Some 1,500 Americans still in Afghanistan in last days of U.S. evacuation.

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — About 1,500 American citizens remain in Afghanistan, and about a third of them are in contact with the U.S. government and hope to leave in the coming days, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday. Some of the remaining 1,000 may not want to leave, Mr. Blinken said, describing an ever-changing estimate that the Biden administration has grappled to pin down as American troops wind down an evacuation effort that has overwhelmed the airport in Kabul, the capital.

That number does not include legal permanent American residents, or green card holders, he said. Mr. Blinken said more than 4,500 U.S. citizens have so far been flown out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14, as the Taliban bore down on Kabul. He said the State Department has sent more than 20,000 emails and made 45,000 phone calls to identify and locate Americans in Afghanistan ahead of an Aug. 31 withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country after 20 years of war.

But Mr. Blinken sought to assure that any Americans or Afghans who have worked with the U.S. mission and want to leave after that date should be free to do so. “That effort will continue every day,” he said. U.S. and allied planes flew an additional 19,200 people out of Kabul in the past 24 hours, officials said on Wednesday, as the Biden administration made substantial inroads into evacuating American citizens and Afghans who worked for the United States over the last 20 years.

More than 10,000 people were still inside the international airport in Kabul awaiting flights out of the country on Wednesday, and Afghans with proper credentials continued to be cleared into the airfield, Pentagon officials said. With President Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline for the withdrawal of American troops rapidly approaching, tens of thousands of Afghans who qualify for special immigration visas are also waiting to be evacuated. As of 3 a.m. in Washington, the United States had evacuated about 82,300 people from Kabul’s international airport since the government fell to Taliban forces.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/08/25/world/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-biden-news/some-1500-americans-still-in-afghanistan-in-last-days-of-us-evacuation

---

This should be kept in mind -

As of 3 a.m. in Washington, the United States had evacuated about 82,300 people from Kabul’s international airport since the government fell to Taliban forces.

[JustAnotherGen]

1. The last 1500

At some point - if they are refusing to leave - we have to document that - and give space to Aghan allies and their families.

82,300 - makes the 'we botched this' posts from 10 days ago look really really stupid in the rearview mirror.

[George II]

2. Objective observers are calling this the smoothest, most efficient, and LARGEST evacuation....

....ever conducted by the US, possibly any country.

[JustAnotherGen]

7. And those observers are correct

If you search posts from say - august 15 - folks really had their hair on fire.

[PoliticAverse]

16. I guess "objective observers" missed the movie _Dunkirk_ n/t

[onetexan]

17. i just wana scream at the tv when i hear Mika on Morning joe blabber on about how Biden is defiant

and sticking to the 8/31 drawdown. Oy vey

[Moebym]

24. My own friend, a staunch Democrat,

Called Biden defiant just last Wednesday.

I wonder if he's changed his mind since then.

[former9thward]

26. Not even close.

340,000 troops were evacuated in 8 days at Dunkirk.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Dunkirk-evacuation

[George II]

29. troops. We're talking about a rag-tag group of now about 100,000 civilians...

...men, women, and children, most of whom don't speak English, being evacuated from an airport surrounded by hostile Taliban.

The Dunkirk evacuation was 340,000 well trained mostly English speaking troops being evacuated.

[former9thward]

36. Oh please.

Dunkirk was done by untrained people and a rag tag fleet of boats crossing from England. People came in sailboats and row boats. Kabul is being evacuated by a sophisticated air force by well trained military.

[Decoy of Fenris]

46. 500,000 civilians moved over 18 hours, by civilian boat, by civilian captains (and National Guard)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_response_following_September_11_attacks

[Calista241]

39. Objective observers are also overlooking the withdrawal from Saigon in the 1970's.

We got over 130k Americans and Vietnamese out of South Vietnam and resettled the vast majority of them in the US within a few weeks.

[Decoy of Fenris]

45. "Objective observers" are idiots, then. Dunkirk, 9/11 boatlift, I could name quite a few more. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

4. It would not surprise me that there are

Afghani's who were born here in the U.S. (whether children of refugees from this most recent U.S. involvement or from the time in the '80s when the U.S. was proxy-battling the Soviets, and/or who have/had one parent who is/was a U.S. citizen) and since they were then automatically citizens, they may have returned to their parent(s)' family there, married a local, and started their own life/families there.

[Lasher]

20. Good point.

I have been wondering how many of them have dual citizenship. Surely some.

[Grokenstein]

13. "But, but, but it could have gone smoother!!"

"How?"
"Duhhhhh... It could have... Gone perfectly?"
"What could they have done differently?"
"Errrrr... Something? To make it go perfectly? Look, I'm just saying..."
"Let's talk about Syria for a second."
"Gotta go, I hear Mom calling."

