HOSTAGE CRISIS: Taliban stop planes of evacuees from leaving, officials say.

At least four planes chartered to evacuate several hundred people seeking to escape the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan have been unable to leave in a situation one U.S. lawmaker said Sunday is becoming a “hostage” situation. . . .

An Afghan official at the airport in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif said that the would-be passengers were Afghans, many of whom did not have passports or visas, and thus were unable to leave the country. He said they had left the airport while the situation was sorted out.

But Rep. Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the group included Americans and they were sitting on the planes, and that the Taliban were not letting them take off. . . .

“This is really … turning into a hostage situation where they’re not going to allow American citizens to leave until they get full recognition from the United States of America,” McCaul told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” according to a transcript.

“The Taliban will not let them leave the airport,” he said, adding that he’s worried “they’re going to demand more and more, whether it be cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistan.” McCaul did not offer more details or say where that information came from.

Well, that’s just peachy.