A United States Marine stands guard in front of the US embassy December 21, 2001 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Paula Bronstein | Getty Images
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Thursday was put on lockdown as Covid cases rise in Afghanistan, pressing the country’s vulnerable healthcare system to its limitations.
At the embassy, 114 staff members have actually checked favorable for the coronavirus and are presently in seclusion, a single person has actually passed away and numerous individuals have actually been clinically left.
“Military hospital ICU resources are at full capacity, forcing our health units to create temporary, on-compound Covid-19 wards to care for oxygen-dependent patients. 95% of our cases are individuals who are unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated,” the Embassy composed in a declaration.
Effective instantly, the Embassy stated, workers would be restricted to their quarters other than to get food from dining centers or to work out or unwind alone outdoors.
“Individuals may walk, run, or relax outdoors without masks provided that they are ALONE, which means at least 20 feet from others. Any closer requires a mask,” the declaration continued, including that in-person indoor conferences are restricted unless “absolutely mission-critical.”
People who do not follow the policies might deal with elimination from the post “on the next available flight,” the Embassy included.
“Restrictions will continue until the chain of transmission is broken,” the declaration stated.
Afghan medical facilities are quickly lacking medical devices and other resources as cases see an increase of 2,400% over the previous month, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stated Thursday.
Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul suspended all consular visa services in order to handle an “intense third wave of Covid-19 cases,” possibly hindering the visa status for countless Afghans who helped the U.S. armed force through the dispute.
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill raised issue Thursday on whether the stockpile of more than 10,000 Afghan translators and their households would be cleared prior to the staying U.S. soldiers withdraw from the war-weary nation.
Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, informed the Senate Armed Services Committee throughout a hearing on the Pentagon’s spending plan demand that “planning is ongoing” to protect Afghans who served together with U.S. and NATO soldiers.
The country’s top-level military officer included that the U.S. armed force can performing any demand as the State Department resolves the comprehensive visa procedure for eligible Afghans.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon stated it exceeded the midpoint in its burden of withdrawing soldiers and devices out of Afghanistan.
The U.S. armed force has actually gotten rid of the equivalent of roughly 611 loads of product flown out of the nation by big freight airplane, according to an upgrade from U.S. Central Command.
Aircrew designated to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, bring their equipment into a C-17 Globemaster III designated to Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, April 27, 2021.
Staff Sgt. Kylee Gardner | U.S. Air Force picture
Approximately 14,000 tools that will not be delegated the Afghan armed force have actually likewise been turned over to the Defense Logistics Agency for damage. The U.S. has actually formally turned over 6 centers to the Afghan military.
Biden revealed in April a complete withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, which would end America’s longest war.
Biden’s withdrawal timeline breaks with a proposed due date brokered in 2015 by the Trump administration with the Taliban. According to that offer, all foreign forces would have needed to leave Afghanistan by May 1.
The elimination of roughly 3,000 U.S. service members accompanies the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which stimulated America’s entry into prolonged wars in the Middle East and Central Asia.
