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(WASHINGTON) — No one predicted that the Afghanistan government would collapse in 11 days, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in an exclusive interview with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

“It was a very rapid, fast-moving, fast-paced evolution,” Austin said. “This all occurred in a span of about 11 days. Nobody predicted that, you know, the government would fall in 11 days.”

Austin said early U.S. intelligence estimates varied widely as to how long the Afghan government could last against the Taliban after a U.S. military withdrawal.

“There were assessments that ranged initially from one to two years to, you know, several months, but it was a wide range of — of assessments,” Austin said. “As the Taliban began to make gains, and then we saw that in a number of cases, there was less fighting and more surrendering and more forces just kind of evaporating, it was very difficult to predict with accuracy.”

Desperate scramble at the Kabul airport

Chaos immediately broke out across Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control just over one week ago.

Afghans and foreign nationals flooded Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Monday, hoping to escape, but accessing the airport proved much more difficult than anticipated, with the Taliban taking control of roads leading to the airport, stopping most who passed.

Once at there, the scene was still chaotic. Several people — desperate to escape — clung to the side of a C-17 cargo plane. Some died as the plane took off, falling from the aircraft, and human remains were later found in the wheel well.

American and NATO troops were eventually able to restore security at the airport and U.S. military commanders engaged in talks with their Taliban counterparts about Americans accessing the airport.

“If you have an American passport and if you have the right credentials, the Taliban has been allowing people to — to pass safely through,” Austin said.

“Not in all cases,” Raddatz interjected.

“There’s no such thing as an absolute,” the defense secretary conceded. “And this kind of environment as you would imagine, Martha, there have been incidents of people, you know, having some tough encounters with Taliban.”

Austin said when the U.S. hears about these incidents, they engage Taliban leadership and tell them that the U.S. expects the Taliban to let people with the appropriate credentials past checkpoints.

But even with the right credentials, some have been turned away. ABC News has previously reported that House members were told that the Taliban beat U.S. citizens attempting to evacuate. Additionally, at least 20 people have died in the past seven days in and around the airport, a NATO official told Reuters on Sunday.

Most of the 17,000 evacuees who have been flown out of the airport since this weekend are Afghans who worked with American troops over the past two decades.

According to Austin, these types of evacuations — where thousands of people need to be flown safely out, then processed and verified, all during a global pandemic — can create some of the most challenging missions.

“It’s a dynamic and challenging environment,” Austin said. “As you would imagine, you know, a noncombatant evacuation operation is one of the most challenging operations in the inventory.”

While the U.S. military has sent over 5,800 troops to secure the airport, the evacuation has been largely criticized for being too little, too late. But Austin insisted the U.S. military would get as many people out as possible.

“Martha, we’re gonna try our very best to get everybody, every American citizen who wants to get out, out,” Austin said.

“You said American citizens, what about those Afghans?” Raddatz pressed. “What about those interpreters? What about the people who are desperate?”

“Absolutely, the people that are in the Special Immigrant Visa program are very, very important to us and these would be the interpreters and many of the staff that supported our embassy and other embassies,” Austin responded.

Ernst calls evacuation efforts ‘one of the biggest debacles’

The U.S. should send more troops into Afghanistan to help evacuate American citizens and Afghans who supported the U.S., Republican senator Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said in a separate interview on “This Week” on Sunday.

“We should be doing everything possible to get Americans safely to the airport for evacuation,” Ernst told Raddatz. “We are the strongest military on the face of this planet, and we should be exercising those authorities to make sure that we’re flexing our military muscle, especially when it comes to evacuating Americans.”

Ernst, a combat veteran, called the effort to evacuate the Kabul embassy “one of the biggest debacles that we have seen in the last several decades.”

“We have been on the administration for months now to be working on the vetting process to make sure we’re working with those interpreters to get them safely out of the country,” Ernst said.

“If there are Afghans that need to be evacuated that aren’t fully vetted, we do have third-country partners that are working with us in this effort,” Ernst added. “We can evacuate these Afghans to those countries to continue the vetting process from there and I think we should be doing absolutely everything we can to assist those who assisted us in the past two decades in the global war on terror.”

For the most part, Americans and U.S. allies have had to find their own way to the airport. But when that proves to be impossible, Austin said they’ve used creative ways to do outreach. The U.S. military has performed at least one mission outside of the airport, flying three CH-47 Chinook helicopters to pick up 169 American citizens from a hotel in Kabul.

“I know you’ve gone 1,000 yards outside the airport and brought those 169 people in there,” Raddatz pressed Austin. “But further out into Kabul, there are people desperate to get in. We’re the most capable military in the world.”

“We are, and that most capable military in the world is going to make sure that our airfield remains secure and safe and we’re going to defend that airfield,” Austin responded.
 

Aug. 31 deadline rapidly approaching

The defense secretary added that the U.S. military will look for every way possible to get American citizens, third-country nationals and special immigrant visa applicants to the Kabul airport.

“What’s most important though, Martha, and I mean this sincerely, we’re going to look at every way — every means possible to get American citizens, third-country nationals, special immigrant visa applicants into the airfield, and we will work this until the very last day that we’re able to work it before we have to leave,” Austin said.

Raddatz pressed Austin on whether the U.S. would expand their mission to evacuate allies further into the city of Kabul.

“Do you think it’s possible we’ll expand the mission and go beyond that 1,000 yards to help people out?” Raddatz asked.

“I won’t forecast any option that we may take, but I will tell you that I’m going to do everything within my power to get people into the airfield,” Austin said.

Austin added that the goal is to finish the evacuation by Aug. 31, but hinted that the deadline may get pushed back.

“If we’re given more time, then we will do everything that we can to make the best use of that time,” he said.

Austin said the job of processing and issuing special immigrant visa applicants to Afghan allies primarily falls under the State Department, but is shared by many agencies.

“It’s an interagency process that’s really honchoed or led by the State Department,” he said. “But it’s all of our responsibility.”

Defending the withdrawal, Austin also points to what the administration inherited

President Joe Biden, who announced the withdrawal in April, has been pushing for the U.S. to end its longest war for years. But the withdrawal has largely been criticized as both a military and intelligence failure since so many Americans and U.S. allies were left with no means to escape once the Taliban seized control.

“What kind of planning went into that, and and do you believe — as you look at it now, and the military loves to plan for the worst case — that the planning was acceptable and appropriate?” Raddatz asked Austin of the withdrawal planning.

“I think you have to go back and look at what — what the administration inherited,” Austin responded, placing the blame on Biden’s predecessor. “I mean we came in, and as we as we came in — walked in the door, you know, we were faced with a May 1 deadline to have all forces out of the country. This deal had been struck with the Taliban.”

“At the end of the day, the president made his decision,” the defense secretary added. “But again, he was faced with a situation where there were no good options, all were very tough. And, you know, he reached his decisions based upon thorough analysis.”

The president, in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, said on Wednesday, “The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing — I don’t know how that happens.”

Austin told Raddatz that he agreed with the president’s assessment.

“I agree that if — if a government collapses to the degree that it did, if the security forces evaporate at the speed that they did, you will clearly have chaos,” he said. “And that’s what we saw.”

Raddatz asked whether he wanted to see a small force of U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, but Austin would not reveal his opinion.

“I’m not gonna tell you what my recommendation to our president was, I will just tell you that, like everyone else, the president listened to our input,” Austin responded. “He conducted a very rigorous and thoughtful process and he made a decision, and I support that decision.”

