US Special Forces Execute Long-Range Mission in Nightstalker Helicopters to Save Trapped Americans
The American embassy in Sudan was evacuated Saturday in a lightning helicopter mission.
The mission used more than 100 troops to rescue fewer than 100 embassy personnel, according to The Drive.
The Drive reported that three Night Stalker MH-47 helicopters were used in the mission.
Army Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II, the Joint Staff’s director of operations, said the American choppers were not fired upon.
Add Sudan to the long list of foreign policy disasters ushered in under Joe Biden and Anthony Blinken.
The *annual* UN budget for peacekeeping in Sudan & South Sudan is more than $1.5 billion – Americans pay roughly 25%.
It was largely peaceful under Trump. https://t.co/uR3AYPBeT1
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) April 23, 2023
In a Pentagon statement, Sims said the choppers “lifted off from Djibouti and landed in Ethiopia. The aircraft — including three MH-47 Chinooks — refueled in Ethiopia before flying approximately three hours to Khartoum.”
“The evacuation was conducted in one movement via rotary wing. The operation was fast and clean, with service members spending less than an hour on the ground in Khartoum,” he said.
Under Secretary of State for Management John Bass said the evacuation was necessary because of the civil war raging in Sudan.
“As a result of the fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the United States has temporarily suspended operations — and I want to stress temporarily suspended — operations at our embassy in Khartoum,” Bass said, The Drive reported.
“The widespread fighting has caused significant civilian deaths and injuries. There’s been substantial damage to essential infrastructure, including, importantly the civilian airport in the heart of the city.”
DEVELOPING: Americans stranded in Sudan with no evacuation plans by @JoeBiden. There are 16,000 Americans registered in Sudan, many others do not register. People contacting me to say their relatives and colleagues and pastors are stranded in Sudan. Saudi Arabia and others have… pic.twitter.com/CQwZxkuqmx
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) April 23, 2023
Both sides were told of the plan for evacuation. Bass denied a claim from the Rapid Support Forces that said it helped evacuate the Americans, according to Politico.
“They cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members in the course of the operation,” Bass said.
Although the embassy is now shuttered, about 16,000 Americans remain in Sudan, according to Politico.
Bass said rescuing them would be difficult, according to The Drive.
“As a result of that uncertain security picture as a result of the unavailability of the civilian airport, we don’t foresee coordinating a U.S. government evacuation for our fellow citizens in Sudan at this time, or in the coming days,” he said.
“However, although we don’t foresee coordinating that evacuation, we certainly continue to be in close touch with many American citizens resident in Khartoum and elsewhere in Sudan to give them our best assessment of the security environment and to encourage them to take appropriate precautions to the best of their ability in and around that environment,” he said.
How’s that UN peacekeeping & Biden foreign policy working out in Sudan? pic.twitter.com/JzvaRSKh96
— Cubby 🇺🇸 (@kbaxterwilliams) April 23, 2023
Cameron Hudson, a former chief of staff to the U.S. special envoy for Sudan who is now a senior associate at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said accepting the promises of warlords that they wanted peace set the stage for the evacuation and worries about the Americans left behind, according to the Wall Street Journal.
“There were no precautions taken, no scenario. The U.S. and the international community ‘put faith in what the parties were telling us, that [they] were genuinely committed to a civilian transition of power,” Hudson said.
“The descent in violence happened so quickly because at the time they were talking to us, they were preparing for war. We were planning for success and ignored the possibility of conflict,” he said.
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