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Afghanistan updates: US, Taliban hold first direct talks since withdrawal
State Dept. spokesperson Ned Price called the talks "candid and professional."
It's been more than a month since the U.S. withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan on President Joe Biden's order to leave by Aug. 31, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control of the country.
In testimony to Congress last month, their first since the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan -- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, candidly admitted that they had recommended to Biden that the U.S. should keep a troop presence there, appearing to contradict his assertions to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos.
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US, allies evacuate 1,250 people from Kabul in past 24 hours
The United States has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of some 116,700 people from Kabul since Aug. 14, when the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan's capital, according to a White House official.
In a 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday, 26 U.S. military flights carried approximately 1,200 evacuees out of Kabul. Another 50 people were evacuated via two coalition aircraft. During the previous 24-hour period, about 2,900 people were evacuated.
Since the end of July, approximately 122,300 people have been relocated from Kabul via U.S. military and coalition flights, the White House official said.
-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky
Americans are not being turned away at Kabul airport, ambassador says
The evacuation effort in Kabul remains a "high-risk operation," according to Ross Wilson, the acting U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. But he denied that Americans are being turned away by U.S. forces or embassy personnel at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
"This is a high-risk operation," Wilson wrote on Twitter early Monday. "Claims that American citizens have been turned away or denied access to HKIA by Embassy staff or US Forces are false."
Several Republican lawmakers and other critics have accused the Biden administration of refusing to admit U.S. citizens at the airport in Kabul and leaving them behind.
The U.S. Department of State said Sunday that 250 Americans were still seeking to get out of Afghanistan. They have been given specific instructions on when or how to enter Hamid Karzai International Airport, although that journey is still fraught and dangerous. All airport gates are closed and the security threat there remains high.
US anti-missile system fired to intercept rockets at Kabul airport
There are no signs of casualties Sunday night after five rockets were fired toward Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The official said the U.S. military's anti-projectile C-RAM fired to intercept the incoming rockets, though it is not yet clear how many it took out, if any.
The airport remains operational and flights are continuing, the official added.
-ABC News' Matt Seyler
Multiple rockets fired in attack on Kabul airport
As many as five rockets were fired toward Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul Sunday evening, a U.S. official confirms to ABC News.
ABC News is still trying to assess whether there were any casualties inside the airport, whether the airport's defensive counter rocket, artillery, and mortar system was used, and if there were any U.S. counter strikes against suspected launch positions.
ABC News' Matt Seyler