Austin told Raddatz that he was surprised the Afghan army collapsed so quickly, particularly after 20 years of U.S. military presence in the region.

“I will tell you that again, 20 years of the best training, the world’s best equipment, you know a lot of effort — you have to be surprised by what you saw and when you can measure capability you can measure capacity, but it’s difficult to measure the will to fight,” Austin said.

When asked how Gold Star families and veterans should feel about Afghanistan falling under the control of the Taliban once again, Austin said that having served himself in Afghanistan, he empathized with them.

“Some will struggle,” he said. “And as you struggle, I would ask our teammates to recognize that there is help. If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask for it.”

On what the final outcome will be in Afghanistan, Austin said he does not know.

“I’ve gotten out of the business of making predictions long, long ago, but I think that’s a chapter that’s yet to be written,” Austin said.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The Taliban, an extremist militant group, has taken over Afghanistan’s capital as U.S. troops have withdrawn from much of the country.

The group has said it will rule the country based on Shariah, or Islamic law, and many Afghan nationals have said they fear that the Taliban will reimplement the harsh interpretation seen when the group last ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The Taliban previously has imposed harsh penalties, including death sentences, for infractions linked to adultery, blasphemy, non-compliance with dress codes, working with the U.S. government and more.

Abed Awad, a lawyer and Shariah law expert, said that the Taliban’s use of Shariah, or “Islamic law” to describe their legal system has led to a misunderstanding of the religious practice.

“What you see in the news is the politicization of Shariah, looking at it only as a movement for political elections or for government,” Awad said. “People miss this really beautiful moral and ethical framework that is on a Muslim to conduct his daily affairs.”

What is Shariah?
Shariah is the moral guide many Muslims follow that operates based on the teaching of the Quran, Islam’s holy book, according to the Middle East Institute. Shariah helps Muslims in everyday decision making, guiding people in interpersonal conflicts, responsibilities, health-related and financial decisions.

“It guides us to be righteous humans, to be good neighbors, compassionate mothers, providing fathers, loyal spouses, protective parents, care for the elderly,” Awad said. “That’s what this really means to 1.8 billion Muslims in the world.”

For example, Awad said, some Muslim women wear hijabs and some don’t — both groups interpret the principle of modesty differently.

The teachings of the sacred texts, Hadith and Sunna, often supplement Shariah. Hadith is a collection of writings about the Prophet Muhammed’s life and Sunna is the collection of practices, deeds, words and actions. These also help guide many Muslims in their moral choices.

Awad said that the outcome of Shariah is “Fiqh,” which means “understanding” in Arabic. It refers to the moral and ethical understanding that is gained from Shariah — the rules that one sets for themselves based on the Islamic guidance.

But there isn’t a single understanding of Shariah, according to Awad.

Many Islamic researchers and experts have said that the Taliban’s interpretation is an extremist interpretation, and that it’s implemented as a strict legal system instead of a moral code for the individual.

“They use Shariah as a weapon to give them some legitimacy,” Awad said. By claiming that their strict, violent legal system is based on religious grounds, Awad said it’s seemingly used as justification.

How has the Taliban implemented Shariah in the past?

During Taliban rule in the ’90s, the group enforced harsh, dangerous interpretations of Shariah as law, experts said.

“It was a very brutal society,” said Elizabeth Neumann, an ABC News contributor and former U.S. homeland security official. “That was their way of maintaining control. If you stepped out of line — whatever the rules were — you were likely to be executed or stoned or abused in some way.”

Neumann said people accused of violating “Islamic law” could be stoned to death, have their hands cut off or subject to a public execution.

It’s unclear exactly how many people have been killed or maimed by the Taliban for perceived violations.

Many Afghan nationals currently trying to escape are afraid of what a return to power could mean for those who spoke out against the Taliban, or those who aided the Afghan and U.S. governments.

According to United Nations Assistance Mission In Afghanistan, which documents civilian casualties, the Taliban is responsible for 39% of 5,183 civilian casualties so far in 2021.

The U.S. had planned to completely withdraw American troops from Afghanistan by Aug. 31, but President Joe Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the deadline might be extended until every American is out of the country.

How does this affect women’s rights in Afghanistan?

A member of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Enamullah Samangani, said that the Taliban will provide women with the “environment to work and study” and that women will be present in their government from now on.

Taliban officials have sworn to continue to honor women’s rights “according to Islamic law,” but many Afghan women fear what actually will happen, according to refugees with family back in Afghanistan.

“They claim they are changing, but I know they are not,” said an Afghan ex-refugee named Shabnam, who could only share her first name because she feared for her family’s safety in Afghanistan. “They are just waiting for the U.S. troops to get out of the country.”

She said the Taliban has yet to show any signs of changing.

More than 18 million women live in Afghanistan, making up roughly half the population, according to data compiled by the World Bank, and the majority are under the age of 35.

Shabnam said many women in the country fear that the Taliban will revert to their oppressive tactics seen in the 1990s — keeping women at home, not letting them work or attend school, forcing them to wear burqas from head to toe, forcing them to marry and harshly punishing those who don’t comply.

“​​In the 1990s, when they came, I was a little kid. I was 13 years old or so, but I still remember at that time, it was a nightmare for me,” Shabnam said. “We had all these woman activists, human rights activists in Afghanistan before the Taliban came. … When the Taliban came, everybody was silenced.”

“You weren’t even allowed to leave the household without a male relative escorting you, as a woman,” Neumann said. However, since the Taliban was ousted from power in the majority of Afghanistan in the early 2000s, there have been steps taken toward equality.

“Girls have been going to school, women have been able to go to advanced universities and start careers, and be able to have freedoms,” Neumann added.

Because of this — and the Taliban’s use of the term “Islamic law” to describe its harsh rules, restrictions and policies — Awad said the misunderstanding around Shariah by people in the West has fueled Islamophobia and xenophobia.

“[People think] the idea is a totalitarian movement, that Shariah is a movement coming to take over America,” Awad said. “Shariah covers everything from the way we eat, how we treat animals, how we protect the environment, our obligation to share our wealth with the indigent and the poor. … It’s a very personal lifestyle.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — As Western diplomats scrambled to Kabul airport while the Taliban overran the city last weekend, Russia’s embassy there remained demonstratively open and announced its diplomats would work as normal.

It was a sign of how, although seemingly surprised by the speed of the Taliban’s takeover as the rest of the world, Russia is now trying to smoothly transition to working with the militants in power.

Russian officials have so far spoken positively of the Taliban, praising them for maintaining order in the capital. Although Russia has said it will not rush to recognize the group as Afghanistan’s government, it has signaled it is ready to engage with them.

“The Taliban movement currently controls virtually the entire territory of the country, including its capital. These are realities,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference with Germany’s leader Angela Merkel on Friday. “And we should act based on these very realities, not allowing the Afghan state’s breakup.”

Russian officials have castigated the fallen American-backed government of Ashraf Ghani and this week Russia’s top envoy overseeing its Afghanistan policy, the veteran diplomat Zamir Kabulov, compared the Taliban favorably to the former government.

“If you compare the capacity to make agreements of colleagues and partners, then the Taliban have long seemed to me far more capable than the Kabul puppet government,” Kabulov told Russian state television.

Russia has built solid contacts with the Taliban in the past few years as a U.S. withdrawal appeared increasingly likely. It has hosted several rounds of inter-Afghan talks in Moscow that have included the Taliban. In July, a high-level Taliban delegation met with Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, even though Russia still formally designates the group a terrorist organization, as does the U.S.

