Biden State Dept. tells Americans trying escape Afghanistan they should "shelter in place" til further instructions
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report from The Washington Post now says that the Biden Administration has no formal plans on how to evacuate Americans located outside the city of Kabul – where the main airport for emergency departures of American citizens and others are taking place – and is shedding shocking light on the rapidly unfolding chaos in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, amid an increasingly fragile security situation in the Afghan capital, the State Department told American citizens and others looking to get escape Afghanistan that they should "shelter in place" until given further instruction by the U.S. Embassy.
Also on a Tuesday, Biden Administration Officials from various departments – including the State Department & the Department of Defense – told Senate staffers during a morning briefing that they do not know of a way to get Americans located outside the city of Kabul through the quickly created Taliban checkpoints that now surround the city, The Washington Post reported, citing two Senate aides.“Officials from various departments — including State and Defense — informed Senate staffers at a Tuesday morning briefing that they do not know of a way to get those Americans through Taliban checkpoints located outside Kabul,” reports Fox News.
And Biden's National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, admitted Tuesday that the Biden Administration does not yet have a “complete picture” on the location of American defense equipment abandoned in Afghanistan.
“We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone. But certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban – and obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport,” Sullivan said.
“The president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan. He thought the Afghan national security forces could step up and fight because we spent 20 years, tens of billions of dollars, training them, giving them the best equipment, giving them support of U.S. forces for 20 years.
“When push came to shove, they decided not to step up and fight for their country,” Sullivan concluded.
“The president did not think it was inevitable that the Taliban were going to take control of Afghanistan. He thought the Afghan national security forces could step up and fight because we spent 20 years, tens of billions of dollars, training them, giving them the best equipment, giving them support of U.S. forces for 20 years.
“When push came to shove, they decided not to step up and fight for their country,” Sullivan concluded.
Republican Cong. Mike Waltz, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, ripped President Biden's lack of withdrawal planning, saying the Taliban now has “access to massive caches of heavy weaponry, artillery, armored vehicles, ammunition.”
“The situation is dire,” said Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton (left,) a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and who is a former U.S. Army Captain that served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.“We’ll do everything in our power to help keep you informed – and to help get you out,” said Cotton.
A former Afghani State Department contractor told Fox News that Taliban fighters have established checkpoints throughout Kabul, and around the airport.
Taliban fighters are going through neighborhoods looking for those who worked for – or even assisted – the U.S. military or government during past years. Some, the source said, have been beating people on the way to the airport.
"There was kids women, babies, old women – they could barely walk. They were very, very bad situation, I'm telling you," he told Fox News.
"At the end, I was thinking that there was like 10,000, or more than 10,000 people, and they’re running to the airport."
"The Taliban [were] beating people and the people were jumping from the fence, the concertina wire, and also the wall," he said.
"At the end, I was thinking that there was like 10,000, or more than 10,000 people, and they’re running to the airport."
"The Taliban [were] beating people and the people were jumping from the fence, the concertina wire, and also the wall," he said.
U.S. government officials said earlier this week they have estimated there are 11,000 Foreign Diplomats and other 3rd-Country Nationals awaiting evacuation, and another 4,000-6,000 Afghans are on the commercial side of the airport refusing to leave until they are processed to depart Afghanistan.
After Taliban victories to reclaim the entirety of Afghanistan, President Biden on Monday authorized 6,000 U.S. troops to re-deploy back into Afghanistan to assist in the evacuation of U.S. personnel and Afghan allies.The Taliban says it will soon restore the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – the formal name of the country under the Taliban rule before they were ousted by U.S.-led forces in the wake of 9/11 – and the nation's previous adherence to Sharia Law.