[onetexan]

18. yup, taliban w keep things real smooth and without bloodshed for ya *sarcasm dripping*

[JustAnotherGen]

19. I love this!

Spot on! They are just looking for reasons to take pot shots. This has been a MASSIVE and effective effort to save the lives of human beings.

[George II]

30. While waiting for her evacuation flight, one of the earliest (four or five days ago)....

Clarissa Ward was complaining that the rest rooms hadn't been cleaned! REALLY!

[Calista241]

40. From what I've heard on the news, mainly the BBC,

Many of those Americans are trapped at Taliban checkpoints on the roads to Kabul. The ones i saw interviewed at 100 miles from Kabul and are sitting in gridlock as the Taliban are not allowing the free flow of traffic.

[Ninga]

3. Sec Blinken said some 1,000 Americans remain. Headline does not correctly reflect his words. Nt

[BumRushDaShow]

5. The sub-paragraph at the OP link under the headline says this

The secretary of state says there are still 500 Americans trying to get out of Afghanistan and another 1,000 who may not want to leave. Tens of thousands of Afghans who qualify for special immigration visas are also still waiting for evacuation.

[Ninga]

11. Thanks. I was mistaken.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. I expect in reality they probably don't have a hard number in any case

It'll always be an estimate. There are probably some who chose not to respond to the inquiries into what they want to do.

[wnylib]

27. I am wondering what American would

want to stay. I could understand those who have dual citizenship and Afghan families choosing to stay, but are there any other reasons for American citizens to remain?

[BumRushDaShow]

28. I think the dual citizens/immigrants are probably the bulk

We have been involved with Afghanistan for a long long time (even before now, the last "extended" time from back in the '80s).

For example what I posted I also posted in the thread - https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2791319

There was a mid-way point after Bin Laden was taken out when I expect there was some sort of "stability" there, so I wouldn't be surprised if children of some of the earliest immigrants (who were born here and are then citizens), decided to "go (to their ancestral) home" and perhaps married someone there, and started a family.

I had many coworkers in the past who were naturalized citizens from countries from all around the world, and most made trips "back home" (except the couple of Cubans) - some even yearly.

I think you also have media ("foreign correspondents" ) and those who work for NGOs, who want to stay "embedded" there. They have made a career there, made friends there, and may have even married a local and started a family (in essence, something close to being an "ex pat" ).

Otherwise it's possible they really don't have an exact number for who are actually still there due to some who may have already left but never "checked out" (as they were supposed to do) of the Embassy when they exited.

[wnylib]

32. I grew up around children of immigrants

(post WWII Europeans who had worked with the US military in the war and then came to the US), so I understand about visits to the ancestral homeland. I have also taught English to immigrants, some of whom later became personal friends, and they visit their birth countries often. But none of them went into war zones or occupied countries to do it. I guess strong cultural and family ties can motivate people to take risks, although even my naturalized Mexican-American friend, who used to visit Mexico every year, stopped going when Trump was elected.

[BumRushDaShow]

33. One of my former co-workers

who was from Sierra-Leone, went back yearly and because his family clan never recognized the formation of neighboring "Liberia", they owned land cut through by the "border" and thus live in either of the countries (and he would travel between them on his trips back). Both of those countries have been basket cases the past 30 years, but I assumed he knew the lay of the land and just went about his business.

A couple were from Italy and came here in the '50s, but had parents who were still there, so they would go back and forth every couple years (usually saving up their vacation time so they could go and stay 6 weeks at a time). Another was from Hungary and had brought her mother here with her, and both refused to go back.

Most of the immigrant children I grew up with were either from Ukraine, what was then Czechoslovakia, Iran, Turkey, the Philippians, and Guyana. I'm not sure how much their parents went back and forth but I expect a few may have.

[wnylib]

35. Most of the immigrant children that

Last edited Thu Aug 26, 2021, 02:35 PM - Edit history (1)

I grew up with were from Italy. There were also some from Poland, Czeckoslovakia, and Hungary who fled when the Russians came in. Their parents had been partisans, resistance fighters, and displaced persons.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. I know my Depression era mom (1930 baby) grew up with Poles

and would talk about the Polish ladies in the neighborhood (we had quite a few Poles here in Philly who probably came here during WW1) and the forays to the neighborhood dubbed "Pulaski town", as well as their annual Pulaski Day parades that they still have (to celebrate the Revolutionary War Gen. Pulaski, who was Polish, and to commemorate Polish independence).

She was in high school during WW2 and would talk about all the immigrants coming over back then who she said would often get beat up by the other kids in school.

[wnylib]

38. I might have created a timeline misunderstanding

when I said that "they" were partisans, etc. I changed it to "their parents."

