Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said that there has been "no decision to change" the August 31 deadline to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan at this point.
"We are focused on doing everything we can inside that deadline to move as many people out as possible," ANI cited him as saying.
Kirby said "if and when there is a decision to change that" deadline, then "obviously that would require additional conversations with the Taliban as well," but added he did not believe those conversations "have happened at this point."
He also said that the U.S. military is in communication with the Taliban to ensure both Americans and at-risk Afghans are able to get to the airport safely.
Kirby said that the U.S. military is in communication with the local Taliban commanders on the ground in Kabul, and they are discussing "making sure that those at-risk Afghans, Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants and additional Afghan citizens that we want to move through are able to move through."
Kirby said the Pentagon is hearing reports that "the process is working," this morning.
He also confirmed that there has been "no hostile interactions between the Taliban" during the evacuation process post terrorist outfit takeover of Afghanistan.
During the briefing, Kirby said Pentagon has seen "reports of the Taliban harassing some Afghans who were trying to move to the airport," and said the US military is in "constant communication" with the Taliban regarding the evacuation.
Kirby said the Defense Department is "hopeful" that there will be an increase in people able to transit through the Kabul airport given the opening of additional gates and increased personnel, but there has yet to be "some dramatic rise."
"We have seen by opening up another gate, by adding consular officers now, we believe that we will soon begin to see an opening up of the aperture and we're hopeful that that means a more consistent increase in the flow," he said at a briefing.
"We've got additional consular officers at these additional gates with additional troops helping the consular officers so I think we're poised to see an increase but I want to be careful before I make predictions," Kirby said. "What we're trying to do, what we want to drive, is an increase. That's very much on everybody's mind."
When asked about communication with the Taliban, Kirby said it's a "fundamental fact of the reality of where we are that communication and a certain measure of agreement with the Taliban on what we're trying to accomplish have to continue to occur."
