6 Planes Carrying Americans Being Held 'Hostage' by Taliban in Afghanistan, Rep. Michael McCaul Says

Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, a top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Sunday the Taliban is stopping a half dozen planes with Americans onboard from leaving Afghanistan.

McCaul noted that Americans were being held "hostage" at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport in northern Afghanistan by the Taliban. He said Afghan interpreters were also on the planes, Forbes reported.

McCaul noted that the six airplanes could not take off because they had not received clearance from the Taliban. He said the Taliban wants the U.S. to acknowledge them as the legitimate governing authority in the country.

McCaul noted that the state had cleared the said flights, but the Taliban were not letting the planes leave. According to CBS News correspondent Christina Ruffini, the militant group held multiple flights on the ground at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport.

State Department noted that flights held by the Taliban have permission to land in Doha, Qatar only if and when the Taliban agrees to takeoff, The Blaze reported.

The New York Times reported that about 1,000 people, including dozens of Americans and Afghans holding visas for the U.S. or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for a fifth day on Sunday while awaiting Taliban clearance for flights out of the country.

Planes Carrying American Citizens in Afghanistan

The State Department has already told members of Congress that it would continue monitoring the Taliban grounding of flights and work with lawmakers on the matter.

The department also said they do not have personnel on the ground and any air assets in the country. The State Department added that they also do not control the airspace over Afghanistan or elsewhere in the region, CBS News reported.

Because of this, the department said they do not have a reliable means to confirm the basic details of charter flights, including those who may be organizing them.

The State Department noted that they also could not confirm the "number of U.S. citizens and other priority groups on-board, the accuracy of the rest of the manifest, and where they plan to land, among many other issues."

However, the department said the international community is looking closely at whether the Taliban will live up to its pledge to let people freely depart Afghanistan.

Marina LeGree, the executive director of Ascend, told CBS News that two planes have already been waiting for six days, ready to take between 600 and 1,200 people, including 19 American citizens and two permanent residents.

Ascend is an NGO that educates young women leadership training through athletics.

U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Marine Cpl. Mike Markland released real-life behind-the-scenes video clips showing the hurried evacuation from the Afghanistan capital, Kabul.

According to another The Blaze report, the firsthand footage shows two straight weeks of worsening conditions on the ground. Markland, who was at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at the time, joined together video clips from a GoPro camera attached to his helmet.

He posted the video, which showed how tumultuous and unorganized the evacuation at the Kabul airport was, on his Instagram. However, the post has since been deleted.

He wrote in his caption that he hopes it answers questions, but he also pushes people to ask more. The Marine said almost all had no predesignated plan, adding that they did their absolute best and remained stoic through the sleepless nights and 24/7 work with minimal food and water.

The footage showed babies being handed to the Marines for safety while wounded people are taken to get treatment via a ladder with the lack of medical equipment.

One clip shows a man in civilian clothes bashing another person with the stock of his AK-47.

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Written by: Mary Webber

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