America literally had two decades to plan its eventual evacuation from Afghanistan, but after handing the reins of power over to the most decrepit, dementia-ridden president we've ever had, the entire ordeal went to you-know-what in a hand basket in record time. The result: The loss of 11 Marines, two U.S. Army soldiers, and a Navy corpsman, not to mention hundreds of Afghan citizens, and the respect of the entire world, which just got a whole lot more dangerous.
But while it didn't have to be this way, it is encouraging to at least know there were boots on the ground in Kabul belonging to U.S. military personnel and commanders who were extremely angry at the way things turned out -- namely, the abandonment of hundreds of American citizens in the war-torn hellhole.
Just The News has the exclusive details:
President Biden declared to a puzzled country on Tuesday that the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan was an "extraordinary success," while his Pentagon portrayed a prosaic, workaday process to repatriate Americans still stranded in the war-torn country.
But text messages between U.S. military commanders and private citizens mounting last-minute rescues tell a far different story, one in which pleading American citizens were frantically left behind at the Kabul airport gate this past weekend to face an uncertain fate under Taliban rule while U.S. officials sought to spread the blame between high-ranking generals and the State Department.
“Yes, we are f*cking abandoning American citizens,” wrote one Army colonel who is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division on Sunday, a day ahead of the complete withdrawal of all U.S. forces. “I’m so pissed.”
The outlet said that the encrypted messages were provided by former special forces operator-turned-war correspondent Michael Yon, “among the private citizens working with private networks and the military to rescue stranded Americans."
According to the messages posted online, the same officer noted that "AMCITS," or American citizens, were not able to get past "TB", believed to refer to the Taliban checkpoints on their way to the international airport in Kabul.
“[M]ost of our list are HVAFG,” the colonel texted, which suggested that most people he was set to evacuate were “high-value Afghans.”
In an interview with Just The News’ John Solomon for his podcast, Yon talked about a group of Americans desperate to get through to be evacuated but they were instead told that the evacuation was being ended.
“We had them out there waving their passport screaming, ‘I’m American,'” Yon said. “People were turned away from the gate by our own Army.”
After being unable to catch one of the last flights out of the country, the Americans reportedly “scattered to safe houses to avoid being captured,” Just The News reported.
Meanwhile, a frustrated Yon emailed an Army major who was in charge of trying to coordinate evacuees before turning away from the Americans.
“You guys left American citizens at the gate of the Kabul airport,” Yon wrote, according to Just The News. “Three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone. I told you where they were. Gave you their passport images. And my email and phone number. And you left them behind.
“Great job saving yourselves. Probably get a lot of medals,” he added.
Less than two weeks ago, Joe Biden's angry, testy flak, Jen Psaki, ripped Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy for asking how the regime was going to extract Americans "stranded" in Afghanistan.
“I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a press briefing Aug. 23. “They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home.”
Right.
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