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U.S. begins evacuating embassy staff from Kabul as Taliban closes in on Afghan capital

15 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

The U.S. began evacuating diplomats from the American embassy in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, on Sunday, per images from the scene and multiple reports.

Driving the news: Helicopters began landing near the embassy to conduct "rapid shuttle-run flights" a few hours after the Taliban captured the key eastern city of Jalalabad early on Sunday, leaving Kabul the only major city still under the control of the Afghan government, per AP.

  • A U.S. official told Reuters on Sunday morning, "We have a small batch of people leaving now as we speak, a majority of the staff are ready to leave ... the embassy continues to function. The embassy continues to function."
  • AP reports "diplomatic armored SUVs" were leaving the area and "wisps of smoke" were seen near the roof of the embassy "as diplomats urgently destroyed sensitive documents."

What they're saying: The U.S. Embassy in Kabul tweeted, "Amb. Tracey Jacobson is in charge of a whole-of-government effort to process, transport, & relocate SIV applicants & other Afghan allies."

The big picture: President Biden Biden on Saturday ordered 1,000 more troops to secure an airlift of U.S. Embassy personnel and Afghan allies as the Taliban closed in on the Afghan capital.

  • Marines arrived in Kabul on Saturday to help secure an airlift of U.S. Embassy personnel, per AP.
  • Representatives for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the State Department did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.