Three decades after the Soviet Union’s own disastrous intervention into Afghanistan, Russia’s overriding concern is that instability in Afghanistan not spread to its Central Asian neighbors Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and that it not again become a base for international terrorist groups to launch attacks.

The Russian government’s priority, analysts said, is to ensure an understanding with the Taliban that Moscow is content to engage with them as rulers provided they give security guarantees for Central Asia and pledge to prevent terrorist attacks from its territory.

“It is absolutely clear that Russia will try to have as working relationship with Taliban as possible,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, a foreign policy expert and chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy which sometimes independently advises the Russian government.

“As for the domestic situation in Afghanistan, Russia fortunately has no interests there. There are no stakes inside Afghanistan this time and Russia can relax and limit its reactions to the security interests of the region,” he said by phone.

A stable Taliban takeover is also preferable to the Kremlin than a chaotic civil war, even if that means a return to the group’s deeply repressive rule, Lukyanov said. But he said he expected Russia would not hurry to formally recognize the Taliban since it would weaken its leverage with the group.

Kabulov told Russian state television this week that so far, the Taliban was observing their agreements with Russia on security for Central Asia.

“It’s a hopeful sign,” he said. “But we are trusting people of course, but not to that degree. We will carefully follow next steps.”

In recent weeks Russia has moved rapidly to bolster Tajikistan, where it has a military base, sending money, weapons and reinforcing border posts. Russia held military exercises this month with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan close to the Afghan border.

The Kremlin is also glad to see an end to American forces in Central Asia, a long-time goal.

The problem, though, some analysts said, is whether the Taliban will have enough control in Afghanistan to continue to enforce the security guarantees sought by Moscow.

“So far we have a propaganda coup to enjoy, but that may not last,” said Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat and now foreign affairs commentator.

Russia’s ideal scenario is that the Taliban now form an inclusive government with other Afghan political groups, but that is viewed as unlikely by many analysts in Moscow. Instead, “drug trafficking and religious extremism will mushroom,” journalist, Kirill Krivosheev, wrote in an article for the Carnegie Moscow Center.

That uncertainty means that Russia’s foreign ministry risks getting ahead of itself with its public friendliness toward the Taliban, Frolov said.

“I think we made a risky bet on Taliban promises to stabilize the country under their control and not engage in cross-border jihad,” said Frolov.

The foreign ministry “will have to prove their bet worked out as promised,” he said.
 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AFGHANISTAN) — Years ago, Naqibullah had assisted the U.S. Marine Corps as a translator in Afghanistan and has since started a new life in the U.S. However, his parents and siblings remain in Afghanistan as the Taliban took over the country this weekend.

Naqibullah will be referred to only by his first name for this report. As of Wednesday, half a world away from his parents, brothers and sisters, he said he’s waiting for word from his family as they hide in their home.

“I’ve talked to them a couple of hours ago… They had fears and concerns about what’s going to happen next,” he told ABC News. “I have a fear that one day they’re going to go into our house and search for … my family to be assassinated.”

‘We’re deeply hurt’
As the U.S. prepared to complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, bringing an end to the two-decade war, the Taliban seized power in a matter of days, taking over all of the country’s major cities.

“I’ve been in touch with veterans that serve and everybody [is] just so nervous … the reaction is that we’re deeply hurt, we’re deeply upset about it. And the country’s going towards [an] uncertain future,” Naqibullah told ABC News in a phone interview on Wednesday. “We don’t know what’s going to happen to those people who work for the government. But right now, they’re, they’re locked in their houses, they don’t know about tomorrow, what’s going to happen to them?”

He said that he and his veteran friends are in disbelief that the Taliban took over Afghanistan so quickly last week.

“How many people, how many years, [how many] heroes lost their lives there? What would be the answer to those hurt?” he said.

Remembering Taliban rule
Naqibullah was born and raised in Afghanistan and remembers living under Taliban rule in the 1990s.

“I remember when they came for us and took over the country,” he said.

He said he remembers the Taliban going door-to-door targeting supporters of the government and imposing “a lot of restrictions” on the daily lives of the people — from rules that women and girls must mostly be confined to the home, to dress codes for both men and women.

After the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 terror attacks, President George W. Bush authorized the use of force against those responsible for the attacks. This joint resolution would later be cited by his administration as legal rationale for its decision to take sweeping measures to combat terrorism including invading Afghanistan in October 2001.

Learning English was not allowed in school under Taliban rule, but “when the Americans took over … there were a lot of private schools that were teaching English,” Naquibullah said, and this is how he was able to learn English.

Joining the U.S. armed forces

Naqibullah speaks both Pashto and Dari — the most widely spoken languages in Afghanistan, so when he graduated high school in 2007 at 16 years old, he decided to work with the U.S. military in Afghanistan as an interpreter and translator.

“I thought about it that you know [working] with them would benefit, not just myself, my family, would benefit the entire nation,” he said, pointing to opening schools, reconstruction efforts, training Afghan forces and setting up a new government.

Describing the first time he experienced combat, Naqibullah said that hearing the voices of the Taliban fighters planning to attack and vowing to capture American forces was “demoralizing.”

“Every moment that I was listening to their voices was kind of making me so scared and the fear was raising,” he said. “The morale of the soldier in the U.S. Marines [was] very high, they will keep fighting, you know, they’ll keep pushing forward towards them, but since I was a person knowing their languages … that kind of made me demoralized since it was my first time and I started like almost crying.”

But soon, Naqibullah was encouraged and empowered by the successes of the U.S. as they gained ground against the Taliban.

He worked for the Marines in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2013. After spending a few years on the frontlines, in 2010 he was transferred to Kabul to help train the Afghan army.

A few years ago, Naqibullah moved to the U.S. and became a citizen in 2019.

Naqibullah said he never expected to be in a situation where the Taliban would retake Afghanistan in just over a week.

“Nobody was ready for that… The entire country would collapse into the hands of the Taliban,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, whether the past 20 years [were of] achievement … or are we going … back to the 1990s or what’s going to happen?”

He says he pleaded with the U.S. government to help Afghans like him, who helped the U.S. over the last two decades. A Pentagon official said yesterday 5,000 to 10,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan, though authorities are unsure of the exact number. The number of Afghans who qualify for evacuation is also unclear, but authorities believe it numbers in the tens of thousands.

“It’s been over 15 months that I applied for my dad to come over here to the U.S. but the case is still under process.” he added. “… I don’t get the answer that I’m looking for,” he said, adding his message to the government is to help Afghan families immigrate to the U.S.

Hopes for a ‘bright future’

Now 31 years old and a father to four daughters, Naqibullah says he worries his mother and sisters won’t have the same freedoms his family is privileged to have in the U.S.

“At this point, I don’t think I see a future for them to stay in Afghanistan,” he said. “I don’t think my family will be saved if they remain in the country.”

As for his daughters, who are U.S. citizens, Naqibullah said that he wants them to have a “bright future” and choose their own paths in life.

“They have the right [to] choose what they’re choosing for their future. I want them to go to school, to be educated to serve the country, to serve the nation, whether it’s in the medical field or any field they choose to go through. I want them to be a contributor back to this country.”

Naqibullah speaks both Pashto and Dari — the most widely spoken languages in Afghanistan, so when he graduated high school in 2007 at 16 years old, he decided to work with the U.S. military in Afghanistan as an interpreter and translator.

