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Monday final count: Nearly 50,000 have been evacuated from Kabul

Published on 28 Comments on Monday final count: Nearly 50,000 have been evacuated from Kabul

28 thoughts on “Monday final count: Nearly 50,000 have been evacuated from Kabul”

  2. bbleh

    Oh. My. God. It is a DISASTER!! A catastrophe UNPARALLELED in the entire HISTORY OF HUMANITY!! I mean, have you SEEN the pictures from the first day?! There were SEVERAL pictures, including one of an AIRCRAFT FULL OF PEOPLE!! How can we possibly say we’re doing all we can when we’re flying out aircraft full of people? I mean, it was full of people! Oh my GOD!!

  3. golack

    Daily death toll average ca 750 now and climbing.
    We lose more Americans per week to covid then we ever lost in Afghanistan.

  4. D_Ohrk_E1

    The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said that he will ask Mr. Biden during the G-7 call to keep the Kabul airport open for evacuation flights past the original deadline of the end of the month, and this time Mr. Biden seems likely to agree. -- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/23/world/europe/afghanistan-europe-nato-biden.html

    Given KD's and everyone else's treatment of sticking to a hard deadline, I'm guessing everyone's 100% against extending the deadline, then.

  5. D_Ohrk_E1

    “We’re assisting the government so that the Talibs do not think this is going to be a cakewalk, that they can conquer and take over the country,” the chief American envoy to Afghan peace talks, Zalmay Khalilzad, told the Aspen Security Forum on Aug. 3. Days later, however, that is exactly what happened. -- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/21/us/politics/biden-taliban-afghanistan-kabul.html

    I mean, I don't know how many times I have to keep pointing to Zalmay Khalilzad. This is the guy who led the "peace" negotiations for Team Trump, giving in to the release of 5000 imprisoned Taliban fighters.

  6. kenalovell

    But there's bound to be an American missionary in Kandhar or somewhere who ignored last April's advice to leave, and whose wife is now begging the president (via Fox, of course) to send a SEAL team to get him out. WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED THIS GODLY MAN, MR PRESIDENT? HIS BLOOD WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS!!!

      1. rational thought

        Kandahar is in Iran.

        But I assume you mean just somewhere in Afghanistan other than Kabul, right?

        And, for a missionary, more likely that they are in some puny little village which makes it harder.

        One thing that might help is the tradition of protecting a guest visitor. If a missionary or anyone else is considered to be a guest of the village , honor demands that they be protected. And they take that seriously in rural Afghanistan.

        If the taliban insists on killing a missionary or any other that has the status of guest deserving hospitality, the village might not try to hopelessly resist and die. But the taliban will not just maybe be killing someone the village liked , they would be dishonoring that whole village and making them an enemy.

        If the American leaves the village on their own ti try to get to kabul airport, the taliban could kill them without violating the code of hospitality

  7. rational thought

    How many of the 48,000 they are talking about are Americans and how many Americans are there still to go?

    Given the context of the statement, seems clear that this number includes those evacuated by other nato parties like the uk, and that is a substantial number. Note it is saying the number is the number facilitated by the us-led mission which seems carefully worded to include all the others evacuated but perhaps to make that less obvious so as to make it look better than it is. No surprise kevin, spinning it optimistic, jumped on it.

    And not comparable to the numbers kevin was using in prior posts as they were only ones evacuated by the USA.

    On the opposite side, since it says since Aug 14, it does not include ones who were pulled out before the actual final evacuation began ( 5000 or so) which were distorting some of Kevin's prior numbers.

    If we are only getting all the backlog of Afghan refugees stuck at the airport due to idiotic visa processing snafus while planes flew out empty, good for that. But that was annoying but never a major problem if we had the spare airlift capacity anyway to get them out.

    But the real problem issue is getting Americans to the airport so they can be evacuated ( or Afghan refugees to a lesser degree), not getting them out once they get to the airport.

    In the end, politically at least all of the errors and mistakes made, no matter how unforgivable stupid, will be largely forgotten and not matter eventually. Except for if they cannot find a way to get the Americans out without some humiliated concession or a number of deaths.

    If this post only means we are getting more Afghan refugees who were stuck at the airport out, not really important.

  8. rational thought

    Kenalovell,

    That will hurt a bit politically and will be played up by anti biden forces, but not that much.

    It just is hard to blame biden as much for a missionary who remained in a difficult to get to place in Afghanistan outside of Kabul or a major city at least. Especially a missionary as many Americans, including many Christian conservatives, feel they should not have been there anyway.

    Now an American living 15 minute from the airport who gets stuck in Kabul because they were told to stay in place when maybe they could have got to the airport, who gets left behind or killed trying to get out, that news story will be trouble..

    1. kenalovell

      Americans were told to leave four months ago. Anyone who left it to the last couple of weeks doesn't deserve any sympathy, frankly.

