General view of the crowds of people near the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan August 23, 2021. As many as 20,000 are waiting at the airport and 33 C-17 jets are on the way which could carry almost all of them but US officials are said to have changed the policy to only allow through US citizens
* There are as many as 20,000 people at the airport in Kabul, all waiting to board flights on US or NATO jets
* The US has no total for how many Americans remain in Afghanistan at the airport or in Taliban-held cities
* Overnight, 10,400 people total were flown out on 28 US flights - an average of 371 people per flight
* The US is insisting on people having the right paperwork before they let them onto planes
* An unnamed official cited by CNN said only US or NATO citizens or Green Card holders will be let through
* The US has promised to take up to 22,000 Afghan refugees but it can't issue their SIV visas fast enough
* Over the last few days, nameless, digital SIV visas were issued which caused chaos because they were replicated en-masse
* Despite shipping tens of thousands of people out over the last week, the crowd at the airport is unrelenting
* Most of them are Afghans who do not have a guaranteed seat on any flight but are hoping to escape
US officials claim they will be able to get every remaining American out of Afghanistan by August 31, even though they have no idea how many remain in the officials have ordered troops to only allow American citizens, Green Card holders and other foreign nationals through the gates of Kabul airport to board evacuation flights, leaving tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghan refugees stranded outside while the Taliban tightens its grip, CNN has reported.
Troops have been processing both Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans like translators or others who helped in the war, and most of the US evacuation flights have been full of Afghan nationals so far.
Read more ....
Update: Afghan visa applicants told to stay away from Kabul airport as US races to meet exit deadline (CNN)
WNU Editor: Only American citizens, Green Card holders and other foreign nationals are now permitted through the gates of Kabul airport to board evacuation flights. It looks like the rush is now on to get out of Kabul by next week, if not sooner.
Update #2: There is another operations suspension at the airport .... Kabul airport suspends operation until further notice — Afghan aviation agency (TASS).
Update #3: I concur with this assessment. When people realize that they will not be permitted on these flights, there will be mass panic .... EXCLUSIVE: Former NATO adviser to Afghan government says Biden's August 31 deadline is 'folly' and could trigger panic at Kabul airport after Taliban threatened 'consequences' if US forces stay longer than the end of the month (Daily Mail).
3 comments:
What might those "consequence" be? The US quit Afghanistan because it was/is one of many fruitless foreign missions that don't advance our interests but actually undermine them. The Taliban did not actually force the US off the battlefield.
The US is arguably the most powerful country on earth. Many believe it to be the most powerful on earth. Right now the Taliban is in control of a country with vast rare earth elements. If they can behave like a semi normal country, they will be allowed to keep control of this indefinitely. Al foreign aid will continue. Instead of doing business with the previous boss of Afghanistan they will do business with the new one. Should they overreach, they will not be allowed to keep Afghanistan.
My sense is that Joe Biden would have no qualms about taking us to war against China, Russia, or both of them at that same time if he felt it necessary to protect Hunter regardless of the consequences to the rest of us. Furthermore the leadership class will back him up. As such, they are going to have no problem changing course on Afghanistan should the Taliban overreach and start overly threatening "consequences." In any event, I think the Taliban wishes to remain in power so I suspect the situation will be resolved favorably to team Biden before 9/11 with all of our people out and 90+% of those who assisted us out as well by then. In the unlikely event that the date needs to be extended, the leadership class will do so. They've broken agreements before and the Taliban will take it as they wish to remain in power. Sure they may fume a little but that's about all they can do.
Another thing the Taliban need to be aware of is that, while Trump was an anomaly, when foreign leaders attack and/or insult our leaders whether we generally support that leader's policy or not or like that leader personally we tend to close ranks in support of that leader. As such, the Taliban may talk about things to "shock the senses" or about "humiliating" the Americans and their leaders the desire to remain in power will prevent them from doing so.
An other "change" through broken promise. What next?
Agree with some of what B.Poster said. The part of this that irritates me the most is these so called consequences. Any 1/2 way competent leadership would get some assets in place for the deadline date so that those supposed consequences can be nullified. Pathetic.
Post a Comment