Unsettling Report: Leak Reveals Livid 82nd Airborne Colonel Tried to Save US Citizens Before Being Forced to Abandon Them
Amidst the frantic Afghanistan evacuation effort, one high-ranking military officer allegedly had a sober message to send private citizens on Sunday as they worked together to get as many people as possible out.
“We are f***ing abandoning American citizens,” the unnamed U.S. military commander reportedly said via text message.
The messages were sent in a group chat made up of “private citizens working with private networks and the military to rescue stranded Americans,” according to Just the News.
WARNING: The following tweet contains vulgar language that some readers will find offensive.
Leaked text messages sent by a U.S. military commander to private citizens, released by @JustTheNews.
“Yes, we are fucking abandoning American citizens.” pic.twitter.com/XAqLbakZHr
— Michael Austin (@mikeswriting) September 1, 2021
This message, coming from an Army colonel assigned to the 82nd Airbourne Division who was presumably on the ground in Afghanistan, greatly contradicts President Joe Biden’s rhetoric describing the withdrawal effort as an “extraordinary success.”
Pres. Biden on U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan: “The extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the United States military and our diplomats and intelligence professionals.”https://t.co/Wfv8QKQBYU pic.twitter.com/CE4d6TSm6Y
— ABC News (@ABC) August 31, 2021
Michael Yon, a former Special Forces soldier and war correspondent, was among the private citizens receiving the messages, which were then sent to Just the News.
Due to Biden’s strict evacuation deadline, Yon said that his group was forced to abandon a group of Americans at the Kabul airport as they were “waving their passport screaming, ‘I’m American.'”
“People were turned away from the gate by our own Army,” Yon said, according to Just the News.
Americans left behind then “scattered to safe houses to avoid be captured,” the outlet reported.
This prompted Yon to send a scathing email — which he also shared with Just the News — to an Army major who abandoned those Americans.
Yon alleged that both the major and Gen. Mark Milley — the chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff — were told where the Americans were but left them behind anyway.
“You guys left American citizens at the gates of the Kabul airport. Three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone. I told you where they were. Gave you their passport images. And my email and phone number. And you left them behind,” Yon wrote.
“And this is Special Operations Command. General Milley also knew. Great job saving yourselves. Probably get a lot of medals.”
The president’s hasty withdrawal left up to 200 Americans behind in Afghanistan, KTLA-TV reported.
All of those people were left behind after the Taliban, according to The Associated Press, “insist[ed] the airlift must end” by Biden’s promised Aug. 31 deadline, whether or not all Americans had been evacuated.
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