    2. Vog46

      I would LIKE to think (Like being the operative word) that the Taliban would be hesitant to kill an American Citizen during this time. Sure an Afghani that served as an interpreter or assisted U.S. forces they would kill in a heartbeat - but given the anti Taliban sentiment by the conservative press I would think they would tread lightly
      Truth be told I'd like to see the U.S. - once the evacuation is completed to it's fullest - destroy Bagram AFB. Render is useless to the Taliban or their supporters

      1. rational thought

        Oh I agree they will be hesitant and not want to kill Americans. Have to think they are not that stupid. But even if the taliban leadership will not want to, all you need is some individual hate filled taliban soldier to want to take revenge personally.

        And not even sure that the taliban really plan to try to kill the Afghan helpers of the Americans. There have been stories about the taliban already killing some and marking out others for future execution but does not yet seem clearly systematic. The smartest move is to let them go so they cannot make trouble for them anymore.

        In the end, I expect the taliban to facilitate the exit of Americans and most all the afghans with special visas . But only after getting paid off with blackmail and/or humiliating us. The more hidden blackmail we give the less political humiliation they will require. The more polite it gets publicly with some looks reasonable agreement, the more likely that it is bad behind the scenes. The funny thing is, if biden safely gets all the Americans out in the end, but in a manner over the top humiliating ( like having to go through a gauntlet of jeering taliban stripped naked), the better I will feel about it. Because that would indicate that Biden held firm and did not pay them off behind the scenes ( at least as much) and called the taliban bluff and all the taliban could get was the humiliation. If biden took the big political hit of humiliation to avoid the real practical problems of paying them off, that earns some respect back . But don't expect it.

        And also we have to worry asking isil cells trying to kill Americans. If they do, the taliban will likely have to smash them ( and they have fought before). But isil are not just extremists but somewhat rational actors, they are freaking nuts.

        1. Vog46

          I think the Taliban will want to keep those that acted with the Americans because they may need American sometime in the future. Sending someone we are familiar with to discuss freeing up the dollars that were frozen would put American negotiators at ease.

          On a related note. While hte figures are not confirmed the WSJ is saying this about the number of Americans who were in Afghanistan:

          "Wall Street Journal: “The State Department doesn’t know exactly how many Americans are left on the ground, although some have estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 were there when the evacuations began.”

          “President Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the exact number had been hard to assess because many Americans didn’t register with the embassy when they arrived in Afghanistan, and many didn’t deregister when they left.”

          That story came from Political wire and the WSJ, as you know is behind a paywall.

          If this number is accurate and we got 5,000 out before the evacuation started we might be in good shape as of right now but when our own State Dept doesn't know how many Americans were there because they didn't register.................and they had MONTHS of warning.............makes me think that we are almost done getting our folks out along with MANY who worked with us or plain wanted out.

          We, as a nation have to learn that this is not WWII. AFghanistan and Vietnam were different because the problems came from within. They were not invaded per se. We liberated Europe in WWII and turned the territories back over to their prewar leaders.
          Afghanistan is fraught with danger for all concerned because of this

          The withdrawal has over whelming support. Once the disastrous evac is completed, I think we return back to "everyone is glad it's over mode"

  9. Larry Jones

    Is it going fast enough to get everyone out who wants out by August 31? Taliban is saying August 31 is a "red line" for them. Will they start shooting on September 1? Will there be some kind of a deal to extend the deadline? I would think the Taliban would not want to mix it up with U.S. troops, but they seem to be crazy, so who knows? And how will the U.S. respond if anyone is shot? I'm not comfortable with this.

    1. rational thought

      At the airport, I think so. If can stay at 10,000 pre day for nine more days, sure and see no reason we cannot.

      But the problem is getting them TO the airport.

      Actually is asking re " everyone who wants out" , no way. Probably over one million want out. I am just talking about who wants out they we are agreeing to evacuate

  10. mistykatz

    If you follow flightrader24.com you will see that there are considerably more aircraft leaving Kabul in the past two days than in prior days. About five right now at airport, leaving airport or lined up to land at the airport.

      2. rational thought

        I assume you ate thinking what I am. That perhaps having a place where a group like isil can monitor this info on the internet is not the greatest idea?

  11. rick_jones

    Come Tuesday: https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/aug/24/afghanistan-live-news-taliban-kabul-us-withdrawal-joe-biden-germany-airport-plane-flights-evacuation?page=with:block-6124fd0e8f08b1506f20d68a#block-6124fd0e8f08b1506f20d68a

    During a press conference in the last hour the Taliban said Afghans should not go to the airport or try to leave the country.

    Its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, has been widely quoted making the plea.

    He accused the US of taking “Afghan experts” such as engineers out of Afghanistan, according to AFP.

    “We ask them to stop this process,” Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul.

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