Second group of US lawmakers denied permission to land in Kabul

Flight last spotted over Azerbaijan as congressmen say trip to airfield changed their minds on withdrawal timeline

A plane that’s believed to have been carrying US lawmakers was denied permission to land in Kabul.

The jet could be seen on open-source air traffic websites as it flew over Turkmenistan, but the plane’s final destination and route were unclear, CNN reported.

Flying from Athens, Greece, the plane was last seen over Baku, Azerbaijan.

Which members of Congress were part of the delegation is still unclear.

Democratic Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Republican Peter Meijer of Michigan visited the Kabul airfield on Tuesday “to conduct oversight on the mission to evacuate Americans and our allies”.

The trip was criticised by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who said: “We don’t want anyone to think this was a good idea. There’s a real concern about members being in the region.”

Thousands of people are still trying to get out of Afghanistan as two explosions occurred in Kabul on Thursday – one directly outside the airport, resulting in both Afghan and US casualties, and another at a nearby hotel which has served as a base for the British.

After first arguing that the US should extend its 31 August deadline for troop withdrawal, the trip changed the minds of Mr Moulton and Mr Meijer, who are both veterans of the Iraq War and have been criticizing President Joe Biden for the sped-up withdrawal.

“Almost every veteran in Congress wants to extend the August 31 deadline, including us, and our opinion on that was changed on the ground because we started the evacuations so late,” Mr Moulton told The New York Times. “There’s no way we can get everyone out, even by September 11. So we need to have a working relationship with the Taliban after our departure. And the only way to achieve that is to leave by August 31.”

“It is utterly bizarre and baffling that we’re in this position. To go from having the Taliban as an adversary we’re seeking to kill, to relying upon them for security, coordinating to make sure things run smoothly,” Mr Meijer told the paper. “It’s a complicated situation that’s impossible to understand if you’re not on the ground and yet critical to saving the lives of tens of thousands.”

“There are tireless diplomatic officials there who have been working around the clock to clear backlogs, to work on the permissions needed to land in order to make sure all of this goes smoothly,” he added.

Mr Moulton said that “one of the critical things we learned from our visit is that the task force prioritizing all the [special immigrant visa] applicants is overwhelmed by requests from members of Congress. That’s never been communicated to us, but that is something that we are now communicating to our colleagues”.