LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Several Las Vegans, some Afghans themselves, rallied in Las Vegas on Saturday in support of increased efforts to evacuate American citizens and allies from Afghanistan after the U.S.-backed government fell to the Taliban earlier this month.
Supporters chanted "Free Afghanistan" and "Down with the Taliban" while protesting.
One Las Vegas resident from Afghanistan, Hela Naziri, said the situation in Afghanistan's capital Kabul became much more desperate following an ISIS-K planned suicide bombing outside of the airport that killed 13 U.S. service members and at least 170 Afghan citizens.
Naziri said the images of thousands of people standing outside of the Kabul airport gates waiting for help have been unacceptable.
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"Our country is bleeding, people are dying, people are trying to leave, those with documentation and those without documentation," she said."They are oppressed. the women who are oppressed want to leave. The kids that are trying to go to school they want to leave."
The Pentagon has said 6,800 people have been evacuated in the last 24 hours and currently the U.S. military has flown 5,400 American citizens out of the country.
About 350 Americans who want to leave are still in Afghanistan, and nearly 300 have either told government officials that they wish to stay or haven't been contacted.
The U.S. military presence in Afghanistan is slated to end on Tuesday, and the military said the 5,000 troops in the country have already begun their withdrawal.
