During a hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, the Pentagon admitted that there were still nearly 450 Americans stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
“Following the US’ frenzied withdrawal from Kabul, the State Department said in late September that there were less than 100 Americans still in Afghanistan who were looking to flee,” the Daily Mail reported. “But last week the State Department said it was in contact with 363 Americans in Afghanistan, and has already withdrawn 234 since the US military’s exit.”
During the hearing, Colin H. Kahl, the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, added to that number, saying that the State Department is “in contact with 196 American citizens who are ready to depart, and arrangements are being made for them to do so either via air or over ground. And another 243 American citizens have been contacted and are not ready to depart — either because they want to stay in Afghanistan or aren’t ready.”
Kahl’s numbers mean a total of 439 Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan, an increase of 76 from the numbers given by the State Department last week.
“This total of 439 American citizens still in Afghanistan is up from the 363 the State Department had told congressional staff last week – which itself was up from the estimate of roughly 100 the administration had said in September,” Fox News reported.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) pointed out the changing numbers that have been given by the State Department since the August 31 withdrawal.
“One of the many confusing things about this whole thing is that we really don’t know how many Americans are left in Afghanistan,” Inhofe said. “The administration’s number of U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan keeps changing. We all understand that. It’s very confusing.”
Inhofe noted that the Biden administration “always said 100 to 200 U.S. citizens left in Afghanistan,” but then claimed that it “has already withdrawn 234 and is in contact with 363 others, 176 of whom want to leave.”
“Now if we can figure this out you’re doing a lot better than I have done,” Inhofe said.