“I thought about it that you know [working] with them would benefit, not just myself, my family, would benefit the entire nation,” he said, pointing to opening schools, reconstruction efforts, training Afghan forces and setting up a new government.

Describing the first time he experienced combat, Naqibullah said that hearing the voices of the Taliban fighters planning to attack and vowing to capture American forces was “demoralizing.”

“Every moment that I was listening to their voices was kind of making me so scared and the fear was raising,” he said. “The morale of the soldier in the U.S. Marines [was] very high, they will keep fighting, you know, they’ll keep pushing forward towards them, but since I was a person knowing their languages … that kind of made me demoralized since it was my first time and I started like almost crying.”

But soon, Naqibullah was encouraged and empowered by the successes of the U.S. as they gained ground against the Taliban.

He worked for the Marines in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2013. After spending a few years on the frontlines, in 2010 he was transferred to Kabul to help train the Afghan army.

A few years ago, Naqibullah moved to the U.S. and became a citizen in 2019.

Naqibullah said he never expected to be in a situation where the Taliban would retake Afghanistan in just over a week.

“Nobody was ready for that… The entire country would collapse into the hands of the Taliban,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, whether the past 20 years [were of] achievement … or are we going … back to the 1990s or what’s going to happen?”

He says he pleaded with the U.S. government to help Afghans like him, who helped the U.S. over the last two decades. A Pentagon official said yesterday 5,000 to 10,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan, though authorities are unsure of the exact number. The number of Afghans who qualify for evacuation is also unclear, but authorities believe it numbers in the tens of thousands.

“It’s been over 15 months that I applied for my dad to come over here to the U.S. but the case is still under process.” he added. “… I don’t get the answer that I’m looking for,” he said, adding his message to the government is to help Afghan families immigrate to the U.S.

Hopes for a ‘bright future’

Now 31 years old and a father to four daughters, Naqibullah says he worries his mother and sisters won’t have the same freedoms his family is privileged to have in the U.S.

“At this point, I don’t think I see a future for them to stay in Afghanistan,” he said. “I don’t think my family will be saved if they remain in the country.”

As for his daughters, who are U.S. citizens, Naqibullah said that he wants them to have a “bright future” and choose their own paths in life.

“They have the right [to] choose what they’re choosing for their future. I want them to go to school, to be educated to serve the country, to serve the nation, whether it’s in the medical field or any field they choose to go through. I want them to be a contributor back to this country.”
 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(HAITI) — The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that just devastated Haiti feels like a bad dream on repeat.

Imagine waking up to an earthquake just about a decade after another quake killed 250,000 of your brothers and sisters and destroyed your beautiful country.

Receiving the news of another earthquake in Haiti, and then having to report on it, even remotely from Florida, was one of the most difficult moments in my career. As I discussed the pain and anguish happening in the aftermath, I felt immense sadness for my people.

Much of the country hasn’t rebuilt from the 2010 earthquake, or Hurricane Matthew in 2016. And the president was recently assassinated.

Plus, there’s a low vaccination rate in the middle of a pandemic killing more than 4 million around the world, and now another natural disaster. And in a worst-case scenario, the earthquake happened right before a massive storm barreled toward the island, after nearly 2,000 were killed in the recent earthquake according to the United Nations.

It’s like a never-ending cycle of PTSD, which is exactly how my family who still lives there feels.

No matter what happens in Haiti, the headline usually includes, “the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.” We are often reduced to just poverty, overlooking what makes Haiti one of the richest countries. Haiti is full of culture, arts, and of course food.

But the Haitian people, my people, have a sense of duty to one another and community, because of all we’ve endured throughout history. We have learned to turn pain into compassion.

We have a saying that our people are resilient. This has been demonstrated throughout history. Despite all the cards being stacked against the country, somehow we always find a way to push through. From a collective decision to fight for freedom from slavery, becoming the first Black country to gain independence in 1804 — to the way the community comes together in tragedy.

Faith is central to everything in our society, and looking out for one another is a must. Even as kids growing up in Florida, my brother and I would get in trouble from our dad for not sharing.

If there was just one water left we were expected to ask and make sure no one else at the table or in the house was thirsty before drinking. As a kid, I thought he was just being dramatic, but as an adult I now know why he was that way.

That sense of family, community and care for our fellow human is something you will see in virtually every Haitian family. Maybe “poverty” and the countless tragedies instilled this trait; maybe it’s just something cultural. But it cannot be denied. In times like this, when it seems there is no hope — the Haitian people always seem to find light in the darkness.

My uncle is a doctor and immediately rushed to the affected areas to help after the earthquake struck. While he is one of my heroes, he is not special. During tragedies, everyone pitches in, somehow finding a way to bring a smile or some sort of positivity, as the world literally crashes down.

Structures in Haiti are built to withstand hurricanes, which are common. But the tough concrete buildings that withstand wind and rain in a storm become deadly in an earthquake as they fall. With the threat of aftershocks and storms, even those who are fortunate enough to have shelter are scared to sleep inside.

Tens of thousands of families are homeless yet again because of this disaster. Many pray for even a piece of tarp for shelter. Our economy, which is full of entrepreneurs and street vendors, is crippled yet again because of widespread destruction.

I traveled to Haiti to work on relief after the 2010 earthquake and it was emotional. I was falling apart– yet the people you would expect to be doing the same, were doing quite the opposite. From the tents of homeless families making up mile-long tent cities, emerged hopeful children in full uniform, singing and walking to class. People still played music and greeted one another, bringing food, making conversation.

One of my cousins was rescued days after a grocery store collapsed on her. She held onto hope waiting. My cousin survived the 2010 earthquake only to die this past year due from COVID-19, another concern as displaced families are forced to be in close proximity.

It is traumatic to witness the pain families are going through. It is traumatizing to hear from friends who lost multiple loved ones — again. To see hospitals overwhelmed, and thousands of homes and businesses destroyed leaving people with nowhere to go. It’s like walking through a nightmare that you’ve already experienced, praying it will have a different ending.

But there is inspiration and hope. It warms my heart to see the volunteers risking their lives to save others. It’s been inspiring to see the diaspora sharing reputable organizations doing work on the ground in Haiti to ensure that aid actually makes it to those who need it this time around. Even as I WhatsApp my family there to see how they are doing, they are more concerned with my safety and well-being.

Haiti has been through a lot, and Haitians have proven that we stick together and are resilient. When we are knocked down, we always emerge stronger. The road to recovery will be long, and the impact will be felt long after volunteers leave. I know that through all this adversity the country will rise again.

Yet, it’s hard to witness this tragedy and not ask, “how much more can we take? When will this nightmare end?”

We are resilient, but we are tired and hurting.

Lionel Moïse is an anchor and correspondent for ABC Audio, based in Miami, Florida, who has been covering the most recent earthquake.

This report was featured in the Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, episode of “Start Here,” ABC News’ daily news podcast.
 

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

The U.S. has evacuated approximately 9,000 people since Aug. 14, according to a White House official, with 3,000 people evacuated Thursday and double that number slated to be flown out Friday. Pentagon officials have said their focus remains on maintaining the airport perimeter and increasing the number of evacuees out of Kabul.

President Joe Biden returned to Washington from Camp David on Wednesday and sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He addressed the nation on evacuation efforts Friday.

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern: 

Aug 21, 8:55 am
US embassy tells citizens to avoid Kabul airport

The U.S. embassy in Afghanistan has advised American citizens to avoid traveling to Kabul airport due to “potential security threats.”

