US confirms evacuation of four citizens to 'third country' from Afghanistan since troop withdrawal

The US facilitated the departure of four American citizens from Afghanistan via an overland route to a "third country", becoming the first Americans to be evacuated from the war-torn country since the withdrawal of US troops, a senior State Department official has said.

"Our Embassy greeted the Americans as they crossed the border into the third country," the official told CNN.

The official did not identify the country the US used to facilitate the evacuation, but Pakistan is the closest land route out of Afghanistan, Dawn newspaper reported.


The official on Monday confirmed that these were the first four Americans that "we've facilitated in this manner" since the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Dr Asad Majeed Khan told Dawn that "we don't know what route they used but we have no problem facilitating the evacuation of US citizens from Afghanistan".

"Pakistan has been providing every support that it could to facilitate the evacuation of all those wanting to leave Afghanistan," he said.

Ambassador Khan said that so far, more than 9,000 people had transited through Pakistan and Islamabad was still engaged with the international community to facilitate the evacuations.

Pakistan facilitated Western troops and citizens to leave Kabul ahead of the August 31 deadline by the US to complete its withdrawal.