Top U.S. lawmakers are accusing Democrat President Joe Biden of not helping U.S. citizens who are trapped outside the gates of the airport in Kabul to get inside.
“America, you need to know this: Biden is not letting US citizens through the airport gates,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a former Navy SEAL, tweeted late on Saturday night. “It has been impossible to get anyone through for the last 24 hours. This administration has been lying about their intent to save Americans. Unforgivable.”
“US citizens are not being allowed into Kabul international,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), a former Colonel, U.S. Army Green Beret, tweeted. “Biden has ordered the gates closed. Our fellow Americans will soon be left behind. Unbelievable and unforgivable.”
“I am furious!! My team has been on the phone all day trying to get AMERICAN CITIZENS out. They have been just outside the airport numerous times, but the State Department WILL NOT help them,” Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) tweeted. “They have been beaten by the Taliban at check points and told to leave and come back with large sums of money. Biden is going to get them killed! Enough!! We have put someone who gives a damn in charge RIGHT NOW!”
It’s not just Republicans who are sounding the alarm about what is happening at the airport. Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread on Saturday that he has been working diligently to get U.S. citizens and green card holders into the airport, but he has not been able to do so.
Kim wrote in part:
They were outside one of the airport gates. They begged for someone to come out and get them. … They have little kids and were concerned by the chaos surrounding them. But they didn’t want to leave because they were mere feet from reaching safety on the other side of the airport wall.
Within minutes of receiving this request, I happened to be meeting in person with one of the most senior officials at the State Dept. … I asked directly for a phone number American citizens can call if in an emergency like this family stuck at the gate. If I could get a number I planned to excuse myself from the meeting and immediately send it to the family at the gate. I was told no such number exists.
The family had to depart the gate area that night when their phone batteries started to die. They feared being separated without means of communication. Every day this week, the first thing I did the moment I woke up was to check to see if they got out. Still nothing. … Now the family waits. They tried one last time to get close to the airport walls, but warnings of additional violence urged them to go back to where they were staying. So they sit there now, gripping their phones ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
They are worried because of rumors that the airport gates are being sealed and the number of people able to get to the airport will soon be greatly reduced. Many people I talk to also legitimately fear the airport won’t be operational after the last US flight departs. The family gets contacted time to time by someone from US gov asking if they are still safe, but no mention yet about any evacuation plans. I reiterate, this is a family of US citizens and green card holders. I ask State Dept to please contact them immediately and tell them someone is on the way or get them instructions on where to travel. There are more citizens/residents that I am hearing from, as well as thousands of Afghans – including those who served alongside our military that are reaching out in desperation in these final hours.
Even journalists at left-wing CNN noted, including the network’s top news anchor, that U.S. citizens could not get inside the airport.
CNN’s Jake Tapper tweeted, “Two private citizens involved in evacuation efforts tell me Talibs at a checkpoint in Afghanistan are now turning away US passport holders and Lawful Permanent Residents of US.”
CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward, who did extensive reporting on the ground in Afghanistan in recent days, wrote on Twitter: “Talking to a woman, a US citizen, who worked as a translator for the US for more than ten years, who was not able to get into the Kabul airport yet again today. She will try again tomorrow but is completely terrified.”