Germany has sent two special forces helicopters to Kabul as NATO allies begin operations to evacuate people from their homes in the Afghan capital to the airport past Taliban checkpoints. 

The German Ministry of Defence on Aug. 20 posted on Twitter that it is “expanding our operation in Afghanistan” with the deployment of two Airbus H145M helicopters aboard an A400M transport plane. 

“We have just informed the German Bundestag about this,” the translated tweet from the German Verteidigungsministerium reads. “Two H-145M helicopters are still being relocated to #Kabul today. The aim is to bring those to be protected from their whereabouts in Kabul to the airport.”

The German Luftwaffe later tweeted a photo of one H145M being loaded onto the transport plane, saying it was being flown from Wunstorf Air Base in northern Germany to Kabul.

European news outlets report that other NATO allies, including the U.K. and France, have sent special forces troops into Kabul to evacuate their citizens to the airport past chaotic crowds of Afghans trying to escape the capital as the Taliban advance through the city and surround the remaining route out of the country.

Meanwhile, the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is focused solely on securing Hamid Karzai International Airport (HKIA). U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in an Aug. 18 press conference said there were at least 5,000 U.S. troops on the ground but they do not have the capability to push into Kabul to rescue American citizens. 

“The forces that we have are focused on the security of the airfield. And you know how important that is, and you know what happens if we — if we lose the ability to provide that security,” Austin said at the Pentagon, standing next to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley. 

“I would draw a distinction between extracting someone in extremis condition or circumstance versus going out and collecting up large numbers of American citizens,” Austin said. “We don’t have the capability to go out and collect up large numbers of people.”

Milley said the U.S. has “significant rotary-wing assets on the ground” at HKIA, including AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and CH-47 Chinooks.

Milley said the U.S. State Department is working with the Taliban to facilitate the safe passage of American citizens and U.S. passport holders to the airport from elsewhere in Afghanistan.

“That’s the primary means, and under the current conditions, that’s the primary effort,” Milley said. “We have the capability to do other things if necessary.”

On Aug. 19, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby and Army Maj. Gen. William Taylor, deputy director for regional operations and force management for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, underscored Austin’s assertion that the U.S. military mission in Kabul is limited to securing HKIA.