Jordan to Let 2,500 Afghans Pass through to US

Jordan agreed to allow 2,500 Afghan citizens to pass through the kingdom as they fly to the United States, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

The ministry's spokesperson, Dhaifallah Al-Fayez, said that the decision was taken for humanitarian reasons and to handle the crisis that Afghanistan is facing.

Al-Fayez stressed that arrangements have been made with the U.S. to evacuate Afghan nationals through Jordan. However, he did not reveal when the arrangement would come into force.

Meanwhile, media outlets reported that Qatar received 8,000 Afghans, while Kuwait welcomed 5,000.

In the same vein, at least 20 people have died in the last week near Kabul airport during attempts to flee Afghanistan by plane after Taliban took over the capital.

Amid this chaos, UK called on U.S. to extend the deadline for the evacuation operation. In addition, France was also among those calling for the deadline to be eased.

Nevertheless, a Taliban official said foreign forces had not sought an extension and it would not be granted if they had.

On his part, U.S. President Joe Biden warned that the evacuation was going to be "hard and painful", adding that a lot could still go wrong.