Washington

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that up to 22,000 Afghans and their families could be housed at the installations.

Kirby did not identify more specific locations.

Thousands of Afghans who assisted the US as interpreters and in other roles have been desperate to leave Afghanistan since before the government fell to the Taliban over the weekend, in the shadow of an August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of US forces.

Kirby told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the US Defense and State departments are working together to evacuate as many Americans and Afghans as quickly as possible.

Kirby says several thousand US service members now arriving in Afghanistan will there for the next couple of weeks to help with the evacuation.

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