The Taliban is blocking 143 American citizens and lawful permanent residents at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport from leaving Afghanistan.
This according to new reporting from RealClearPolitics:
Sources familiar with the situation playing out at Mazar-i-Sharif airport in N. Afghanistan dispute the State Dept's assertion that only a "small number of Americans" are waiting to board planes to depart.
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) September 8, 2021
They place the number at 143, which includes Americans citizens and LPRs
Per RealClearPolitics, the Taliban is “upping their demands for documents amid reports they are also insisting on big payments from the U.S.”
If this is not a hostage situation, what is? The situation at Mazar-i-Sharif airport calls into grave question the number of Americans Biden claims are still in Afghanistan and his repeated insistence that the Taliban is offering safe passage.
As these Americans are stranded, Press Secretary Jen Psaki argued semantics on what amounts to a “hostage situation.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it is a “challenge” to evacuate Americans without U.S. personnel on the ground, all but conceding Biden endangered Americans by breaking his promise to safely evacuate them before leaving Afghanistan.
The Biden administration has told lie after lie about Afghanistan. They can’t be trusted. Stranded Americans deserve a president devoted to rescuing them from behind enemy lines, not one who abandons them there and then tries to cover for his failures by arguing semantics.
