President Joe Biden says the US is “on pace” to meet the August 31 deadline for evacuations, despite previous calls from allies for an extension.
Biden’s comments came as US media reported that several hundreds US troops had already Afghanistan – although a US defence official quoted by CNN insisted that their departure “does not affect the mission”.
The militants have opposed any extension to the evacuation deadline.
Biden said the airlift had to come to end soon because of an increasing threat from the Islamic State group in Afghanistan.
