The shaky U.S. plan to evacuate its citizens and Afghan locals it has vowed to protect is now at the mercy of an apparent understanding with the Taliban, which could quickly change. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, right, listens to a question accompanied by U.S. Army Major Gen. William Taylor, Joint Staff Operations, during a media briefing at the Pentagon, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, in Washington. The remaining U.S. military presence in Afghanistan isolated at the Kabul airport should be able to evacuate roughly 9,000 passengers per day before the Aug. 31 deadline President Joe Biden has set, the Defense Department said Tuesday, provided the security situation on the ground does not change dramatically further.

The extremely tenuous sense of stability that allowed Pentagon planners to offer that assessment Tuesday morning highlights the fundamental questions that now face the U.S. – chiefly whether the Taliban will allow it to evacuate all of its citizens unopposed, as the insurgent network has claimed, but also whether the remaining American security presence can pull off the relocation of the tens of thousands of Afghans it has pledged to protect.

Whatever peace exists in Afghanistan now comes directly from Taliban decision-making, and it's not clear how long the insurgent network's patience will hold. When asked about the troubling variables on Tuesday morning, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that U.S. commanders on the ground were in communication with Taliban leaders but would not say whether they had reached an agreement about how the Americans may proceed. "I would let the results speak for themselves," Kirby told reporters, saying the two sides interact in some way multiple times per day.

Taliban have blew up Statue of Shiite Foe From 1990s Civil War

'War is not over yet,' Says Amrullah Saleh facing terror group Taliban

Taliban speaks for the first time in Kabul, said- Women will get rights...