How many Americans left in Afghanistan?

Depends on whom you ask

As of Sept. 2, the Biden Administration was claiming that there are 100 to 200 Americans left stranded in Afghanistan. There are also Afghans who fought for America in the 20-year conflict who are trapped in the country at the mercy of the Taliban. But the numbers of both are contested.

The State Department puts the number at 250. Whichever number is correct, they both contradict President Joe Biden’s promise to get “everyone out” when referring to Americans in the country.

As pointed out in an August 30 commentary by Tiana Lowe in the Washington Examiner, “When Kabul fell to the Taliban, they closed off the city to the rest of the country, meaning any American outside is likely unaccounted for by the State Department.”

An Aug. 30 story in FOX News referred to a 3-year-old American boy who was stuck in Afghanistan with his family. The boy was born near Sacramento and is a U.S. citizen.

A Sept. 1 National Review article told of a U.S. green-card holder with authorization for permanent residence in America who was left behind. The boy and the green-card holder are examples of those who were left behind.

The story stated that, “During the evacuation, the U.S. State Department said that the evacuations of citizens and of green-card holders were both top priorities, although green-card holders quickly disappeared from administration statements and statistics thereafter.”

The suggestion is that the administration and State Department were ‘adjusting the numbers’ in order to put a brighter face on a disastrous situation.

In that regard, 26 Republican senators sent a letter to Pres. Biden “demanding information regarding the humanitarian crisis created by his withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan.”