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PENTAGON - The U.S. military is communicating with the Taliban while ramping up the air evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies from the international airport in Kabul, Pentagon officials said Tuesday.
"There's been no hostile interactions from the Taliban to our operations at the airport," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters.
"Our commanders at the airport are in communication with Taliban commanders on the ground outside the airport," he said, adding that communications had occurred "multiple times a day."
Kirby did not elaborate, saying simply, "I would just let the results speak for themselves."
Taliban insurgents led Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when they were overthrown by U.S. and international forces.
Recently, they seized most of the country in a matter of weeks after launching a swift military campaign that caused many Afghan forces to flee or surrender.
General Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, met Sunday with Taliban leadership in Qatar and warned them the U.S. military will use self-defense should the militant group try to interfere with the massive evacuation mission, according to senior defense officials.
Maj. Gen. William "Hank" Taylor told reporters nine U.S. C-17 military transport planes arrived with equipment and approximately 1,000 additional troops late Monday. He said by the end of Tuesday, the total number of U.S. forces on the ground at Hamid Karzai International Airport will be more than 4,000.
Seven C-17s took off with about 800 civilian evacuees, including 165 Americans, for a total of 1,400 to 1,500 evacuated passengers in the last couple of days.
Both officials stressed the military aims to carry out an evacuation flight each hour starting Wednesday, which could potentially evacuate 5,000 to 9,000 people from Afghanistan per day.
The situation at the airport was chaotic Monday as thousands of people gathered there to try to leave the country.
Video from the airport shared on social media showed disorder and desperation, including some Afghans clinging to the sides of a U.S. military aircraft, and what appeared to two people falling from a U.S. military plane after it took off.
A U.S. official who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity Monday said reports of multiple civilian deaths during the takeoff of a U.S. military transport plane Monday were "under investigation."
"The Air Force is taking a look at this, and I think you'll hear more from the Air Force later today about that," Kirby confirmed on Tuesday.
The Pentagon has confirmed at least two deaths at the airport. Two armed gunmen fired into the crowds in two separate incidents, and both were killed by U.S. forces, according to officials who say there was "no indication" that these armed men were Taliban.