“We are f***ing abandoning Americans': Text messages from military commanders reveal how angry they were at state of evacuation mission”
Text messages and emails between U.S. military commanders and private citizens show frustrations among some military leaders for leaving Afghanistan while some U.S. citizens remained in the country, communications revealed Tuesday.
We are f***ing abandoning American citizens," an Army colonel assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division wrote Sunday in a series of encrypted messages. It is unclear to whom the message was sent.
The messages, provided to Just the News by war correspondent and former Special Forces operative Michael Yon, undermine President Joe Biden's description on Tuesday of the "extraordinary success" regarding the mission to withdraw U.S. troops from the country ahead of an Aug. 31 deadline, which saw the remaining military forces leave Afghanistan on Tuesday.
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A group of U.S. citizens were left stranded at the Kabul airport and were pleading for military assistance but were allegedly rejected when military officials told the citizens they were finished with evacuations, Yon told the outlet.
"Everyone is having a hard time getting in the gate. AMCITs [American citizens] can't get past TB [Taliban] check points," an Army colonel said in a text on Sunday. "I am only aware of a handful of families that are still trying to get in right now."
It was unclear whether the Army colonel who sent the message was the same colonel who wrote about "abandoning American citizens."
citizens."
Some of the U.S. citizens left behind at the airport were "waving their passport screaming, 'I'm American,'" Yon said on the John Solomon Reports podcast. The incidents played out just hours before the U.S. military left the capital of Kabul, leaving the Taliban in full control.
Following Yon's appearance on the podcast, the remaining U.S. citizens scattered to safe houses to avoid detainment, the correspondent said.
Bipartisan critics have raised concerns over U.S. citizens left behind. Republican Florida Rep. Michael Waltz wrote in a Tuesday tweet that the fact that "Biden's left behind Americans along with Afghans who fought along side us" was "reprehensible," and Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly tweeted that "leaving any American citizen behind" was "unacceptable."
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged some U.S. citizens were left behind on Tuesday, saying there would be a diplomatic scenario for safely bringing them home
"It's not completely unlike the way we do it elsewhere around the world," Kirby said during a press briefing. "We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time, and we do everything we can to try to facilitate safe passage
Since July, the U.S. has airlifted more than 120,000 people from Afghanistan, including roughly 5,500 Americans. Biden said Tuesday that approximately 100 to 200 U.S. citizens still remained in Afghanistan who have "some intention to leave," many of them being dual citizens.
The Washington Examiner contacted the Pentagon but did not immediately receive a response
