US commercial planes drafted to help move people evacuated from Afghanistan on to other countries

Commercial planes from the US will be used to help with the movement of people evacuated from Afghanistan, the Pentagon has announced.

A spokesman for the US Department of Defense said on Sunday that 18 aircraft – from companies including United, American Airlines and Delta – would not fly into Kabul directly.

Instead, they will transport people who have already been taken out of Afghanistan and are travelling on to third countries.

No major impact is expected on commercial flights, the spokesman said.

So far, more than a dozen countries have agreed to act as transit points for American military flights evacuating US and other nationals from the Afghan capital.