Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor, vice director for logistics of the Joint Staff, said since the start of US evacuation operations on Aug. 14, about 7,000 have been evacuated from Afghanistan. 

The cumulative number of people moved out of Afghanistan is somewhere near 12,000.

"This increase is reflective of both a ramp up of aircraft and airlift capability, faster processing of evacuees and greater information and fidelity in reporting," Taylor said in a Pentagon briefing. 

The US military troop presence in Kabul is now 5,200 on the ground.

Taylor did not provide a breakdown of numbers on evacuees, but said said that it included American citizens, US embassy personnel, others designated as SIV applicants and other evacuees in coordination with the State Dept.

"We're ready to increase throughput and have scheduled aircraft departure as accordingly. We intend to maximize each plane's capacity, we're prioritizing people above all else. And we're focused on doing this as safely as possible with absolute urgency," he said.

In the past 24 hours, 13 C-17 US military airplanes arrived in Kabul with "additional troops and equipment," Taylor said, and 12 C-17 military planes departed, he added. 

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