At least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the Kabul airport during the evacuation efforts, a NATO official told Reuters on Sunday.

"The crisis outside the Kabul airport is unfortunate. Our focus is to evacuate all foreigners as soon as we can," the official, who sought anonymity, told Reuters. "Our forces are maintaining strict distance from outer areas of the Kabul airport to prevent any clashes with the Taliban."