US: You want to escape the Taliban? It will cost you $ 2,000
WASHINGTON – U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said he was withdrawing the idea of the United States charging $ 2,000 for each passenger evacuated from Kabul, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing Sega.bg
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He initially announced that 6,000 people were expected to be evacuated from Afghanistan by US flights overnight and that this would cost $ 2,000 per person, Politico reported.
On Thursday morning, the media quoted a statement from the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Board, which said that “permanent residents of the United States can apply for a repatriation loan.” It is also said that “evacuation flights are not free and passengers will be required to sign a loan agreement and there is a possibility that their passports will not be exchanged until the loan is repaid. The price can be $ 2,000 or more per person.”
On Twitter, Heritage Foundation communications director John Cooper quoted a returnee to the United States as saying that the State Department had demanded $ 2,000 from him and that foreigners should pay even more. ”You want to escape the Taliban? It will cost you as much as your rent for a month, ” Cooper wrote.
An anonymous State Department official initially defended the idea in front of Politico, saying that “US law requires that financial assistance for the evacuation of the US or third-country nationals be provided based on their ability to recover as much as possible.”
However, Price withdrew the request after a social media campaign. “In these extraordinary circumstances, we have no intention of seeking compensation from those fleeing Afghanistan,” Price said in a statement to the New York Post.
However, some civilian flights remain available to those wishing to flee Afghanistan. For example, Air India is committed to continuing operations while Kabul Airport is open. One-way direct tickets to Delhi on Sunday cost $ 147 each.
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