U.S. says a dozen countries to let Kabul evacuation flights transit

FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Marine assigned to 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit checks in evacuees before their flight during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Afghanistan, August 18, 2021. U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Nicholas Guevara/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government said on Friday that a dozen countries, from Europe to the Middle East and Central Asia, will allow Americans and others evacuated from Kabul to transit their territory as it steps up its evacuation efforts from Afghanistan.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Bahrain, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Turkey, the UAE, the United Kingdom and Uzbekistan had already begun or will soon begin transiting Americans, or in some circumstances others, through their territories.