Taliban have been 'businesslike and professional': White House

The Taliban have been businesslike and professional in their facilitating the departure of American citizens and others from Afghanistan, the White House said on Thursday as a chartered Qatar Airways flight from Kabul landed in Doha.

"The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step," Emily Horne, Spokesperson of the National Security Council, the White House said.

She said that the US government facilitated the departure of US citizens and lawful permanent residents on a chartered Qatar Airways flight from Hamid Karzai International Airport.

"We can confirm that flight has safely landed in Qatar. We are deeply grateful to the continued efforts of Qatar in facilitating operations at HKIA and helping to ensure the safety of these charter flights," she said.

"We have been working intensely across the US government to ensure the accuracy of the manifest and the safe departure and transit of the aircraft, and today's safe flight is the result of careful and hard diplomacy and engagement," she added.

The US, she said, will continue these efforts to facilitate the safe and orderly travel of American citizens, lawful permanent residents, and Afghans who worked for the US and wish to leave Afghanistan. "Because there is an ongoing terrorist threat to operations of this nature, we will not be sharing details of these efforts before people are safely out of the country," she noted.

So far, the US has brought more than 6,000 American citizens and lawful permanent residents home to the United States under Operation Allies Welcome thus far.

"As President Biden has said, if you are an American citizen who wants to leave Afghanistan, there is no deadline. We remain committed to get them out if they want to come out," she said.