this army and this government in 11 days. nonetheless, we planned and enter sielsed a wide range of contingencies. because of that planning we were able to draw down our embassy and move remaining personnel to the airport within 48 hours and the military placed on stand by by president biden secured the airport and started the evacuation within 72 hours. yes, that evacuation was an extraordinary effort under the most difficult conditions imaginable by our diplomats, military and intelligence professionals. they worked around the clock to get american citizens, afghans who helped us. sit since of allies and partners out of the country or to transit locations that our diplomats had worked. we reached out to americans still in country making 5,000 phone calls, sending 33,000
emails by august 31st and they re still at it. in the midst of this effort an isis attack killed 13 service members and wounded 20 others, killed and wounded scores of afghans. our service members gave their lives so that others can continue to live theirs. in the end, we completed one of the biggest air lifts in history with 124,000 people evacuated to safety. on august 31st in kabul the military mission in afghanistan officially ended and a new diplomatic mission began. i want to acknowledge the more than two dozen countries that have helped with the relocation effort. some serving as transit hubs, some welcoming afghan evacuees for longer periods of time and as the 9/11 report suggested, it is essential that we accelerate the appointments
americans and afghans to whom we have a special commitment depart afghanistan if they choose. just as we ve done in other countries where we have evacuated our embassy and hundreds or even thousands of americans remain behind. for example, in libya, syria, venezuela, yemen, somalia, there is no deadline to this effort. third, we re focussed on counter-terrorism. taliban s committed to prevent terrorist groups from using afghanistan as a base for external operations that could threaten the united states or our allies including al qaeda and isis-k. we ll hold them accountable for that. that does not mean that we will rely on them. we ll maintain a vigilant effort to monitor threats, robust counter-terrorism capabilities in the rpg to neutralize if necessary. and around the world where we do
nonetheless, we planned and exercised a wide range of contingencies. because of that planning we were able to move our remaining personnel to the airport within 48 hours an the military placed on stand by, by president biden, was able to evacuate with an extraordinary effort nor the most difficult conditions imaginable. but our diplomats, by our military, by our intelligence professionals. they worked around the clock to get americans citizens, allies and partners and at risk afghans on planes, out of the country and off to the united states or to transit locations that our diplomats have arranged or negotiated in multiple countries. we worked to reach out to americans still in the country making 55,000 phone calls, sending 33,000 emails by august 31st. and they re still at it. in the midst of this heroic