The White House was left scrambling to cobble together a plan to evacuate Americans and allied Afghans mere hours before the Taliban took control of the war-torn country’s capital last year, leaked documents show.
Notes of an Aug. 14 Situation Room meeting obtained by Axios show Biden administration officials were still discussing and assigning fundamental actions to get thousands of people out of Afghanistan as Taliban forces carried out their final offensive amid the US troop withdrawal.
“State will work to identify as many countries as possible to serve as transit points. Transit points need to be able to accommodate US citizens, Afghan nationals, third country nationals, and other evacuees,” the summary said, then added in bold, “(Action: State, immediately)”
The document added that the US Embassy in Kabul would tell locally employed staff to “begin to register their interest” in relocation to the US and prepare “immediately” for departure.
The document further revealed that the administration was planning to evacuate at least 5,000 individuals from Afghanistan per day and would prioritize US citizens and their family members, followed by US government employees and contractors; embassy staff; Afghan contractors working with the embassy; CIA “priority partners”; and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants “who are post-Chief of Mission and have approved I-360 Petitions.”
The meeting was chaired by White House homeland security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and included Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Gen. John Hyten. It was held on the afternoon of the 14th and lasted an hour. Hours after it adjourned, the Taliban entered Kabul and its fighters lounged in the vacated presidential palace.
National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne told Axios it wouldn’t comment on leaked documents, but said “cherry-picked notes from one meeting do not reflect the months of work” underway at the time.
“Earlier that summer, we launched Operation Allies Refuge and had worked with Congress to pass legislation that gave us greater flexibility to quickly relocate Afghan partners,” Horne said.
“It was because of this type of planning and other efforts that we were able to facilitate the evacuation of more than 120,000 Americans, legal permanent residents, vulnerable Afghans and other partners.”
The Taliban reconquest of Kabul led to scenes of chaos and panic at the capital’s international airport, as thousands of Afghans swarmed the terminal building and runway, looking for precious seats on flights out of the country.
The Biden administration was heavily criticized for the withdrawal, which failed to evacuate all American citizens and Afghan allies before the Aug. 31 deadline set by the Taliban.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) slammed the White House Tuesday for what he saw as a lack of accountability in the aftermath of the withdrawal.
“New leaked docs show the Biden Administration in total disarray as Afghanistan collapses, with thousands of Americans trapped, and NOT ONE person responsible has yet resigned. Not one,” he tweeted.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) accused President Biden of lying to the American people about not having a plan.
“Joe Biden did not just fail at withdrawing from Afghanistan— he did not have a plan and lied to the American people about it,” she wrote.
Florida GOP Rep. Mike Waltz, a veteran of the Afghan war, tweeted: “Bipartisan veteran members of Congress began demanding, asking, practically begging, the admin to begin the evacuation as soon as Biden made the withdrawal announcement in April, 2021. We were stonewalled and ignored while they dithered. Infuriating. ZERO accountability.”
“Radical weakness & manifest incompetence is a really bad combination,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wrote. “The disaster in Afghanistan was entirely preventable.”
Earlier this month, CNN reported that approximately 80 Americans still remain in the embattled country – five months after the last US troops left.
The non-profit volunteer organization No One Left Behind is tracking approximately 10,500 Afghans who are eligible for, have applied for, or are in the process of getting SIVs and have requested help leaving Afghanistan. The organization is also tracking more than 45,000 accompanying family members.
In December, the organization was tracking approximately 10,000 SIV-eligible Afghans and roughly 38,000 family members.
Meanwhile, Axios reported Tuesday that Qatar has reached a deal with the Taliban to resume evacuation flights out of Kabul after a months-long pause. The deal will allow the US and other allies to continue their evacuation efforts.
No One Left Behind told The Post on Wednesday that while the flights do help their mission to evacuate allies and partners, the pace of departure is still not fast enough.
“Many of the people with whom we are in contact are starving in addition to being hunted by local Taliban,” the organization said. “We are prepared to assist in any way we can, including by conducting additional flights ourselves to third countries if necessary, and we stand by to assist the administration to do so.”