U.S. nationals should “avoid the gates to the airport at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so,” a notice posted on the embassy website says.

It adds: “U.S. citizens requesting assistance in departing the country who have Repatriation Assistance Request for each traveler in their group should do so as soon as possible. Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens in Afghanistan who are awaiting immigrant visas should also complete this form if they wish to depart.”

Previous advice issued two days ago said the U.S. government “cannot ensure safe passage” but said that citizens “should consider travelling to Hamid Karzai International Airport when you judge it is safe to do so”.

-ABC News’ Guy Davies

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — With thousands of Americans and Afghan allies still waiting to be evacuated, an American stuck in the chaos described the area around Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul as “very dangerous” after he and his family were forced to turn back before securing a flight home.

While U.S. troops have taken control of the airport, Taliban soldiers have set up checkpoints in the area outside, and have repeatedly fired shots into the air and clashed with Afghans trying to flee. At least 12 people have died in the area since Sunday, Taliban and NATO officials told Reuters this week.

President Joe Biden’s administration has been heavily criticized for its handling of the evacuation flights.

David Fox, 39, runs a marketing firm in Kabul and has been desperately trying to get his wife, who his Afghan, and his son, out of the country since the Taliban took control of the city.

Fox set out for Kabul airport on Wednesday with his family, and with the family of an Afghan-American acquaintance, on the advice of a friend in the State Department, he said.

“When we got there, there was a crowd of several hundred, potentially even over a thousand, individuals, I mean, Afghans who are desperate to get into the airport,” he told ABC News. “I was trying to make eye contact with the U.S. Marines who were at the gate. At one point, I was about 10 feet away, which I felt like, with the big number of people that were there, felt like a football stadium’s length.”

On the outer perimeter, where Taliban soldiers inspect documents, Fox said one of them hit him with a “fan belt” as other militants jabbed people with weapons and fired warning shots.

As Fox’s group neared the gate where U.S. troops were, it became apparent the situation was deteriorating, he said.

“The Marines are just firing their weapons, firing warning shots in the air, throwing flash bangs. And every time they would do a series of volleys of warning shots, the whole crowd would surge back,” he said. “If we stayed there longer, there was the chance that we would, you know, pass out from exhaustion.”

A U.S. official told ABC News on Friday that there are now 5,800 troops at the airport, but the American Embassy in Kabul still issued a security alert saying the U.S. government “cannot ensure safe passage to the airport” as the soldiers aren’t pushing out into the city.

Recent reports have highlighted growing fears of Taliban reprisals against Afghans who worked with the U.S., despite Taliban leaders declaring an amnesty for those individuals.

Taliban fighters executed nine ethnic Hazara men in the Afghan city of Ghazni last month, according to Amnesty International, as reports continue to trickle in of human rights abuses during their lightning-quick capture of all but one of the country’s 34 provinces. Amnesty International said the killings “likely represent a tiny fraction of the total death toll inflicted by the Taliban to date.”

While the situation in Kabul remains as uncertain as ever, the chaos at the airport may mean that Fox will have to bide his time before he and his family can flee.

“For me as a father, I have to weigh the risk of [getting to] the airport — to me the airport is very dangerous,” Fox said. “The issue of the mob at the airport is that there is a belief in Afghan society that if you can get into that airport by hook or by crook, then you will get on a free flight to America … so we are going to wait until evacuation flights stop and commercial flights resume.”

ABC News’ Conor Finnegan and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

On Thursday, protests broke out in Kabul with Afghan men and women waving the nation’s flag in defiance of the Taliban on Afghanistan’s Independence Day.

The U.S. has evacuated approximately 9,000 people since Aug. 14, according to a White House official, with 3,000 people evacuated Thursday and double that number slated to be flown out Friday. Pentagon officials have said their focus remains on maintaining the airport perimeter and increasing the number of evacuees out of Kabul.

President Joe Biden returned to Washington from Camp David on Wednesday and sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is expected to address the nation on evacuation efforts Friday.

The Pentagon has said that 6,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to the country’s capital as the military races to evacuate people. Despite criticism, the Biden administration is sticking by its decision to withdraw troops from the country, though Biden told Stephanopoulos troops might stay beyond the original Aug. 31 date if it takes longer to get all Americans out of the country.

Here are some key developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 20, 3:52 pm
Pentagon says evacuation flights ‘steadily increasing’

There’s been “steady progress” on evacuations in Kabul, John Kirby, the Pentagon’s press secretary, said at a Friday press conference.

Officials stressed that the airport is secure and that evacuation flights are “steadily increasing” after they stalled for several hours on Friday due to capacity limits at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which is processing and housing Afghan evacuees. Flights from Kabul were paused for about six or seven hours, said Army Gen. William “Hank” Taylor.

“Flight operations have resumed,” Taylor added. “We are looking at additional locations for these initial flights to land. We are grateful for our allies, including Germany, where flights land today, who are cooperating with us in this global effort.”

Taylor said fewer than 10,000 people were affected by the backlog of flights.

Taylor said that 16 C-17s and one C-130 left Kabul over the last 24 hours, carrying some 6,000 passengers and a “couple of hundred” American citizens out of the country.

About 5,800 U.S. troops remain on the ground in Kabul.

Aug 20, 2:02 pm
Biden addresses the nation, says ‘Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.’

President Joe Biden, in an address to the nation Friday amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, touted “significant progress” in evacuation efforts, saying the airport in Kabul has been secured.

“Let me be clear, any American who wants to come home, we will get you home,” he said.

He said the U.S. is still working to get a “strong number” of how many American citizens are in Afghanistan and where they are.

Biden noted more than 18,000 people have been evacuated since July and approximately 13,000 since the military airlift effort began Aug. 14th.

Biden has faced fierce criticism for the withdrawal from Afghanistan and has defiantly defended his decision to withdraw all troops by Aug. 31.

“The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

During that sitdown, he also said he’s committed to getting every American out of Afghanistan even if it means potentially extending the mission beyond the deadline he set.

Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan remains dire, with crowds clamoring to get out from the airport in Kabul and reports of Afghans being targeted by the Taliban

Aug 20, 1:14 pm
Reports of Afghans targeted by Taliban

“Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province last month,” according to a press release posted Thursday by Amnesty International.

“On-the-ground researchers spoke to eyewitnesses who gave harrowing accounts of the killings, which took place between July 4-6 in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district. Six of the men were shot and three were tortured to death, including one man who was strangled with his own scarf and had his arm muscles sliced off,” the group wrote on its website.

Meanwhile, a private Norwegian intelligence firm also sent evidence of the Taliban rounding up Afghans on a blacklist of people who worked for the Afghan government or with U.S. and NATO forces, according to a U.S. official and a source familiar with the report.

The U.N. provided the report to the U.S. and other countries Thursday, according to the U.S. official.

But the source familiar with the report noted that the U.N. did not commission the report and cannot verify its authenticity.

Aug 20, 1:12 pm
No US airlift flights out of Kabul for hours due to Qatar capacity

For several hours Friday, there were no C-17 evacuation flights out of Kabul’s airport because the evacuee facilities at the Al Udeid Air Base near Doha, Qatar, are at capacity due to the number of Afghan evacuees being processed and housed there, according to a U.S. official.

A White House official has now confirmed that the commander on the ground at the Kabul airport has issued an order to recommence evacuation flights.

Flights will begin traveling with U.S. citizens and Afghan allies to Uzbekistan, according to a State Department official.

