About 80 US citizens are unable to leave Afghanistan due to the lack of evacuation flights from the country, CNN reported, citing sources.

According to him, several dozen Americans have expressed a desire to leave the country, but the Taliban have been keeping planes for evacuation on the ground for a month. The timing of the resumption of flights is still unclear, reports TASS.

Earlier on Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that since the beginning of autumn, the United States has removed about 900 of its citizens and persons with permanent residence rights in the United States from Afghanistan. He also mentioned several dozen people who want to leave Afghanistan, but did not indicate when the American authorities would do this.

The Taliban launched a large-scale operation to establish control over Afghanistan following the announcement by the United States in the spring of 2021 of a decision to withdraw its armed forces from there. On August 15 last year, the radicals entered Kabul without a fight, and on September 7 they announced the composition of their interim government, the legitimacy of which has not yet been recognized by any country. Against the background of the conflict that has lasted for years, an extremely difficult economic situation has arisen in the country. According to UN forecasts, more than half of the population of Afghanistan (about 22.8 million people) from November to March may face critical food shortages.