US orders staff to leave Kabul due to threats

The United States has ordered non-essential staff to leave its Kabul embassy, citing increased threats as Washington prepares to end its 20-year war in Afghanistan. 

The State Department said in a travel advisory that it had "ordered the departure from US embassy Kabul of US government employees whose functions can be performed elsewhere."

Ross Wilson, the acting US ambassador in Kabul, said the order affected an unspecified "relatively small number" of employees and that the embassy would remain operating.

Earlier this month Biden said he would withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by September 11.