President Joe Biden’s team faces new congressional pressure to provide a detailed plan to assist Americans and U.S. partners stranded in Afghanistan after U.S. officials ended the evacuation operation at Kabul airport last week.
“What instructions can we provide to individuals who evacuated to a third country through a private charter flight, and need to undergo processing to come to the United States?” Rep. Ami Bera and House Administration Chair Zoe Lofgren, a pair of California Democrats, wrote in a letter also signed by House Judiciary Chair Jerrold Nadler of New York.
That question is one of more than a dozen the senior Democrats, joined by 12 other lawmakers, want to be answered. They released the letter amid a controversy over whether U.S. officials are blocking charter flights out of Afghanistan, spurred in part by a flood of “urgent pleas” for information.
“Our staff have been working around the clock responding to urgent pleas from constituents whose families and colleagues are seeking to flee Afghanistan, and they urgently require timely, post-withdrawal guidance to best assist those in need,” the lawmakers wrote. “We require timely and regular updates on the Administration’s plans for continuing to assist these individuals through evacuation assistance, repatriation flights, and other means of relocating to safe countries, including the United States.”
‘HUNTED’: AFGHANS LEFT IN LIMBO STRUGGLE TO HIDE FROM TALIBAN AND FIND US SUPPORT
That information has been in short supply, following a chaotic U.S.-led evacuation effort launched as the Taliban swept across Afghanistan’s city centers and into Kabul over an eight-day period that confounded U.S. predictions Afghan security forces would hold up under pressure. The State Department acknowledged leaving behind “the majority” of eligible Afghans, by virtue of their work with the U.S. government during the war, for evacuation to the United States.
Subsequent private piecemeal efforts to guide people out of the country have caused confusion and controversy, especially over the status of 1,000 people seeking to depart Afghanistan through charter flights at Mazar-i-Sharif.
“We don’t have the means to verify the accuracy of manifests, the identity of passengers on board these planes, aviation security protocols, or where they plan to land, among other issues,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday while traveling in Qatar. “And these raise real concerns, but we are working through each and every one in close coordination with the various initiatives and charter flights that are seeking to evacuate people.”
State Department officials have reportedly advised the private-sector coordinators of such flights that they cannot land at U.S. military bases in the region.
“You need to find another destination country, and it can’t be the U.S. either,” states a Sept. 1 email reviewed by Fox News.
Blinken blamed the delays at Mazar-i-Sharif on the Taliban.
“There are groups of people who are grouped together, some of whom have the appropriate travel documents — an American passport, a green card, a visa — and others do not,” he said. “And it’s my understanding that the Taliban has not denied exit to anyone holding a valid document, but they have said that those without valid documents at this point can’t leave. But because all of these people are grouped together, that’s meant that flights have not been allowed to go.”
In their letter to Blinken and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the lawmakers emphasized that they “are deeply concerned for [the] safety” of vulnerable Afghans and Americans.
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“We will continue to assist your efforts to support Americans and our Afghan allies abroad and urge your agencies to closely coordinate with our offices so that we can communicate timely and accurate information to our constituents,” they wrote. “In addition, we urge you to inform us of any additional resources or legislative action necessary to evacuate U.S. citizens, Afghan allies, and other vulnerable individuals who wish to leave Afghanistan quickly and safely.”
