The Taliban have consolidated authority around the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, according to the Pentagon, which is in charge of the US evacuation operations from the Afghan capital's airport. The US embassy in Kabul has also sent a notice to American people stationed outside the airport's gates, advising them to leave immediately due to "security threats"

The security advisory from the US embassy in Kabul stated, "US citizens who are at the Abbey Gate, the East Gate, or the North Gate now should leave immediately," "Because of security threats outside the gates of the Kabul airport, we are advising US citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid the airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a US govt representative to do so."

The Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul is the last site fortified by US soldiers for the remaining large-scale evacuation operations, and it is also the last remaining access point for the international community to reach out to people in the war-torn country. The Taliban, who raced through Afghanistan in just two months with a lightning-fast offensive, now rule the majority of the country.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby informed reporters that the Taliban have beefed up security at checkpoints and are engaging in "crowd control"

"Every day is different," Kirby stated at the press conference, "and yesterday we estimated that crowds were about half the size they had been the previous days." "We haven't seen them recover to the level they were in the beginning. However, part of the explanation is undoubted that the Taliban have tightened their access and control measures around the area."

According to Kirby, the US is solely responsible for administering the Kabul airport until August 31, President Joe Biden's deadline for the end of the Afghan evacuation operations. He added that the US embassy is currently operating out of the airport compound and that the Taliban now rule Afghanistan and would be responsible for managing the airport on their own.

“I won't speak for their plans in the future, but there won't be when the operation is finished and we're leaving the airport because the airport will no longer be under US control,” he stated, Kirby remarked. "How it is managed in the future will be something that the Taliban...will have to deal with on their own, with the help of the international community, I assume. That, however, will not be an American responsibility.”