Lt. Scott Mann, a former Green Beret, was brought back into the world of military operations and life-or-death decision-making when he and other veterans banded together to help get their Afghan friends and colleagues out of Afghanistan before the military withdrew last year as the Taliban rose to…
Lt. Scott Mann, a former Green Beret, was brought back into the world of military operations and life-or-death decision-making when he and other veterans banded together to help get their Afghan friends and colleagues out of Afghanistan before the military withdrew last year as the Taliban rose to power.
The Taliban took control of Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani fled on Aug. 15, 2021, setting in motion the conditions for the United States to launch what ultimately became the largest noncombatant evacuation operation. Thousands of onetime Afghan soldiers reached out to American friends, begging for help getting them through the gates at Hamid Karzai International Airport because remaining in Afghanistan meant a possible death sentence if the Taliban uncovered their identity.
Representatives from some of those groups spoke to the Washington Examiner ahead of the one-year withdrawal anniversary. They each spoke glowingly of the veterans who have led evacuation steps while describing the heavy toll the effort has taken and the long road ahead to get everyone safely out of Afghanistan.
There were thousands of Afghan soldiers like Nezam who had fought alongside U.S. service members whose lives were in jeopardy in Taliban territory. Everyone's worst nightmares became a reality on Aug. 26, when an ISIS-K suicide bomber detonated an explosive device at the Abbey Gate that killed 13 U.S. service members and roughly another 170 Afghan civilians. Following the blasts, the group's goals became nearly impossible as the military closed the gates, though the relationships U.S. veterans had with the Afghans who got out and those who were left behind continued.
Over the last year, the group has met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken a handful of times, while VanDriver spoke highly of Curtis Ried, a career foreign service officer and National Security Council official who was appointed as special adviser on Afghan resettlement, though he said the relationship needed time to build trust between the two sides. Ried has since attended multiple meetings with the group, and VanDriver called him an"absolutely incredible partner.
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