American in Kabul asks Biden to save thousands of Afghans
An American citizen stranded in Kabul is pleading with President Biden to save the thousands of desperate Afghans who helped the US during the decades-long war because they now risk being killed by the Taliban.
Haroon, who did not give his last name, told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday morning he has repeatedly gone to Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where 4,500 US troops are helping Americans evacuate, but has been unable to get through the crowds of people.
He said 80 percent of the people gathered at the airport have paperwork that proves they helped the US during the war — and he is begging Biden to step in and help them.
Haroon said the Taliban are close by and are watching the people frantically waving their papers at US troops.
He hasn’t yet shown anyone his US passport at the airport for fear of the repercussions.
“The Taliban are right there seeing them every day with their paperwork. When (the US) leave, they [the Taliban] can one by one get them out of their home and kill them,” Haroon said.
“We all know what’s going to happen … when America leaves Afghanistan.”
In a direct appeal to the US president, Haroon said: “My message to Biden: Help them.”
“Please, take them all out. Don’t leave them,” he added.
“They helped you, they helped America. This is what my family did. … Mr. Biden, please help all these Afghans who supported you, who helped you.”
Haroon said he only went to Afghanistan in June to help care for his sick father, who has spent nine years working with the US in the security sector.
After the Taliban overran Kabul on Sunday night, Haroon said, he went to the US Embassy for help but it had already been shut down.
Haroon said he is desperately trying to get his family out and acknowledged that he was putting his life at risk by speaking out.
“I want the world to hear my voice. We need immediate help.”
His plight is similar to that of New York resident Faziya Nematy, who traveled to Kabul last month with her mom and child to visit her brother.
“I myself am stuck here. I’m a US citizen, can’t even get out, have my kids here,” Nematy told WRBG.
“As I’m talking to you, my body is just shivering and it’s like I’m in a panic.”
She too has been going back and forth to the airport in a bid to try to get out.
A Colorado father, who didn’t want to be identified, told Fox31 his wife and children are trapped in Kabul after their flight on Sunday was canceled.
“My wife and my daughters for now are hiding in a house in Kabul,” he said. “I think it’s chaos. There are a lot of lives in danger.”
Only 2,000 people — including 325 American citizens — were evacuated from Afghanistan on 18 flights over the past 24 hours, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday.
That is significantly less than the 5,000 to 9,000 people the US is aiming to get out per day, with estimates of Americans and allies on the ground ranging from 10,000 to 60,000 or more.
Kirby admitted he didn’t know how many Americans were stranded there.
He added that US troops were forced to fire warning shots on Wednesday in a bid to control the crowds gathering at the airport.
Meanwhile, videos circulating on social media have captured the chaotic scenes at the airport as US troops continue to evacuate.
In one video, a young woman cries as she reaches through a fence covered in razor wire toward US troops on the other side. Another shows hundreds of people holding up papers as they push toward troops.
Additional US troops were flown in Monday to help secure the area and protect Americans still trying to evacuate after thousands of Afghans stormed onto the tarmac and tried to climb onboard US military planes.
The airport is the last place in Afghanistan being guarded by the US military.