WASHINGTON – The State Department on Tuesday ordered a significant number of its remaining staff at the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul to leave Afghanistan as the military steps up the pullout of American troops from the country. The department said it had instructed all personnel to depart unless their jobs require them to be physically located in Afghanistan.
The order was not specific as to the number of people affected, but it went well beyond the usual curtailment of staffers for security and safety reasons.
Such orders normally apply only to non-essential personnel. In an updated travel advisory for Afghanistan, the department said it had ordered the departure of all U.S.