More than 300 U.S. citizens remain in Afghanistan, of which 176 have expressed their desire to leave. That new information was presented by the Biden administration to Congress during a Thursday briefing, during which the State Department told congressional staff that it is already in talks with 363 American citizens in Afghanistan.
According to The Hill, the new number reflects how many more Americans wish to leave Afghanistan compared to what the Biden administration previously publicly estimated as the U.S. withdrawal of troops took place through the end of August. On August 30, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that "a small number of Americans, under 200 and likely closer to 100" were still in Afghanistan and wished to leave.
The Washington Times reported that according to State Department spokesman Ned Price, the U.S. has evacuated several dozen people in the past couple of days but more people have come forward in the coming weeks expressing their desire to flee Afghanistan. He said that there is an estimated 100 to 200 people still stranded in Afghanistan, but cautioned that these numbers are merely "a momentary snapshot in time."
Lawmakers were quick to criticize the Biden administration over the latest, higher tallies that were reported to Congress on Thursday, which they said was a direct result of the U.S.' failed withdrawal that ended the 20-year mission in Afghanistan and left the Islamist Taliban militant group in full control of Kabul and most of the country.
"For weeks, their official number was 'about a hundred' and it magically never changed - as Americans slowly got out the total number never went down. Now they say more than 300 Americans are still in Afghanistan," Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska remarked. That number included Americans whom the State Department said expressed desire to stay in Afghanistan.
According to the Christian Post, Afgthanistan's interim government now includes over a dozen leaders who are considered terrorists and ex-Guantanamo detainees. One of the hundreds of people left stranded in Afghanistan but was finally able to leave was Aman Khalili, an Afghan interpreter who helped rescue then-senator Joe Biden after a helicopter he and several senators were on had to make an emergency landing in Afghanistan.
"Aman helped keep me and other Americans safe while we were fighting in Afghanistan, and we wanted to return the favor," combat veteran Brian Genthe shared. "He's a blessing."
After weeks of hiding, Khalili and his family finally crossed the border into Pakistan among many other Afghans seeking refuge from the Taliban rule. His story first broke by the Wall Street Journal on August 31 and since then U.S. veterans helping him were flooded with offers to help in his evacuation. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki pledged that the U.S. government would help him escape.
Khalili and his wife and five children were successfully evacuated thanks to the efforts of military veterans from Arizona who worked with him back in 2008 to rescue the senators. Despite expressions of a desire to help from several high-profile people and U.S. officials, the evacuation was eventually carried out by a group led by an Afghan-American who worked as a linguist with elite U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