It will be one of many new countries that the U.S. will now send flights to.

Aug 20, 12:14 pm
‘Dissent cable’ warned of Afghanistan government collapse

U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the department’s leadership that the Afghan government was at risk of collapse as the Taliban offensive swept across the country, a source familiar with the cable confirmed to ABC News.

The dissent cable, as such classified memos are called, was sent July 13 and called for the Biden administration to begin an airlift operation immediately for Afghans who helped the U.S. and to use sharper language to condemn Taliban atrocities, according to the source. The cable was immediately brought to Blinken’s attention, according to the source, who said Blinken responded.

The source declined to detail what he said, beyond encouraging use of the dissent cable channel — but told ABC News that the “thoughts of the drafters reflected much of the thinking at the department,” which is why the State Department started relocating Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants and families in late July.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price issued a statement about the cable, declining to comment publicly, but saying Blinken reads every dissent, approves the replies and welcomes and encourages the channel’s use.

Aug 20, 11:45 am
White House tries to spin Kabul airport, embassy evacuation as successful planning

White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield defended the government’s response to the Afghanistan crisis and touted the airport evacuations as a success.

“We have taken control of the airport. Flights are leaving regularly. I would say that’s not something that happens without planning. That’s not something that just happens,” she said on MSNBC Friday morning.

“The president planned for multiple contingencies, that’s why he prepositioned troops in the Gulf who are able to move in immediately after Kabul fell, take control of the airport and begin to set up flights to get people out of the country,” she added.

Bedingfield also touted the fact that the U.S. Embassy was cleared without loss of life, despite the fact that crucial documents for Afghan allies, like passports, were destroyed, according to a Democratic lawmaker’s office. The destruction of passports could make it more difficult for Afghan allies to get evacuated, putting them in even more danger.

“48 hours after the fall of Kabul we evacuated all of our embassy personnel to the airport without a shot fired,” Bedingfield said. “That’s not something that just happens, that requires foresight and planning and that’s what President Biden and his team did.”

Aug 20, 11:29 am
DHS personnel deployed to Qatar to help processing Afghans

Agents from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and officers from Transportation Security Agency have been deployed to Doha, Qatar “to conduct processing, screening, and vetting, with the goal of bringing to the United States Afghans who have worked for and on behalf of the United States and other eligible vulnerable Afghans in coordination with Department of Defense and Department of State,” a CBP spokesperson told ABC News on Friday.

Aug 20, 11:10 am
Pentagon requests to ‘reprogram’ $400M to pay for transport, housing of Afghan refugees

The Pentagon submitted a request to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday to “reprogram” $400 million to pay for the transport and housing of Afghan refugees.

A House Armed Services Committee aide confirmed the news, which was first reported in Punchbowl News.

“The Committee has received and is in the process of reviewing the reprogramming request from the Department,” HASC spokesperson Monica Matoush told ABC News in a statement.

This request comes on top of the $1.1 billion already approved by Congress in the security supplemental package for the “Special Immigrant Visa” program.

“Chairman Smith has been following the developments in Afghanistan very closely and continues to believe that our current focus must be the rapid evacuation of U.S. personnel, Afghan nationals that have supported the military, as well as their families, and other Afghan nationals that may be in danger due to their work on humanitarian or human rights issues. The Committee will keep this priority in mind as the reprogramming request is evaluated,” Matoush added.

Aug 20, 10:33 am
Biden to brief nation Friday as 6,000 slated to be evacuated from Afghanistan

As chaos continues to unfold in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden will address the nation at 1 p.m. on evacuation efforts amid mounting pressure to get Americans and Afghans who have supported the U.S. out of the embattled country.

After about 3,000 people were evacuated Thursday, the State Department said another 6,000 are slated to be evacuated on 20 flights Friday. Between 5,000 to 7,000 people will have to be evacuated daily to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Wednesday.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with their national security team to be briefed on the evolving situation on the ground in Afghanistan on Friday before Harris departs on a foreign trip to Asia in the evening, and the House and Senate will also receive unclassified briefings at 2 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., respectively.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will also hold a briefing with Maj. Gen Hank Taylor at 2 p.m.

Aug 20, 9:08 am
Biden administration grapples with slow Afghanistan evacuations

Members of Congress will get more details on the state of affairs in Afghanistan in unclassified briefings Friday amid bipartisan calls for Americans and Afghan allies to be evacuated from Kabul faster after the Taliban takeover.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will speak with members of the House of Representatives. Senators will also receive a briefing.

The briefing comes after another chaotic day at Kabul’s airport. The State Department said Thursday that 6,000 people were cleared to be flown out on 20 flights on Friday — the max capacity for each.

The number evacuated will have to be 5,000 to 7,000 per day to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, President Joe Biden  Wednesday.

In order for that to happen, though, those looking to flee the ravaged nation need to be able to access the airport and there is currently no clear plan to resolve that. State Department spokesman Ned Price had a sobering message for those hoping for a safe route.

“At this point, we don’t have the resources to go beyond the airport compound,” Price told reporters Thursday.

While talks continue with the Taliban about allowing safe passage to the airport, no resolution has yet been reached.

Aug 20, 1:25 am
US evacuated about 3,000 people from Kabul on Thursday

The U.S. evacuated approximately 3,000 people from the airport in Kabul on Thursday as thousands clamor to get out of the country in the wake of the Taliban taking over the government.

The White House confirmed the latest number of evacuees early Friday, among them nearly 350 U.S. citizens. The others on the 12 C-17 flights were family members of U.S. citizens, special immigration visa applicants and their families and vulnerable Afghans, a White House official said.

The official said 9,000 people have been evacuated since Aug. 14 and 14,000 since the end of July.

Not included in those totals were 11 charter flights facilitated by the U.S. military, the official said.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss the evacuations from Afghanistan in an address Friday afternoon.

Aug 19, 8:13 pm
Consular surge will only be as high as 40 people total: Sources

The State Department announced earlier this week that it is “surging” staff to the international airport in Kabul to assist with the massive efforts to evacuate as many as 15,000 U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

But the total number of consular officials who will help process people will only be as high as 40 people in total, according to two sources familiar with the plans — raising questions about whether that is enough staff to process the tens of thousands left to evacuate.

The State Department declined to confirm how many consular officials would be based at Kabul airport, but referred questions to spokesperson Ned Price’s comments earlier on Thursday.

“We’re always going to be evaluating what we could be doing differently, what we could be doing more effectively. If it turns out that we need additional consular capacity in Kabul, we won’t hesitate to do that, but right now we are confident that … with the additional reinforcements, we’ll have what we need,” he told reporters.

In comparison, there are more than 5,200 U.S. troops on the ground, securing the airport and evacuating Americans and Afghans on military cargo aircraft. The military is able to airlift between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day, Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters Thursday, but they have not had that many evacuees ready to go.

Crowds are unable to access the airport, blocked by massive congestion and Taliban fighters beating back crowds. U.S. forces have also deployed tear gas and fired into the air to disperse crowds. Over the last 24 hours, Taylor said, only 2,000 passengers were taken out.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

On Thursday, protests broke out in Kabul with Afghan men and women waving the nation’s flag in defiance of the Taliban on Afghanistan’s Independence Day.

The U.S. has evacuated approximately 9,000 people since Aug. 14, according to a White House official, with 3,000 people evacuated Thursday and double that number slated to be flown out Friday. Pentagon officials have said their focus remains on maintaining the airport perimeter and increasing the number of evacuees out of Kabul.