I was a child in the 1950s, when the post WWII Italians arrived with their children after being vetted and allowed to immigrate after the war.

There was already a large number of Italian-Americans and Polish-Americans in Erie whose parents and grandparents had come to the US around 1890 to 1930. My own grandparents had come to the US from Germany as very young children during that time period (1888 and 1890).

The people who came after WWII settled in the enclaves that had been created by the earlier immigrants from their countries. My mother had grown up as a first generation American in the same neighborhood that I did, which had been mostly German and Italian then in her childhood. My parents bought their first house there from an old family friend. In my later teens we moved to the suburbs.

There were Italian-American teachers at my grade
school who, as first generation Americans, had learned some Italian from their parents and were able to help the new students.

[Atticus]

6. I heard what Secretary Blinken said. The operative word was "may", as in "we have had contact with

an additional 1,000 who MAY be American citizens."

Also, since March, we have sent each enrolled US citizen NINETEEN separate communications "encouraging" or "urging" them to depart Afghanistan and offering logistical and even financial assistance if they needed it. Most of those still there chose to be there.

The Biden Team has been "taking care of business" and I for one am ready to get loud with any ignoramus spreading contrary BS.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. See this just above

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2791169

[George II]

9. But for some who have been obstructed or couldn't make it to the airport for some reason....

I'm amazed that any wanting to leave the country aren't already at the airport. There comes a point where it's their responsibility, not the US military's responsibility.

[Ninga]

12. Sen Blinken did say that since April, many many emails/communications American were urged to leave.

[George II]

14. Right, this didn't sneak up on anyone (ps - you mean Secy?)

[Ohioboy]

10. And when the whole thing is an overall success we must remember who wanted it to fail

This kind of thing is never easy. But having people hoping it fails so they can claim their guy would have (maybe) done better is sick.

[PoliticAverse]

21. Students from San Diego County school district stranded in Afghanistan

At least 24 students from the Cajon Valley Union School District in El Cajon and 16 parents are stranded in Afghanistan after taking a summer trip abroad.

They are among thousands of individuals waiting to leave the country amid political unrest caused by the U.S. military pullout after 20 years of occupation. The U.S. government is accelerating efforts to rescue Americans as the Taliban takes over the country.

Cajon Valley Supt. David Miyashiro told school district board members via text message Tuesday that he and other Cajon Valley staff met virtually with U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) and his staff about the situation.

Miyashiro said that the families are on special visas for U.S. military service and that the Department of Defense considers them allies. He said that the district was able to provide information on the families and that government officials are working to locate the children and their families. He said he was encouraged by the assistance.

Read the rest at: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan?utm_id=36108&sfmc_id=4509190

Additional story in the issue:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/california-students-afghanistan-stranded-cajon-b1908817.html

[BumRushDaShow]

22. They are all immigrant students and their parents with families still living in Afghanistan

(snip)

“They’re still in Afghanistan trying to find their way to the airport or on an airplane,” Michael Serban, director of Family & Community Engagement for the Cajon Valley Union School District, which is home to a number of migrant and refugee families, told CBS8. “Several of our families over summer break independently decided to go home to Afghanistan and see their extended family. A lot of the families, their nuclear families are here but all their grandparents and everybody are still in Afghanistan.”

(snip)

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/california-students-afghanistan-stranded-cajon-b1908817.html

I.e., they are not random "students" who happened to plan a "summer vacation" in what has been the 20-year war zone that is Afghanistan.

[PoliticAverse]

23. I hope they can get the rest of their relatives out with them. n/t

[niyad]

25. Thank you. I was wondering who, in their correct mind, would holiday in a war zone.

[Calista241]

41. They had a hard decision to make

Everyone knew the Taliban were going to take control, and during the last year, international air travel was not available due to COVID.

Once international flights resumed, they saw this as their last chance to see their families for several years once the US withdrew. The problem is the US withdrawal is happening months ahead of schedule.

[BumRushDaShow]

42. "The problem is the US withdrawal is happening months ahead of schedule."

Didn't TFG announce a "withdrawal by May 1st, 2021"?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-afghanistan-war-withdrawal/

A "deal" was negotiated back in February 2020 -

Was Biden handcuffed by Trump's Taliban deal in Doha?

By Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker | AP
August 19, 2021 at 9:40 a.m. EDT

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump’s administration signed a peace deal with the Taliban in February 2020, he optimistically proclaimed that “we think we’ll be successful in the end.” His secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, asserted that the administration was “seizing the best opportunity for peace in a generation.” Eighteen months later, President Joe Biden is pointing to the agreement signed in Doha, Qatar, as he tries to deflect blame for the Taliban overrunning Afghanistan in a blitz. He says it bound him to withdraw U.S. troops, setting the stage for the chaos engulfing the country.

