The Rolling Stones are planning to go through with their 2021 U.S. trek following the death of drummer Charlie Watts on Tuesday, according to the tour’s promoter.
“The Rolling Stones’ tour dates are moving ahead as planned,” the promoter, Concerts West, says in a statement, RollingStone.com reports.
The U.S. leg of the band’s No Filter Tour, which was rescheduled from 2020 after being postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic, is slated to get underway September 26 in St. Louis and is mapped out through a November 20 show in Austin, Texas. The trek features 12 dates, and tickets can be purchased at VividSeats.com.
Earlier this month, The Rolling Stones announced that Watts likely wouldn’t be joining them on the tour because he was recovering from an unspecified medical procedure. According to the announcement, Steve Jordan, who played drums on all of Keith Richards‘ solo albums, was picked by Charlie to “stand in” for him on the trek.
According to a statement from his spokesperson, Watts “passed away peacefully in a London hospital [on Tuesday] morning surrounded by his family.” He was 80.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Chaos has enveloped Kabul after Afghanistan’s government collapsed and the Taliban seized control, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.
Two suicide bombers affiliated with ISIS-K carried out what the Pentagon called a “complex attack” outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Thursday, killing at least 13 American service members and wounding 18, among scores of Afghan casualties.
President Joe Biden has addressed the nation on the attack from the White House Thursday, saying, “America will not be intimidated.” Biden sat down with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos for an exclusive one-on-one interview at the White House last week, the president’s first interview since the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and warned of the threat of attacks on the ground.
Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:
Aug 27, 11:06 am
No second suicide bomber: Pentagon
Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor said at a Pentagon briefing on Friday that the U.S. now believes there was just one explosion on Thursday and one suicide bomber — and that there was no second explosion or bomber at or near the Baron Hotel.
“I can confirm for you that we do not believe that there was a second explosion at or near the Baron Hotel, that it was one suicide bomber,” he said. “We’re not sure how that report was provided incorrectly, but we do know it’s not any surprise that in the confusion of very dynamic events like this can cause information sometimes to be misreported or garbled.”
Officials had said at a Pentagon briefing on Thursday that they believed there were two suicide bombers — one outside the Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport and one at or near the Baron Hotel, the latter of which has now been retracted.
Aug 27, 10:46 am
170 Afghans killed in the Kabul attack: Afghan official
At least 170 Afghans were killed and 200 wounded in the attack in Kabul on Thursday, according to an official at the Ministry of Public Health who spoke on condition of anonymity with ABC News.
He said among the 170 dead, 34 are male (including two boys and 32 men), and four are female (including one girl and three women). He said that the identities of the 132 other people are still unknown at this stage.
The World Health Organization regional headquarters in Cairo had reported earlier at least 161 Afghan civilians died in the attack in Kabul on Thursday.
Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital in Kabul reported to the WHO it had 145 dead bodies brought into the hospital. The Emergency Hospital in Kabul also reported 16 dead on arrival.
Aug 27, 10:04 am
US continues evacuations despite threats of more attacks
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command and highest-ranking commander in the Middle East, told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday that further security threats following the attack in Kabul are “extremely real.”
“We believe it is their desire to continue those attacks, and we expect those attacks to continue,” he said via a videoconference.
“Right now, our focus really, we have other active threat streams, extremely active threat streams against the airfield, we want to make sure we are taking the steps to protect ourselves there. Our focus is on that,” he added.
He said the U.S. is doing everything it can to prepare for those attacks including reaching out to the Taliban, “who are actually providing the outer security cordon around the airfield, to make sure they know what we expect them to do to protect us.”
Despite Thursday’s “complex attack” and threats for more, he said the U.S. will continue its evacuation mission ahead of a full military withdrawal on Aug. 31.
Biden, in remarks from the White House later on Thursday, underscored that he has repeatedly warned that the evacuation mission in Afghanistan was a dangerous one — but one that would continue until the end of the month, even as threats persist.
“These ISIS terrorists will not win,” Biden said. “We will rescue the Americans in there. We will get our Afghan allies out. And our mission will go on.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, in a White House briefing following his remarks, cited “ongoing threats” as reasoning for why Biden and his military commanders stuck to the Aug. 31 deadline.
Aug 27, 9:11 am
Former Army Ranger details ‘vulnerable’ US position at airport gates
Jariko Denman, a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and was working in Kabul on Thursday alongside other veterans to help get evacuees out, described the conditions outside the airport to ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday as one that left American forces vulnerable.
“The way that we were forced to expose ourselves in order to get our people in, made us very, very much vulnerable to it,” said Denman, who was flown out of Kabul and to Qatar just ahead of the attack.
“With the sheer numbers of people coming in, we didn’t have the time to, you know, do those different steps and security of walking up, talk to them, search them,” Denman said. “It was just, you know, a mob of 7,000, 8,000 people arm’s distance away.”
Denman said the conditions outside the gate were the worst he’s seen in his 20 years in the Army which includes 15 deployments.
“Families, people carrying toddlers, babies, elderly, trying to get to these gates, to get to us to get through, and I would describe it as a mosh pit on steroids,” he said. “You know, 600, 700 meters long of compacted human beings trying to get to one little choke point. It was terrible.”
“In 20 years, I never saw an operating force more sleep-deprived or just working more than these Marines and other airmen and soldiers that were on the ground,” he added.
Denman, who is in touch with people still in Kabul, said he’s hearing the same theme in the wake of the attack: “It was just carnage.”
Aug 27, 7:49 am
‘Every effort was made to destroy’ Kabul embassy staff details, UK says
The United Kingdom said “every effort was made to destroy sensitive material” when British embassy staff in Kabul evacuated their building as Taliban fighters approached Afghanistan’s capital.
“We have worked tirelessly to secure the safety of those who worked for us including getting three families to safety,” a spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told ABC News in a statement Friday. “During the drawdown of our Embassy every effort was made to destroy sensitive material.”
A report published Thursday by British daily national newspaper The Times said its journalist found papers with the contact details of Afghans working for the U.K. government and of locals applying for positions “scattered on the ground at the British embassy compound in Kabul that has been seized by the Taliban.” Some Afghan employees and their families have not been able to evacuate Kabul, according to The Times.
A source at the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told ABC News: “We are grateful to The Times for sharing the information retrieved with us and working with us to enable us to get these three families to safety.”
Aug 27, 6:59 am
US, allies evacuate 12,500 people from Kabul in past 24 hours
The United States has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of some 105,000 people from Kabul since Aug. 14, when the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan’s capital, according to a White House official.
In a 24-hour period from Thursday to Friday, 35 U.S. military flights carried approximately 8,500 evacuees out of Kabul. Another 4,000 people were evacuated via 54 coalition aircraft. Since the end of July, approximately 110,600 people have been relocated from Kabul via U.S. military and coalition flights, the White House
Aug 27, 6:18 am
Philadelphia airport to receive Afghan refugees
People fleeing Afghanistan are expected to arrive at Philadelphia’s primary airport in the coming days, according to a city spokesperson.
“This is a federal-led operation, and we are collaborating with the federal government in this emergency response, protecting the rights and dignity of the Afghan families arriving in the country,” the spokesperson told ABC News on Friday. “We stand ready to provide medical assistance, housing, and connection to our diverse community of immigrant service providers who can assist with an array of social services.”
The Philadelphia International Airport is the second airport in the United States to welcome arrivals of Afghan refugees, in addition to the Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
It was unclear when or exactly how many Afghan refugees would be landing in Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia stands in solidarity with Afghan refugees and we look forward to providing them a safe haven in our Welcoming City,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement.
Aug 27, 5:33 am
UK enters final stages of Afghanistan evacuation
The United Kingdom announced Friday that it has entered the final stages of its evacuation from Afghanistan and no more people will be called to the airport to leave.
Processing facilities at the Baron Hotel in Kabul, outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, have been closed and the British Armed Forces will now focus on evacuating the U.K. nationals and others who have already been processed and are at the airport awaiting departure, according to a press release from the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
“The U.K.’s ability to process further cases is now extremely reduced and additional numbers will be limited. No further people will be called forward to the airport for evacuation,” the defense ministry said. “Evacuating all those civilians we have already processed will free up the capacity needed on U.K. military aircraft to bring out our remaining diplomats and military personnel.”
U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace called it a “remarkable achievement” that his government has evacuated more than 13,000 people from Kabul since Aug. 13, when the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan’s capital.
“Our top priority as we move through this process will be the protection of all those involved who are operating in a heightened threat environment,” Wallace said in a statement Friday. “It is with deep regret that not everyone has been able to be evacuated during this process.”
“We will continue to honour our debt to all those who have not yet been able to leave Afghanistan,” he added. “We will do all that we can to ensure they reach safety.”
Mariah Carey takes the holidays very seriously and, with 120 days to go before the big day, she has further solidified her reputation as the Queen of Christmas by rolling out with an official holiday figurine.
The “Fantasy” singer teamed with toymaker Funko to roll out an Amazon exclusive “Diamond Glitter” figurine, which marries the outfits she wore for her iconic “All I Want for Christmas Is You” music video and the sparkly getup she wore for her Apple TV+ Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special.
The fabulous figure shows Carey in a sparkling Santa jumpsuit, complete with silver snow boots, black Santa belt, and a shimmering fuzzy neckline and cuffs. Instead of a Santa hat, Carey’s hair is stylishly coiffed and dramatically swept over her left eye.
The four-inch statue is available for preorder now and ships December 10. It retails for $13.99.
This item may have been inspired by last year’s incident in which an unauthorized ornament that supposedly looked like the five-time Grammy winner was sold. After a fan showed off their new decoration on Twitter, Mariah hilariously replied, “This is… Not approved” and gently added, “But it’s the thought that counts” in parenthesis.
Candyman director Nia DaCosta knew she was stepping on hallowed ground when she signed on to direct “a spiritual sequel” to the 1992 supernatural horror film of the same name.
“I was a huge fan of the original film,” DaCosta tells ABC Audio. “I saw it when I was really young…and watched when I was older…and had a completely different perspective, but still loved it.”
DaCosta’s says her love for the original made her want to do right by its sequel, noting that she “pitched” her own ideas to producers Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld.
“When I heard that Jordan was going to do a version of it, I didn’t really know what that meant,” she shares. “But I read the script that he and Win had co-written together, and I was like, ‘Oh, I see what they’re doing with this…this is really exciting.’ And I pitched…based on the script that I read, and we were really aligned where we wanted to take the story.”
While DaCosta’s 2021 film serves as a continuation of the Candyman legacy, the director laughs when you remind her that’s she creating her own by being among the few Black women to director a horror film.
“[I]t’s so funny. I’m just trying to make sure I eat, drink enough water…call my mom more. So I don’t generally think about it in those terms,” she says. “And then usually [it’s] at times like this when I’m like, ‘Oh, right. That is a thing.'”
DaCosta continues, “[But it’s] really exciting…as someone who wanted to be doing this for such a long time… But there’s many more of us now, like Melina Matsoukas…Ava DuVernay and Kasi Lemmons. It’s so great to be in that company.”
It turns out Shawn Mendes did not put a ring on it.
Fans started to speculate about a possible engagement between the power couple after girlfriend Camila Cabello posted a workout video on TikTok that showed a dazzling jewel on her ring finger. But Camila shut down the rumors on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
“He has not and I am not engaged,” she replied when the host inquired if Shawn had popped the question.
In fact, the superstar admits she’s clueless as to which hand the engagement ring goes on, revealing that while her parents are still married, both of them have lost their rings.
“I swear to God I don’t know what hand the engagement ring goes on, so sometimes I’ll just put it on my ring finger,” Camila explained, inviting Jimmy to “enlighten” her on this quandary. “My parents are married and they both lost their rings, so my mom couldn’t tell me either. She could save me from this, but she doesn’t, because she doesn’t know either.”
After Fallon shared that he also doesn’t wear his wedding ring, he joked that he has his wife Nancy‘s name tattooed on his back.
“I have a tattoo of Shawn on my lower back…It says señor and he has one on his lower back that says señorita,” Camila quipped.
Camila and Shawn celebrated their two-year anniversary in July with a trip to the Caribbean.
Marilyn Manson made one of his first public appearances Thursday night after being accused of abuse and sexual assault by multiple women.
As The Hollywood Reporter points out, the embattled shock rocker, born Brian Warner, showed up on stage during rapper Kanye West‘s Chicago listening event for his still-upcoming new album, Donda.
Along with Warner, West was joined by another controversial artist, rapper DaBaby, who’s been under fire for making homophobic remarks during a recent music festival set.
This past February, Warner’s ex-fiancée, Evan Rachel Wood, publicly accused him of having “horrifically abused [her] for years.” Multiple other women came forward with similar allegations, including actor Esmé Bianco, model Ashley Morgan Smithline and Warner’s former assistant, Ashley Walters, all of whom are suing the musician.
Warner has denied allegations as “horrible distortions of reality.” In July, TMZ reported that Warner’s legal team asked that Bianco’s lawsuit, which accuses him of sexual assault, be dismissed.
For anyone affected by abuse and needing support, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or if you’re unable to speak safely, you can log onto thehotline.org or text LOVEIS to 1-866-331-9474.
The brand, which has been in development for two years, is focused on sustainability and high-performance, non-comedogenic formulations, Huntington-Whiteley said.
“I wanted to create products with innovative clean ingredients, sustainable solutions and high-performance, non-comedogenic formulations. I have such a deep love and passion for the beauty industry that this feels like an organic next step for me in my career,” Huntington-Whiteley said in an interview with Good Morning America.
Huntington-Whiteley says starting in the modeling industry at 16 gave her the education she needed to create her own products.
She partnered with biotechnology company Amyris to help provide ingredients that are both good for people and the environment.
“There’s a new demand for science-driven brands that deliver real results and guarantee an eco-friendly approach,” Rose Inc. CEO Caroline Hadfield said.
The brand is launching with the “Modern Essentials” collection including products like brightening serum to hydrating concealer.
All of the products are 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
“Confidence and embracing one’s own beauty is definitely a journey. It has always important to me to offer products that make people feel good, feel beautiful and confident,” Huntington-Whiteley added.
You can shop items from the new beauty brand below now available at Sephora.
Like many recording acts, BTS had to scrap their global Map of the Soul Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they got really creative during their time off by learning to sing completely in English, a move that paid off for the K-Pop superstars.
The band released three singles in English — “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” — all of which shot to #1 on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 Airplay chart. However, not everyone in the band — which includes of RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — thought it was a good idea.
RM, the band’s de facto spokesperson, tells Billboard he wasn’t fond of the idea, but admits it was a crucial way to keep buzz alive during the pandemic and, quite frankly, “There was no alternative.”
Jin tells the music publication that singing in English felt totally unnatural at first, explaining that he learned to mimic the guide track’s pronunciations by writing them down in Korean characters.
“The English I learned in class was so different from the English in the song,” he adds. “I had to erase everything in my head first.”
(NEW YORK) — As many children return to in-person learning and adults end a period of working from home, experts are concerned about the upcoming flu season and its implications for hospitals that are already pushed to the limits of capacity due to the COVID-19 delta variant.
Flu season usually runs from October to May, with experts suggesting the best time to get vaccinated is from early September to the end of October, although some major retail pharmacies have already begun advertising this year’s supply.
“We should always prepare for the flu season by planning to get vaccinated. This fall and winter there is likely to be circulation of COVID, influenza as well as other respiratory viruses,” said Dr. David Hirschwerk, an infectious disease specialist at Northwell Health in New York.
For some, that might mean getting vaccines for the flu and COVID-19 at the same time — either a booster shot or primary COVID-19 vaccination. Either way, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it is safe to get the COVID and flu vaccines during the same visit.
“There is currently no contraindication to receiving both at the same time and for many people, this will be the most convenient way to handle it,” said Hirschwerk.
Experts say that with multiple viruses now circulating, every bit of protection helps.
Other seasonal respiratory viruses — such as RSV and adenovirus — have proven unpredictable, surging during the summer, a time typically outside their regular season.
By the same token, it’s not possible to predict the severity of the 2021-2022 flu season. Public health officials like to say if you’ve seen one flu season, you’ve seen one flu season — meaning every year starts and ends at different times, with different strains and different severities. Some worry the low number of cases last year during remote learning and work from home situations — as well as people wearing masks when they were in public — could be the calm before a very severe flu season this year.
Influenza activity during the 2020-2021 season was at a record low despite high levels of testing. Less than 1% of tested respiratory samples were positive for the flu. For comparison, the prior three flu seasons showed positive tests for influenza between 26% and 30%.
During the 2019-2020 season, 38 million people became sick with flu, resulting in more than 400,000 hospitalizations and 22,000 deaths.
A major contributor to the low cases of flu during 2020-2021 was a record number of flu vaccinations. An estimated 193.8 million doses were distributed in the U.S. during the 2020-2021 season.
Many primary care doctors, especially pediatricians, are playing catch-up when it comes to making sure that everyone is getting their routine vaccinations as the COVID pandemic resulted in many maintenance visits being canceled or rescheduled.
While children under 12 are not yet eligible for the COVID vaccine, those ages 6 months and older are strongly encouraged to get the flu vaccine. Many school districts insist on it.
“The first time a child gets the flu vaccine, it’s two doses, not just one, so people should plan for that,” said Dr. Eric Cioe-Pena, emergency medicine specialist at Staten Island University Hospital.
Annual flu vaccines are especially important for children ages 6 months to 4 years, adults aged 50 and older, nursing home residents, people with underlying health conditions such as heart disease and lung disease, people who are immunosuppressed and people who are pregnant.
By now, most people are aware that vaccines prevent serious illness for the individual getting the vaccine and for those around them who are more vulnerable to severe illness. In a typical year, hundreds of children die from the flu. The CDC estimates that an average of 36,000 adults have died of the flu each year over the past decade. The worst recent flu season was 2017-2018, when 61,000 people died, according to the CDC.
“It is very important that all children (6 months and older) receive the flu vaccine. This helps to reduce risk of infection, of severe complications from flu, and it protects the entire household and communities by reducing transmission to others,” said Hirschwerk.
To vaccinate as many individuals as possible, vaccine makers are producing large quantities of several types of flu vaccine. Flu vaccines are typically made using a process that involves eggs, but alternative vaccines will be available for people who have egg allergies.
Getting vaccination is a key step in preventing the flu and decreasing transmission, experts say. Continuing mitigation measures are also likely to keep any influenza surges at bay, especially as the country to struggles to cope with the devastation caused by COVID-19.
“Mask-wearing has significantly curbed the spread of influenza,” said Cioe-Pena. “Wash your hands, wipe down commonly touched surfaces like keyboards, phones and door knobs. Stay home when you are sick, and wear a mask.”
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — With the Taliban growing more violent and adding checkpoints near Kabul’s airport, an all-volunteer group of American veterans of the Afghan war launched a final daring mission on Wednesday night dubbed the “Pineapple Express” to shepherd hundreds of at-risk Afghan elite forces and their families to safety, members of the group told ABC News.
Moving after nightfall in near-pitch black darkness and extremely dangerous conditions, the group said it worked unofficially in tandem with the United States military and U.S. embassy to move people, sometimes one person at a time, or in pairs, but rarely more than a small bunch, inside the wire of the U.S. military-controlled side of Hamid Karzai International Airport.
The Pineapple Express’ mission was underway Thursday when the attack occurred in Kabul. Two suicide bombers believed to have been ISIS fighters killed at least 13 U.S. service members — 10 U.S. Marines, a Navy corpsman, an Army soldier and another service member — and wounded 15 other service members, according to U.S. officials.
There were wounded among the Pineapple Express travelers from the blast, and members of the group said they were assessing whether unaccounted-for Afghans they were helping had been killed.
As of Thursday morning, the group said it had brought as many as 500 Afghan special operators, assets and enablers and their families into the airport in Kabul overnight, handing them each over to the protective custody of the U.S. military.
That number added to more than 130 others over the past 10 days who had been smuggled into the airport encircled by Taliban fighters since the capital fell to the extremists on Aug. 16 by Task Force Pineapple, an ad hoc groups of current and former U.S. special operators, aid workers, intelligence officers and others with experience in Afghanistan who banded together to save as many Afghan allies as they could.
“Dozens of high-risk individuals, families with small children, orphans, and pregnant women, were secretly moved through the streets of Kabul throughout the night and up to just seconds before ISIS detonated a bomb into the huddled mass of Afghans seeking safety and freedom,” Army Lt. Col. Scott Mann, a retired Green Beret commander who led the private rescue effort, told ABC News.
After succeeding with helping dozens of Afghan commandos and interpreters get into the protective ring of the airport created by the 6,000 American troops President Joe Biden dispatched to the airfield after Kabul fell to the Taliban, the group initiated an ambitious ground operation this week aided by U.S. troops inside. The objective was to move individuals and families through the cover of darkness on the “Pineapple Express.” The week-long effort and Wednesday’s operation were observed by ABC News under the agreement of secrecy while the heart-pounding movements unfolded.
The operation carried out Wednesday night was an element of “Task Force Pineapple,” an informal group whose mission began as a frantic effort on Aug. 15 to get one former Afghan commando who had served with Mann into the Kabul airport as he was being hunted by the Taliban who were texting him death threats.
They knew he had worked with U.S. Special Forces and the elite SEAL Team Six for a dozen years, targeting Taliban leadership, and was, therefore, a high-value target for them, sources told ABC News.
Two months ago, this commando told ABC News he had narrowly escaped a tiny outpost in northern Afghanistan that was later overrun while awaiting his U.S. special immigrant visa to be approved.
The effort since he was saved in a harrowing effort, along with his family of six, reached a crescendo this week with dozens of covert movements coordinated virtually on Wednesday by more than 50 people in an encrypted chat room, which Mann described as a night full of dramatic scenes rivaling a “Jason Bourne” thriller unfolding every 10 minutes.
The small groups of Afghans repeatedly encountered Taliban foot soldiers who they said beat them but never checked identity papers that might have revealed them as operators who spent two decades killing Taliban leadership. All carried U.S. visas, pending visa applications or new applications prepared by members of Task Force Pineapple, they told ABC News.
“This Herculean effort couldn’t have been done without the unofficial heroes inside the airfield who defied their orders to not help beyond the airport perimeter, by wading into sewage canals and pulling in these targeted people who were flashing pineapples on their phones,” Mann said.
With the uniformed U.S. military unable to venture outside the airport’s perimeter to collect Americans and Afghans who’ve sought U.S. protection for their past joint service, they instead provided overwatch and awaited coordinated movements by an informal Pineapple Express ground team that included “conductors” led by former Green Beret Capt. Zac Lois, known as the underground railroad’s “engineer.”
The Afghan operators, assets, interpreters and their families were known as “passengers” and they were being guided remotely by “shepherds,” who are, in most cases their loyal former U.S. special operations forces and CIA comrades and commanders, according to chat room communications viewed by ABC News.
There was one engineer, a few conductors, as well as people who were performing intelligence-gathering duties. The intelligence was pooled in the encrypted chat group in real-time and included guiding people on maps to GPS pin drops at rally points for them to stage in the shadows and in hiding until summoned by a conductor wearing a green chem light, ABC News observed in the encrypted chat.
Once summoned, passengers would hold up their smartphones with a graphic of yellow pineapples on a pink field.
Before the deadly ISIS-K bombing on Thursday near the Abbey Gate of the airport known as HKIA, intelligence warnings were issued about possible improvised explosive device attacks by ISIS-K. Around 8 p.m. EST Wednesday, the shepherds reported in the chatroom, which was viewed by ABC News, one by one that their passenger groups maneuvering discreetly in the darkness toward rally points had suddenly gone dark and were unreachable on their cell phones.
“We have lost comms with several of our teams,” texted Jason Redman, a combat-wounded former Navy SEAL and author, who was shepherding Afghans he knew.
There was concern the Taliban had dropped the cell towers — but another Task Force Pineapple member, a Green Beret, reported that he learned the U.S. military had employed cell phone jammers to counter the IED threat at Abbey gate. Within an hour, most had reestablished communications with the “passengers” and the slow, deliberate movements of each group resumed under the ticking clock of sunrise in Kabul, ABC News observed in the encrypted chat.
“The whole night was a roller-coaster ride. People were so terrified in that chaotic environment. These people were so exhausted, I kept trying to put myself in their shoes,” Redman said.
Looking back at an effort that saved at least, by their count, 630 Afghan lives, Redman expressed deep frustration “that our own government didn’t do this. We did what we should do, as Americans.”
Many of the Afghans arrived near Abbey Gate and waded through a sewage-choked canal toward a U.S. soldier wearing red sunglasses to identify himself. They waved their phones with the pineapples and were scooped up and brought inside the wire to safety. Others were brought in by an Army Ranger wearing a modified American flag patch with the Ranger Regiment emblem, sources told ABC News.
Lois said the Task Force Pineapple was able to accomplish a truly historic event, by evacuating hundreds of personnel over the last week.
“That is an astounding number for an organization that was only assembled days before the start of operations and most of its members had never met each other in person,” Lois told ABC News.
Lois said he modeled his slow and steady system of maneuvering the Afghan families in the darkness after Harriet Tubman’s Underground Railroad for American slave escapees.
The Afghan passengers represented the span of the two-decade war there, and participants included Army Maj. Jim Gant, a retired Green Beret known as “Lawrence of Afghanistan,” who was the subject of a 2014 Nightline investigation.
“I have been involved in some of the most incredible missions and operations that a special forces guy could be a part of, and I have never been a part of anything more incredible than this,” Gant told ABC News. “The bravery and courage and commitment of my brothers and sisters in the Pineapple community was greater than the U.S. commitment on the battlefield.”
“I just want to get my people out,” he added.
Dan O’Shea, a retired SEAL commander, said he successfully helped his own group, which included a U.S. citizen who served as an operative and his Afghan father and brother in a nail-biting crucible as they walked on foot to one entry point after another for hours. They dodged Taliban checkpoints and patrols in order to get inside the U.S. side of the airport and on a plane out of Kabul.
“He was not willing to let his father and his brother behind; even it meant he would die. He refused to leave his family,” O’Shea, a former counterinsurgency adviser in Afghanistan, told ABC News. “Leaving a man behind is not in our SEAL ethos. Many Afghans have a stronger vision of our democratic values than many Americans do.”
It all began with trying to save one Afghan Commando, whose special immigrant visa was never finalized.
During an intense night last week involving coordination between Mann and another Green Beret, an intelligence officer, former aid workers and a staffer for Florida Republican and Green Beret officer Rep. Mike Waltz, the ad hoc team enlisted the aid of a sleepless U.S. Embassy officer inside the airport. He helped Marines at a gate to identify the former Afghan commando, who was caught in the throngs of civilians outside the airport and who said he saw two civilians knocked to the ground and killed.
“Two people died next to me — 1 foot away,” he told ABC News from outside the airport that night, as he tried for hours to reach an entry control point manned by U.S. Marines a short distance away.
With Taliban fighters mixing into the crowd of thousands and firing their AK-47s above the masses, the former elite commando was finally pulled into the U.S. security perimeter, where he shouted the password “Pineapple!” to American troops at the checkpoint. The password has since changed, the sources said.
Two days later, the group of his American friends and comrades also helped get his family inside the airport to join him with the aid of the same U.S. embassy officer.
Mann said the group of friends decided to keep going by saving his family and hundreds more of his elite forces comrades on the run from the Taliban.
Former deputy assistant secretary of defense and ABC News analyst Mick Mulroy is part of both Task Force Pineapple and Task Force Dunkirk, who are assisting former Afghan comrades.
“They never wavered. I and many of my friends are here today because of their bravery in battle. We owe them all effort to get them out and honor our word,” Mulroy said.
