The UAE and Qatar have been instrumental staging posts for evacuation flights for Western countries' citizens as well as Afghan interpreters, journalists and others
A source close to the government added that the date had been imposed on France by the plan of the United States, which is providing security at the airport, to pull out by August 31
Dozens of exhausted passengers waited at one of the airport's departure gates during a stopover ahead of the second leg of what they hoped would be their journey to safety
The US State Department had said it was looking into reports of a maritime incident in the Gulf of Oman, but that it was too early to offer a judgement