U.S. Begins Kabul Embassy Evacuation

The U.S. began to evacuate diplomats from its embassy in Kabul on Sunday, Reuters reported.

"A majority of the staff are ready to leave… the embassy continues to function," a U.S. official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden said that overall 5,000 militaries would be deployed to ensure "an orderly and safe drawdown of U.S. personnel and other allied personnel and an orderly and safe evacuation of Afghans who helped our troops during our mission and those at special risk from the Taliban advance."

Washington announced on Thursday that it was sending thousands of troops to Kabul to evacuate diplomats and other nationals in the face of the Taliban’s advance into the Afghan capital.

The U.K. has already sent the first troops deployed to Afghanistan to assist in the evacuation of U.K. nationals who remain in the country.

Members of 16 Air Assault Brigades, who are going to provide force protection, are due to leave over the weekend, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.