On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “At This Hour,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) said that his office has “about 20 to 30 people” that they’re trying to get out of Afghanistan and had a family that was turned away at the gate of the airport despite being told by the State Department to head to the airport. Krishnamoorthi also stated that it’s “almost impossible to get to the airport right now.” And the U.S. shouldn’t follow any “artificial deadlines” for leaving Afghanistan.
Krishnamoorthi began by saying, “I’m very happy to learn that the number of people being evacuated has increased rapidly over the last 24 hours. But I also want to get a sense of what is the work to be done.” And “It seems like the evacuation is proceeding more rapidly. I’m glad, for instance, that the bottlenecks appear to be being cleared at the airport with regard to the number of flights taking off and, of course, the enlistment of civilian aircraft to move people from third-party countries such as Qatar and other places to Europe and the United States.”
He continued, “However, I know that we have about 20 to 30 people that my office is trying to get out of Afghanistan right now. And so, I’d like to see the process by which those folks are cleared and moved to third countries for further processing to be advanced a little more speedily. Because right now, we have to just get people out of harm’s way ASAP.”
Krishnamoorthi added, “So, I’ll just give you one example, Kate, just a couple of days ago, we had a family that was notified by the State Department that their evacuation flight was that day, that they should proceed to the airport, that they should bring their paperwork and passes. They did all that, and unfortunately, Kate, they were turned away at the gate of the airport.”
He further stated, “I think they were turned away, potentially, by Turkish soldiers who were assisting in guarding the airport. And so, there appears to be some communications issues between the State Department and the security who are guarding the airport. But this is incredibly frustrating, as you can imagine. Because, A. It’s impossible — almost impossible to get to the airport right now. And B. Doing so involves risk of grave harm. Because you’re exposing yourself, not only to the Taliban, but also to others who might pose harm. And so, these are the types of logistical issues that we need to work through right away. Because, despite our best intentions, if we don’t get these people out of harm’s way, we won’t have accomplished the mission.”
Krishnamoorthi concluded, “We have to stay as long as it takes, Kate. I don’t believe in any artificial deadlines at this point to get our American personnel, especially citizens and others, out of Afghanistan. I also think that we have to get our Afghan allies and partners out of there.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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