Keeping in mind that State Department personnel are delicate wallflowers prone to exaggerated proclamations of situations, a report from U.S. embassy staff in Afghanistan trying to reach the airport contrasts a different narrative than currently outlined by the White House.
According to state department cables released to NBC news, some of the Afghan staff said they would rather take a bullet from the Taliban rather than attempt another effort to run the gauntlet and reach the Kabul airport.
(Via NBC) […] The cable, which was sent Saturday, said memos were sent Wednesday inviting Afghan staff members at the embassy to head to Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. It told them to take food and to prepare for difficult conditions. “However, no one anticipated the brutal experience that occurred,” the cable said.
Staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on and cursed at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport, it said, adding that criminals were taking advantage of the chaos while the U.S. military tried to maintain order “in an extremely physical situation.”
Some staff members reported that they were almost separated from their children, while others collapsed in a crush of people and had to be taken to hospitals with injuries, the cable said. Others said they had collapsed on the road because of heat exhaustion, it said.
“It would be better to die under the Taliban’s bullet” than face the crowds again, a staff member was quoted as saying in the cable. “Happy to die here, but with dignity and pride,” another said. (read more)
This issue was raised again today to the State Department.