While there is no American presence at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the U.S. will maintain its diplomatic presence in the capital city "for as long as it is safe and responsible for us to do so."

He also said that the U.S. and the Taliban remain in contact, especially through U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad who is still in Doha, Qatar, where Taliban political leadership is based.

His mission to support diplomatic talks last week turned into an urgent mission -- "to avert violence, to attempt to maintain order in Kabul, and very, very importantly, to guarantee that the Taliban would not seek to threaten our people or our operations" -- confirming that U.S. officials were asking the Taliban not to attack as they retreated.

Like the Pentagon, Price wouldn't say if there's an agreement with the Taliban that they won't attack the U.S. evacuation efforts -- but he said some talks had been "constructive," and that they'll monitor their actions, not their words.

Evacuations continue at the Kabul airport and State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Monday that those efforts will continue as long as those public servants at the airport are "safe and secure."

"We will be engaged in an ambitious, aggressive and around-the-clock effort to relocate as many as we possibly can," Price said.

The U.S. has evacuated 1,600 people from Kabul on emergency evacuation flights, according to Price. While that includes American personnel, private citizens and some Afghans, he would not provide a breakdown.

The Pentagon announced earlier Monday that the State Department had requested support for up to 22,000 Afghans in the United States and 8,000 overseas, but Price would say only that the U.S. will continue to evacuate Afghans as long as it was safe to do so.

Evacuations will prioritize U.S. personnel and citizens, Price said, but will also include Afghan interpreters and families who've applied for Special Immigrant Visas, those who qualify for P1 or P2 refugee status — working for U.S. NGOs, media outlets, U.S.-funded projects -- and Afghans deemed "vulnerable," "for the work they have done, some for the things they have said, some for nothing more than their gender," Price said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement Monday in support of the president, commending him for his "strong leadership" and "exceptional focus" in bringing the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan to an end.

"He does so ensuring that Americans and our Afghan partners make it to safety as soon as possible and with a continuing laser focus on counterterrorism efforts to protect U.S. interests at home and abroad," she said.

Pelosi also called on the U.S. and the international community to protect the people of Afghanistan, especially the women and girls, "who are at the greatest risk."

"The Taliban must know that the world is watching and will not tolerate its brutal treatment of women and girls," she said in the statement.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan

Nazira Karimi, an Afghan journalist who routinely covers Pentagon briefings, became emotional when she was called on to ask a question Monday afternoon.

"I am very upset today because Afghan women did not expect that overnight all the Taliban came," she said, her voice cracking.

"Where is my president?!" she asked John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, about Ashraf Ghani, who she said "ran away."

"Afghan people they don't know what to do," she said. "Women have a lot of achievements in Afghanistan -- I had a lot of achievement, I left from the Taliban like 20 years ago. Now we go back to the first step again."

In response, Kirby said, "Let me say with all respect that, that I understand -- we all understand -- the anxiety and the fear and the pain that you're feeling."

"It's clear, and it's evident, and nobody here the Pentagon is happy about the images that we've seen coming out in the last few days. In we're all mindful of the governance that the Taliban is capable of," he continued.

"So heartfelt respect to what you're going through, and we understand that a lot of us have spent time in Afghanistan in general mentioned that everything that you're seeing in the last 48 to 72 hours is personal for everybody here at the Pentagon," said Kirby. "We too have invested greatly in Afghanistan and in the progress that women and girls have made, politically, economically, socially, we certainly do understand, we do feel the pain that that you're feeling. Probably not to the same extent. We're focused right now on making sure that that we do the best we can for those Afghans who helped us."