising evacuees not to travel to the airport in light of “security threats.”
“Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport,” the embassy alerted on its website, “we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.”
The active security threats come as the New York Post reported the Taliban is “now attempting to take their U.S. passports and identification orders in an attempt to stop them from leaving the country.”
“I got to the gates and was about to show my passport, but the Taliban got it, and he said you are not allowed to go through and wouldn’t give it back,” one Afghan American on the ground told the Post. “I was lucky a U.S. marine was right there and forced him to give it back.”
Former Navy SEAL Ephraim Mattos, who works to evacuate people on the ground, also confirmed the reports to the Post.
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