President Joe Biden returned to Washington from Camp David on Wednesday and sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is expected to address the nation on evacuation efforts Friday.

The Pentagon has said that 6,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to the country’s capital as the military races to evacuate people. Despite criticism, the Biden administration is sticking by its decision to withdraw troops from the country, though Biden told Stephanopoulos troops might stay beyond the original Aug. 31 date if it takes longer to get all Americans out of the country.

Here are some key developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 20, 2:02 pm
Biden addresses the nation, says ‘Any American who wants to come home, we will get you home.’

President Joe Biden, in an address to the nation Friday amid the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, touted “significant progress” in evacuation efforts, saying the airport in Kabul has been secured.

“Let me be clear, any American who wants to come home, we will get you home,” he said.

He said the U.S. is still working to get a “strong number” of how many American citizens are in Afghanistan and where they are.

Biden noted more than 18,000 people have been evacuated since July and approximately 13,000 since the military airlift effort began Aug. 14th.

Biden has faced fierce criticism for the withdrawal from Afghanistan and has defiantly defended his decision to withdraw all troops by Aug. 31.

“The idea that somehow, there’s a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing, I don’t know how that happens,” Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

During that sitdown, he also said he’s committed to getting every American out of Afghanistan even if it means potentially extending the mission beyond the deadline he set.

Meanwhile, the situation in Afghanistan remains dire, with crowds clamoring to get out from the airport in Kabul and reports of Afghans being targeted by the Taliban

Aug 20, 1:14 pm
Reports of Afghans targeted by Taliban

“Taliban fighters massacred nine ethnic Hazara men after taking control of Afghanistan’s Ghazni province last month,” according to a press release posted Thursday by Amnesty International.

“On-the-ground researchers spoke to eyewitnesses who gave harrowing accounts of the killings, which took place between July 4-6 in the village of Mundarakht, Malistan district. Six of the men were shot and three were tortured to death, including one man who was strangled with his own scarf and had his arm muscles sliced off,” the group wrote on its website.

Meanwhile, a private Norwegian intelligence firm also sent evidence of the Taliban rounding up Afghans on a blacklist of people who worked for the Afghan government or with U.S. and NATO forces, according to a U.S. official and a source familiar with the report.

The U.N. provided the report to the U.S. and other countries Thursday, according to the U.S. official.

But the source familiar with the report noted that the U.N. did not commission the report and cannot verify its authenticity.

Aug 20, 1:12 pm
No US airlift flights out of Kabul for hours due to Qatar capacity

For several hours Friday, there were no C-17 evacuation flights out of Kabul’s airport because the evacuee facilities at the Al Udeid Air Base near Doha, Qatar, are at capacity due to the number of Afghan evacuees being processed and housed there, according to a U.S. official.

A White House official has now confirmed that the commander on the ground at the Kabul airport has issued an order to recommence evacuation flights.

Flights will begin traveling with U.S. citizens and Afghan allies to Uzbekistan, according to a State Department official.

It will be one of many new countries that the U.S. will now send flights to.

Aug 20, 12:14 pm
‘Dissent cable’ warned of Afghanistan government collapse

U.S. diplomats at the embassy in Kabul warned Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the department’s leadership that the Afghan government was at risk of collapse as the Taliban offensive swept across the country, a source familiar with the cable confirmed to ABC News.

The dissent cable, as such classified memos are called, was sent July 13 and called for the Biden administration to begin an airlift operation immediately for Afghans who helped the U.S. and to use sharper language to condemn Taliban atrocities, according to the source. The cable was immediately brought to Blinken’s attention, according to the source, who said Blinken responded.

The source declined to detail what he said, beyond encouraging use of the dissent cable channel — but told ABC News that the “thoughts of the drafters reflected much of the thinking at the department,” which is why the State Department started relocating Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants and families in late July.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price issued a statement about the cable, declining to comment publicly, but saying Blinken reads every dissent, approves the replies and welcomes and encourages the channel’s use.

Aug 20, 11:45 am
White House tries to spin Kabul airport, embassy evacuation as successful planning

White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield defended the government’s response to the Afghanistan crisis and touted the airport evacuations as a success.

“We have taken control of the airport. Flights are leaving regularly. I would say that’s not something that happens without planning. That’s not something that just happens,” she said on MSNBC Friday morning.

“The president planned for multiple contingencies, that’s why he prepositioned troops in the Gulf who are able to move in immediately after Kabul fell, take control of the airport and begin to set up flights to get people out of the country,” she added.

Bedingfield also touted the fact that the U.S. Embassy was cleared without loss of life, despite the fact that crucial documents for Afghan allies, like passports, were destroyed, according to a Democratic lawmaker’s office. The destruction of passports could make it more difficult for Afghan allies to get evacuated, putting them in even more danger.

“48 hours after the fall of Kabul we evacuated all of our embassy personnel to the airport without a shot fired,” Bedingfield said. “That’s not something that just happens, that requires foresight and planning and that’s what President Biden and his team did.”

Aug 20, 11:29 am
DHS personnel deployed to Qatar to help processing Afghans

Agents from Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and officers from Transportation Security Agency have been deployed to Doha, Qatar “to conduct processing, screening, and vetting, with the goal of bringing to the United States Afghans who have worked for and on behalf of the United States and other eligible vulnerable Afghans in coordination with Department of Defense and Department of State,” a CBP spokesperson told ABC News on Friday.

Aug 20, 11:10 am
Pentagon requests to ‘reprogram’ $400M to pay for transport, housing of Afghan refugees

The Pentagon submitted a request to the House and Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday to “reprogram” $400 million to pay for the transport and housing of Afghan refugees.

A House Armed Services Committee aide confirmed the news, which was first reported in Punchbowl News.

“The Committee has received and is in the process of reviewing the reprogramming request from the Department,” HASC spokesperson Monica Matoush told ABC News in a statement.

This request comes on top of the $1.1 billion already approved by Congress in the security supplemental package for the “Special Immigrant Visa” program.

“Chairman Smith has been following the developments in Afghanistan very closely and continues to believe that our current focus must be the rapid evacuation of U.S. personnel, Afghan nationals that have supported the military, as well as their families, and other Afghan nationals that may be in danger due to their work on humanitarian or human rights issues. The Committee will keep this priority in mind as the reprogramming request is evaluated,” Matoush added.

Aug 20, 10:33 am
Biden to brief nation Friday as 6,000 slated to be evacuated from Afghanistan

As chaos continues to unfold in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden will address the nation at 1 p.m. on evacuation efforts amid mounting pressure to get Americans and Afghans who have supported the U.S. out of the embattled country.

After about 3,000 people were evacuated Thursday, the State Department said another 6,000 are slated to be evacuated on 20 flights Friday. Between 5,000 to 7,000 people will have to be evacuated daily to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Wednesday.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with their national security team to be briefed on the evolving situation on the ground in Afghanistan on Friday before Harris departs on a foreign trip to Asia in the evening, and the House and Senate will also receive unclassified briefings at 2 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., respectively.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will also hold a briefing with Maj. Gen Hank Taylor at 2 p.m.

Aug 20, 9:08 am
Biden administration grapples with slow Afghanistan evacuations

Members of Congress will get more details on the state of affairs in Afghanistan in unclassified briefings Friday amid bipartisan calls for Americans and Afghan allies to be evacuated from Kabul faster after the Taliban takeover.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will speak with members of the House of Representatives. Senators will also receive a briefing.