But Biden can go only so far in claiming the agreement boxed him in. It had an escape clause: The U.S. could have withdrawn from the accord if Afghan peace talks failed. They did, but Biden chose to stay in it, although he delayed the complete pullout from May to September. Chris Miller, acting defense secretary in the final months of the Trump administration, chafed at the idea that Biden was handcuffed by the agreement. “If he thought the deal was bad, he could have renegotiated. He had plenty of opportunity to do that if he so desired,” Miller, a top Pentagon counterterrorism official at the time the Doha deal was signed, said in an interview.

Renegotiating, though, would have been difficult. Biden would have had little leverage. He, like Trump, wanted U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. Pulling out of the agreement might have forced him to send thousands more back in. He made that point Monday, saying in a televised address from the White House that he would not commit to sending more American troops to fight for Afghanistan’s future while also harkening back to the Trump deal to suggest that the withdrawal path was predetermined by his predecessor. “The choice I had to make, as your president, was either to follow through on that agreement or be prepared to go back to fighting the Taliban in the middle of the spring fighting season,” Biden said.

(snip)

“They wanted U.S. forces out, and they wanted to take over the country militarily, and they believed that they could do that,” Curtis said of the Taliban. “That was just crystal clear.” The agreement called for the U.S. to bring down its forces to 8,600 from 13,000 over the following three to four months, with the remaining U.S. forces withdrawing in 14 months, or by May 1.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/was-biden-handcuffed-by-trumps-taliban-deal-in-doha/2021/08/19/a7ee1a50-00a2-11ec-87e0-7e07bd9ce270_story.html

The "problem" is that people were ready to go another 20 years of taking taxpayer money and shoveling it into the MIC instead of spending it here to fix this country. And that has put Biden into the unenviable position of dealing with this bullshit while TRYING to get that taxpayer money to the people who really need it, let alone handle a pandemic being fueled by a bunch of lunatic purveyors of death-by-coronavirus.

[Calista241]

43. Clearly US forces weren't out of Afghanistan when these students went over there

well after May 1st. And nobody gives a shit what the Trump admin negotiated or did. The Biden Administration has its own foreign policy, its own Afghanistan priorities and hadn't abided any of the Trump timelines in any case.

Regardless, blaming these people for their evacuation problems isn't a good move.

[BumRushDaShow]

44. There had already been a major drawdown of forces before Biden was even inaugurated

I highlighted this quote from one of Biden's pressers above but will shorten it (and I literally just heard him reiterate it during his presser that he just concluded) -

Pulling out of the agreement might have forced him to send thousands more back in. He made that point Monday, saying in a televised address from the White House that he would not commit to sending more American troops to fight for Afghanistan’s future

Remember, he only recently sent 4000 additional "back in" to supplement and help to do what they are doing now. They had apparently drawn down to 1000 before he did that -

Biden sends 5,000 troops to Afghanistan as the Taliban captures key northern city

Courtney Subramanian and Tom Vanden Brook USA TODAY
Published 5:26 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2021 | Updated 6:51 p.m. ET Aug. 14, 2021


WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced Saturday that he has authorized the deployment of 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to ensure "an orderly and safe" drawdown and evacuate U.S. personnel as well as Afghans who helped American troops as Taliban militants continued to make rapid territorial gains across the country.

The president dispatched 1,000 troops in addition to the 3,000 the Pentagon sent to Afghanistan earlier this week and 1,000 troops who are already on the ground, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. The troops will help evacuate military personnel from Kabul as the Taliban continues to expand territorial gains at a stunning speed, raising fears they could soon topple the Afghan government.

Biden said U.S. officials have warned Taliban officials that any action on the ground in Afghanistan that threatens the safety of U.S personnel or the mission there "will be met with a swift and strong U.S. military response."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/14/biden-us-sending-5-000-troops-afghanistan-assist-drawdown/8138113002/

And those "students" (immigrants) went over in the summer, against the recommendations of their school district. American citizens had been warned MULTIPLE TIMES since April, to start leaving (well before these folks decided to make that trip).

How about we evacuate some people from Haiti who are suffering from a terrible earthquake and then got hit by a tropical storm?



What about all the women and young girls in northern Nigeria who kept getting "kidnapped" and held by fucking Boka Haram (the last incident was this past July)??



It's obvious why one group is more revered than the others.

It's been 20 fucking years. WE ARE DONE. ENOUGH.

(sorry to rant but I am sick of this)

[George II]

31. I saw an estimate this morning that only about 150 Americans who want to leave are left....

All the others are planning on staying.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. That probably makes more sense

and that might include that group of California students whose parents are immigrants (along with them) who decided to travel back there as a group to visit family over the summer, and are now stuck trying to get back.