This month, dozens of U.S. service members have notified the Department of Defense about relatives who are still in Afghanistan but want to get out.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby acknowledged during Monday’s briefing that “60 service members have come forward and expressed concerns about family members in Afghanistan” in the last two weeks.
Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, issued a memo on Nov. 4 urging those in the military with family members trapped and seeking an escape to email his office and provide them with their information.
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None of the people whose names were submitted to Kahl’s office were eligible for parolee status, the spokesman said.
“Our policy shop put out a memo to the services to let them know that the immediate family members of our service members in Afghanistan are eligible for facilitated departure, and it lists who they are and encouraging military personnel and DOD civilians, quite frankly, with immediate members to contact the Office of Policy here at the Pentagon,” Kirby said last week.
Prior to the U.S. withdrawal at the end of August, 62 service members sought assistance to evacuate family members, the spokesman said during Monday’s briefing, adding that 50 family members of six DOD civilians and service members were evacuated on U.S. flights, while some others may have left on privately funded flights.
Kirby also said that since the military left, which put the State Department in charge of the efforts to get Americans and vulnerable Afghans out of the Taliban-controlled country, they got an additional 10 family members out of the country.
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Both the military and Biden administration have faced backlash regarding who was left behind in Afghanistan after the United States left following the conclusion of the largest noncombatant evacuation operation in history. More than 120,000 people were evacuated to fresh starts in safe countries.
The administration, as well as Defense and State Department officials, have often shared different numbers when talking about Americans that remain in Afghanistan, though they have pointed to dual citizens and people who have changed their minds about whether to stay or go as part of the challenge of finding an exact number.
