The New York Times reports that hundreds of American University students in Kabul were sent home after trying to evacuate from Afghanistan and are now “terrified” after having a list with their names and passports shared with the Taliban.
The Times describes a last-ditch effort for the students trying to escape the country on U.S. military flights.
Despite a deadline of August 31st for the United States to extract civilians from Kabul airport, the Times writes that “evacuations were permanently called off” and, according to an email sent to the students, the airport “has announced there will be no more rescue flights.”
The email, written by American University president, Ian Bickford, went on to advise the 600 or so students and relatives to return home.
These students had their university taken over by the Taliban, and now they can’t get out of Kabul.
Meanwhile, the Taliban now has their names and passport info.https://t.co/nAM8i1Vkj4
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) August 30, 2021
RELATED: Trump Slams Biden For Handing Taliban List Of Names Of Americans, Afghan Allies
Students’ Information Shared With The Taliban
The email also seems to confirm reports that the United States is providing the Taliban with information regarding civilians trying to make it safely out of Afghanistan.
The American University Students encountered such an exchange, according to the New York Times who described it as “following protocol.”
The group was “alarmed,” the email from Bickford conveys, after learning the military “shared a list of names and passport information of hundreds of students and their families with the Taliban guarding the airport checkpoints.”
One student explains that they are “terrified.”
“They told us: we have given your names to the Taliban,” they revealed. “We are all terrified, there is no evacuation, there is no getting out.”
They have good reason to be concerned, the New York Times reports, noting that the Taliban posted a picture of themselves on social media standing at the entrance of a university building saying that’s where America trained infidel “wolves.”
A Taliban attack on the campus in 2016 killed 13 people, including seven students.
Conservative radio host Mark Levin has warned that terrorist groups will consider it “open season on Americans” if citizens are left behind in Afghanistan.
“For the rest of the world, our enemies, whether they’re nation states or terrorists, if we don’t get our citizens out, they’re going to say, ‘okay, it’s open season on Americans,'” he said.
NEW: The U.S. military provided the Taliban with a list of names & passport info of hundreds of American University of Afghanistan students, NYT reports.
“We are all terrified, there is no evacuation, there is no getting out”https://t.co/nAM8i1Vkj4
Our story on this practice: https://t.co/E87VSK7x7n
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) August 30, 2021
The List
This past week, reports surfaced that the Biden administration provided the Taliban with a list of names of Americans and Afghan allies, something one official described as essentially giving them a “kill list.”
“Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” one defense official told Politico. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean.”
SCOOP: U.S. officials gave the Taliban a list of names of U.S. citizens, green card holders & Afghan allies to grant entry into the outer perimeter of the city’s airport, prompting outrage behind the scenes from lawmakers and military officials. https://t.co/WHHzStyynk
— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) August 26, 2021
The Times, as stated, has said the concept is a part of the protocol, with the President seeming to confirm as much.
“There have been occasions where our military has contacted their military counterparts in the Taliban and said this bus is coming through … made up of the following group … let it through,” he told reporters.
“Yes, there have been occasions like that.”
Joe Biden: “there may have been” a list of American and ally names given to the Taliban pic.twitter.com/X28iSuuaUh
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 26, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken outright denied the existence of such lists saying, “It’s simply not the case.”
“The idea that we shared lists of Americans or others with the Taliban is simply wrong,” he told NBC News anchor Chuck Todd.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken strongly disputed reports that the United States government had provided what’s been described as a “kill list” to the Taliban, stating on Sunday morning that “it’s simply not the case” https://t.co/quzvfSWQoB
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 30, 2021
Blinken proceeded to, after saying officials had not shared lists with the Taliban, explain exactly what was shared.
“So, in specific instances when you’re trying to get a bus or a group of people through, and you need to show a manifest to do that, because particularly in cases where people don’t have the necessary credentials on them or documents on them, then you would—you’ll share names on a list of people on the bus so they can be assured that those are people that we’re looking to bring in,” the secretary explained.
They’ll share “names on a list” – just don’t call it a list. Got it.
On Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd pressed Secretary of State Blinken on the U.S. giving the Taliban what a Pentagon official called a “kill list” with American and ally names. Blinken denies it but then admits they handed them bus manifests with names. pic.twitter.com/CNTVpykufj
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) August 29, 2021
The New York Times explains that the focus of evacuations has shifted with the looming deadline.
“The U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan must be completed by a Tuesday deadline, so the U.S. military is turning from evacuating civilians to bringing its own personnel home,” they write.
[totalpoll id=”238318″]
Which would seem to indicate the American University students will remain stranded past the deadline.
Bickford urged the Biden administration to do something to help the American University student in Afghanistan.
“The scholar pilgrims who were turned away today while seeking safe passage to a better future need the help of the U.S. government who gave them the hope they must not lose,” he implored.
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) August 30, 2021
On Friday, conservative radio personality Glenn Beck made a startling claim that his organization is being “blocked” by the State Department in its efforts to rescue Christians from the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
The Political Insider ranks #16 on Feedspot’s “Top 70 Conservative Political Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2021.”
