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The Pentagon has acknowledged being in touch with the Taliban to coordinate the mass evacuation, but the State Department hit back on Friday at the notion that anybody had been put at risk.

"The idea that we are providing names or personally identifiable information to the Taliban in a way that exposes anyone to additional risk -- that is simply wrong," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

"We have developed and implemented effective tactics to be in a position to facilitate the safe passage of individuals to the Kabul airport," he said.

For example, Price said, "the vast majority of our locally employed staff are safely on the airport compound.

"These are individuals (against whom) one might expect the Taliban would seek to exact some degree of retribution."

State Department officials said information on vehicles or convoys, such as license plates or arrival times at the airport, is sometimes shared.

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