Thursday, 2 September 2021 (YJC)_ American officials quietly instructed U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans to head to a secret CIA base outside Kabul to secure safe passage to the U.S. as Biden administration scrambled to conduct a massive evacuation effort from Afghanistan.
As the Biden administration scrambled to conduct a massive evacuation effort from Afghanistan, American officials quietly instructed U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans, including Afghan commandos, to head to a secret CIA base outside Kabul to secure safe passage to the U.S. amid increased risks of a terrorist attack on the capital city’s main airport.
The clandestine operation, which took place over several weeks in August, resulted in the successful evacuation of hundreds of American citizens and vulnerable Afghans, including members of the elite Afghan special forces and their family members. At least 1,000 Afghan commandos and their family members were evacuated in the overall U.S. effort.
The details of the operation are based on documents provided to POLITICO and conversations with a senior administration official, a defense official and a congressional official, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
A U.S. official confirmed the CIA’s involvement in the evacuation, noting that the agency “worked closely with other agencies to facilitate in various ways access to the airport for American citizens and Afghans at risk.”
The New York Times first reported that the U.S used the base for evacuations. The full scope of the operation in the final days of the evacuation effort, however, has not been previously reported. A CIA spokesperson declined to comment on the operation.
At least some of the evacuees were taken by air from the secret compound, known as Eagle Base, to the airport in order to bypass the chaotic crowds and terror threat around the gates. Several helicopter flights operated by a U.S. company flew from an area around Eagle Base to the Kabul airport beginning on Aug. 15, when the Taliban took control of the city, according to flight data obtained by POLITICO.
Flight data suggests some of the evacuees were flown to Germany. During that same time period, aircraft owned by a U.S. government contractor flew from the Kabul airport to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
The effort was coordinated with U.S. diplomats and staff who were relocated from the embassy to Hamid Karzai International Airport after the Taliban took control of Kabul.
The Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command was also helping reach out to hundreds of American citizens inside Kabul and around the country.
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