WASHINGTON, August 23. /TASS/. US authorities have used 18 aircraft of six US commercial airlines for evacuation from Afghanistan to date, Major General Hank Taylor who is in charge of the logistics of the evacuation process said at a regular briefing at the Pentagon on Monday.
He reiterated that earlier the US administration made a decision to activate "stage one of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet." "Right now, that activation includes 18 aircraft from 6 commercial airlines," he said. The major general explained that these planes do not fly to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, they are used to transport passengers to the US from "intermediate staging bases and safe havens." He also stressed that in the evacuation issues the priority is still given to the military transport.
The major general also specified that since late July, the US has evacuated about 42,000 people from Afghanistan. Over the past 24 hours, approximately 16,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul.