Just days after the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s government and Kabul’s international airport turned chaotic, the U.S. is working to evacuate as many as 2,000 people a day.
The Taliban, which on Tuesday promised a more inclusive government by involving women, cracked down on a protest – rarely seen in Afghanistan. In Jalalabad, reports say as many as five people are dead.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is among the officials who went to the White House on Wednesday to give operational updates. He is expected to offer details to media later in the
As of Wednesday morning, about 4,000 Marines and soldiers, along with a small number of airmen, have been sent into reinforce about 1,000 troops still in Afghanistan. Deployed troops include the 82nd Airborne combat brigade (Fort Bragg, N.C.); 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Camp Lejeune, N.C.) and 621st Contingency Response Wing (Joint Base McGuire-Dix, Lakehurst, N.J.).
Meanwhile, Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are among the officials that congressional committees will call for testimony in upcoming hearings on how the American withdrawal from Afghanistan went sideways, with the Taliban routing Afghan security forces and the US leaving its embassy – along with a “fair amount” of military equipment.
Here are the latest developments:
Veteran calls to crisis line spike amid Afghanistan chaos, Taliban takeover
Hundreds of veterans have sought help from the Veterans Affairs crisis line in recent days, part of a marked uptick as the U.S. military evacuates people from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.
The VA logged 531 more calls from Friday through Monday than the same period last year, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes told USA TODAY. He did not say what the overall volume of calls was.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said in a message to veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors that he realizes images from Kabul and elsewhere have been painful to see, “especially for the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have served there since that fateful day in September 2001.”
Veterans who need help can reach the Veterans Crisis Line at 1-800-273-8255 and press 1. They can also reach someone by text at 838255 or online chat at veteranscrisisline.net.
Veterans and their family members interviewed by USA TODAY have described a spectrum of emotions: depression, emptiness, confusion and a longing to understand the meaning of their service and the United States’ longest war.
“It’s entirely natural to feel a range of emotions about the latest developments in Afghanistan – and if you are feeling depressed, angry, heartbroken, or anything else, we at VA are here for you,” McDonough said.
He said veterans can also visit a Vet center for counseling or other needs.
“We are standing by and ready to help,” McDonough said. “Thank you for stepping up to serve in the time when our country needed it most. We are all forever in your debt.”
– Donovan Slack
What Afghanistan vets are saying:Veterans wanted out of Afghanistan, but sudden collapse brings mental health to light
Ex-President Ashraf Ghani in UAE amid calls for his arrest
Afghan officials are calling on international police to arrest former President Ashraf Ghani, accusing him of fleeing the war-torn country with $169 million in U.S. cash.
Mohammad Zahir Aghbar, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Tajikistan, told a news conference that Ghani had taken the money before fleeing Kabul as the Taliban took over the city over the weekend.
Ghani is now in the United Arab Emirates.
In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said it “can confirm that the UAE has welcomed President Ashraf Ghani and his family into the country on humanitarian grounds.”
The former president said on Facebook that he left Afghanistan to promote peace: “In order to avoid a flood of blood, I thought it was best to get out.”
Back in Afghanistan, Defense Minister Bismillah Khan Mohammadi used his Twitter account to call on Interpol to arrest Ghani. He and other Afghans have used the hashtag #ArrestGhani.
–David Jackson
U.S. flies 2,000 people out of Kabul in past day
The U.S. military has evacuated about 2,000 people from Kabul in the last 24 hours, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday. The evacuees include 325 U.S citizens, with the remainder Afghans and NATO personnel.
There are 4,500 U.S. troops at the airport, and a few hundred more will be flown in Wednesday. Kirby described the airport as open and secure for military and limited commercial flights.
The Pentagon anticipates evacuating about 2,000 people per day, he said.
U.S. troops fired warning shots near the entrance to the airport as crowd-control measures, Kirby said. There were no reported casualties or injuries.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were at the White House on Wednesday morning, updating administration officials on the evacuation, Kirby said. Austin and Milley are expected to meet with reporters later Wednesday to describe the operation.
— Tom Vanden Brook
More:White House says a ‘fair amount’ of US military equipment provided to Afghans is now in Taliban hands
Reports: At least 3 people die in Jalalabad protest
Days after taking over the Afghan government, the Taliban cracked down on a protest in Jalalabad, where a crowd was trying to put up the national flag.
Witnesses told Reuters that at least three people died when Taliban militants fired at a crowd in the eastern Afghanistan city. Over a dozen people were also injured, according to a police official and two witnesses.
Afghanistan has marked its 1919 independence from British rule on Aug. 19, and people were trying to raise the Afghan flag to commemorate that, according to reports.
The Taliban fired into the air and used batons to scatter a crowd of people, video footage showed, according to the Associated Press.
More:Veterans wanted out of Afghanistan, but sudden collapse brings mental health to light
US, other nations implore Taliban to guarantee rights of women, girls
The United States joined with more than 20 other countries on Wednesday in calling on the Taliban to guarantee the rights of Afghan women and girls to work, go to school and to move about freely.
In a group statement released by the State Department, the nations said they will “monitor closely” how women will be treated by any future government.
“Any form of discrimination and abuse should be prevented,” the statement said. “We in the international community stand ready to assist (women) with humanitarian aid and support, to ensure that their voices can be heard.”
Related:Taliban promise to uphold rights for women and US allies, but White House is skeptical
On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the tools available to pressure the Taliban include sanctions, international condemnation and isolation. Sullivan said he didn’t want to get too specific, as his team wants to communicate directly to the Taliban the “costs and disincentives.”
“That is a conversation that we will intend to have, and I think many other countries, including like-minded allies and partners, will be having that as well,” he said.
Before the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, women virtually had no rights under the fundamentalist Taliban’s oppressive rule. Most were forced to quit their jobs and stay at home, denied access to education and health care, enduring high rates of illiteracy and maternal mortality.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said at a Tuesday news conference the militant group is “committed to the rights of women under the system of sharia (Islamic) law,” but he emphasized they would work and study “within our frameworks.”
The European Union signed the joint statement of support for Afghan women as did a number of other countries, including Australia, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
— Maureen Groppe
Capitol Hill hearings will focus on Afghanistan withdrawal
Congress is quickly launching investigations into how the Taliban so easily took over the government in Afghanistan.
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to testify on the situation.
“The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly changing, and it is imperative that the administration provide the American people and Congress transparency about its Afghanistan strategy,” Meeks, D-N.Y., said in a statement issued Tuesday. He wants Blinken and Austin to “tell Congress what the administration’s plan is to safely evacuate American citizens, SIVs, and other vulnerable Afghans from the country, and to understand our broader counter terrorism strategy in South Asia following the collapse of the Ghani government.”
Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made a similar call on Tuesday, saying the panel will conduct a hearing on “U.S. policy towards Afghanistan, including the Trump administration’s flawed negotiations with Taliban, and the Biden administration’s flawed execution of the U.S. withdrawal.”
After being told the Afghan security forces were “up to the task” and ready to fight the Taliban, Menendez said, “To see this army dissolve so quickly after billions of dollars in U.S. support is astounding.”
Did intelligence fail? How did Afghanistan end this way? The finger-pointing begins.
Breaking down the speed of Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan
The speed in which Taliban forces moved across Afghanistan surprised U.S. officials. President Joe Biden announced April 14 that all American troops would be withdrawn by Sept. 11. The drawdown began May 1. But this graphical look at the Taliban takeover shows just how quickly the Afghanistan government lost control.
That takeover led to tumult at the airport in Kabul as thousands tried to feel the country. Disturbingly vivid images from the airport showed dozens of desperate Afghans clinging to a U.S. Air Force C-17 jet as it took off from Hamid Karzai International Airport. At least seven people died in the chaos, USA TODAY reported. U.S. soldiers killed two armed people after being fired upon.
More:Here’s how to help people fleeing Afghanistan and the families still in the country
Karzai, Abdullah meet with Taliban leader whom US has labeled a terrorist
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s former president has met with a senior leader of a powerful Taliban faction who was once jailed and whose group has been listed by the U.S. as a terrorist network.
Former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the ousted government, met with Anas Haqqani as part of preliminary meetings that a spokesman for Karzai said would facilitate eventual negotiations with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top Taliban political leader.
The U.S. branded the Haqqani network a terrorist group in 2012, and its involvement in a future government could trigger international sanctions.
The Taliban have pledged to form an “inclusive, Islamic government,” although skeptics point to its past record of intolerance for those not adhering to its extreme interpretations of Islam.
— Associated Press
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