KABUL, Afghanistan — Two Qatari officials say they expect 100 to 150 Americans to fly out from Kabul’s airport in the coming hours.
If confirmed, this would mark the first large-scale evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan since the last U.S. forces left the country at the end of August.
The officials say the Americans would leave later Thursday on a Qatari flight that had delivered humanitarian aid to Afghanistan earlier Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The departure of a large group of Americans would also signal that U.S. officials have come to an arrangement with the new Taliban rulers. In recent days, there had been a stand-off between the Taliban and organizers of several charter planes who had hoped to evacuate Americans and at-risk Afghans from an airport in northern Afghanistan.
The Taliban have said they would let passengers with valid travel documents leave, but that many of those at the northern airport did not have such papers.