The briefing comes after another chaotic day at Kabul’s airport. The State Department said Thursday that 6,000 people were cleared to be flown out on 20 flights on Friday — the max capacity for each.

The number evacuated will have to be 5,000 to 7,000 per day to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, President Joe Biden  Wednesday.

In order for that to happen, though, those looking to flee the ravaged nation need to be able to access the airport and there is currently no clear plan to resolve that. State Department spokesman Ned Price had a sobering message for those hoping for a safe route.

“At this point, we don’t have the resources to go beyond the airport compound,” Price told reporters Thursday.

While talks continue with the Taliban about allowing safe passage to the airport, no resolution has yet been reached.

Aug 20, 1:25 am
US evacuated about 3,000 people from Kabul on Thursday

The U.S. evacuated approximately 3,000 people from the airport in Kabul on Thursday as thousands clamor to get out of the country in the wake of the Taliban taking over the government.

The White House confirmed the latest number of evacuees early Friday, among them nearly 350 U.S. citizens. The others on the 12 C-17 flights were family members of U.S. citizens, special immigration visa applicants and their families and vulnerable Afghans, a White House official said.

The official said 9,000 people have been evacuated since Aug. 14 and 14,000 since the end of July.

Not included in those totals were 11 charter flights facilitated by the U.S. military, the official said.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss the evacuations from Afghanistan in an address Friday afternoon.

Aug 19, 8:13 pm
Consular surge will only be as high as 40 people total: Sources

The State Department announced earlier this week that it is “surging” staff to the international airport in Kabul to assist with the massive efforts to evacuate as many as 15,000 U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

But the total number of consular officials who will help process people will only be as high as 40 people in total, according to two sources familiar with the plans — raising questions about whether that is enough staff to process the tens of thousands left to evacuate.

The State Department declined to confirm how many consular officials would be based at Kabul airport, but referred questions to spokesperson Ned Price’s comments earlier on Thursday.

“We’re always going to be evaluating what we could be doing differently, what we could be doing more effectively. If it turns out that we need additional consular capacity in Kabul, we won’t hesitate to do that, but right now we are confident that … with the additional reinforcements, we’ll have what we need,” he told reporters.

In comparison, there are more than 5,200 U.S. troops on the ground, securing the airport and evacuating Americans and Afghans on military cargo aircraft. The military is able to airlift between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day, Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters Thursday, but they have not had that many evacuees ready to go.

Crowds are unable to access the airport, blocked by massive congestion and Taliban fighters beating back crowds. U.S. forces have also deployed tear gas and fired into the air to disperse crowds. Over the last 24 hours, Taylor said, only 2,000 passengers were taken out.

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(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government’s collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

On Thursday, protests broke out in Kabul with Afghan men and women waving the nation’s flag in defiance of the Taliban on Afghanistan’s Independence Day.

The U.S. has evacuated approximately 9,000 people since Aug. 14, according to a White House official, with 3,000 people evacuated Thursday and double that number slated to be flown out Friday. Pentagon officials have said their focus remains on maintaining the airport perimeter and increasing the number of evacuees out of Kabul.

President Joe Biden returned to Washington from Camp David on Wednesday and sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is expected to address the nation on evacuation efforts Friday.

The Pentagon has said that 6,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to the country’s capital as the military races to evacuate people. Despite criticism, the Biden administration is sticking by its decision to withdraw troops from the country, though Biden told Stephanopoulos troops might stay beyond the original Aug. 31 date if it takes longer to get all Americans out of the country.

Here are some key developments. All times Eastern:

Aug 20, 10:33 am
Biden to brief nation Friday as 6,000 slated to be evacuated from Afghanistan

As chaos continues to unfold in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden will address the nation at 1 p.m. on evacuation efforts amid mounting pressure to get Americans and Afghans who have supported the U.S. out of the embattled country.

After about 3,000 people were evacuated Thursday, the State Department said another 6,000 are slated to be evacuated on 20 flights Friday. Between 5,000 to 7,000 people will have to be evacuated daily to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Wednesday.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with their national security team to be briefed on the evolving situation on the ground in Afghanistan on Friday before Harris departs on a foreign trip to Asia in the evening, and the House and Senate will also receive unclassified briefings at 2 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., respectively.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby will also hold a briefing with Maj. Gen Hank Taylor at 2 p.m.

Aug 20, 9:08 am
Biden administration grapples with slow Afghanistan evacuations

Members of Congress will get more details on the state of affairs in Afghanistan in unclassified briefings Friday amid bipartisan calls for Americans and Afghan allies to be evacuated from Kabul faster after the Taliban takeover.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will speak with members of the House of Representatives. Senators will also receive a briefing.

The briefing comes after another chaotic day at Kabul’s airport. The State Department said Thursday that 6,000 people were cleared to be flown out on 20 flights on Friday — the max capacity for each.

The number evacuated will have to be 5,000 to 7,000 per day to beat the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline, President Joe Biden  Wednesday.

In order for that to happen, though, those looking to flee the ravaged nation need to be able to access the airport and there is currently no clear plan to resolve that. State Department spokesman Ned Price had a sobering message for those hoping for a safe route.

“At this point, we don’t have the resources to go beyond the airport compound,” Price told reporters Thursday.

While talks continue with the Taliban about allowing safe passage to the airport, no resolution has yet been reached.

Aug 20, 1:25 am
US evacuated about 3,000 people from Kabul on Thursday

The U.S. evacuated approximately 3,000 people from the airport in Kabul on Thursday as thousands clamor to get out of the country in the wake of the Taliban taking over the government.

The White House confirmed the latest number of evacuees early Friday, among them nearly 350 U.S. citizens. The others on the 12 C-17 flights were family members of U.S. citizens, special immigration visa applicants and their families and vulnerable Afghans, a White House official said.

The official said 9,000 people have been evacuated since Aug. 14 and 14,000 since the end of July.

Not included in those totals were 11 charter flights facilitated by the U.S. military, the official said.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss the evacuations from Afghanistan in an address Friday afternoon.

Aug 19, 8:13 pm
Consular surge will only be as high as 40 people total: Sources

The State Department announced earlier this week that it is “surging” staff to the international airport in Kabul to assist with the massive efforts to evacuate as many as 15,000 U.S. citizens and tens of thousands of Afghans who helped the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

But the total number of consular officials who will help process people will only be as high as 40 people in total, according to two sources familiar with the plans — raising questions about whether that is enough staff to process the tens of thousands left to evacuate.

The State Department declined to confirm how many consular officials would be based at Kabul airport, but referred questions to spokesperson Ned Price’s comments earlier on Thursday.

“We’re always going to be evaluating what we could be doing differently, what we could be doing more effectively. If it turns out that we need additional consular capacity in Kabul, we won’t hesitate to do that, but right now we are confident that … with the additional reinforcements, we’ll have what we need,” he told reporters.

In comparison, there are more than 5,200 U.S. troops on the ground, securing the airport and evacuating Americans and Afghans on military cargo aircraft. The military is able to airlift between 5,000 and 9,000 people per day, Gen. Hank Taylor told reporters Thursday, but they have not had that many evacuees ready to go.

Crowds are unable to access the airport, blocked by massive congestion and Taliban fighters beating back crowds. U.S. forces have also deployed tear gas and fired into the air to disperse crowds. Over the last 24 hours, Taylor said, only 2,000 passengers were taken out.

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