A U.S. citizen still in Kabul, Afghanistan, is speaking out after the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The American citizen, who CNN called “Sara,” spoke with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Monday evening who is “one of the many left behind,” as the host put it. Sarah is an interpreter for the U.S. military and has been trying to get families out of Afghanistan.
Speaking on the U.S. military completing its withdrawal, Sara said, “I just found out that they left, and I was just silent for a while. And I just went, walked around the rooms, and I saw the young kids are sleeping and they have no clue what happened this morning, that the last flight is gone and we’re left behind.”
“It’s heartbreaking,” she added. “I just don’t even know what to say to you. Whoever was trying to help me and support me, even they did not tell me that…this was the last flight. So I still had hope that we would leave. If not all of them, at least some kids and some mothers who had disabled kids. I had hope for them.”
Sara also said, “I just can’t believe no one told me this was the last flight.”
Asked what her biggest fear is now, Sarah said, “Am I safe? Now the question is my life. Are these people safe? I don’t even think they’re safe because they are in my house.”
Watch the interview below:
"The last flight is gone and we're left behind," says "Sara," an American citizen trying to leave Kabul.
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) August 31, 2021
"It's heartbreaking to see that, with all this, what's going on, no one heard us, that we are in danger and we need to be safe. It is heartbreaking." pic.twitter.com/nbclLWGlYx
“I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal of Afghanistan and the end of the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third-country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans,” Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander in charge of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said on Monday, as IJR reported on.
He added, “The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on Aug. 30 this afternoon at 3:29 p.m. East Coast time, and the last manned aircraft is now clearing the airspace above Afghanistan.”
President Joe Biden was previously asked if U.S. troops “will stay beyond August 31st if necessary” to help evacuate Americans.
“It depends on where we are, and whether we can get — ramp these numbers up to five to seven thousand a day coming out. If that’s the case, they’ll all be out,” Biden said, adding, “If there’s American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
The last American soldier to leave Afghanistan: Maj. Gen. Chris Donahue, commanding general of the @82ndABNDiv, @18airbornecorps boards an @usairforce C-17 on August 30th, 2021, ending the U.S. mission in Kabul. pic.twitter.com/j5fPx4iv6a
— Department of Defense ?? (@DeptofDefense) August 30, 2021
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that the number of Americans believed to still be in Afghanistan is “under 200 and likely closer to 100.”
He also said, “Our commitment to them, and to all Americans in Afghanistan and everywhere in the world, continues. The protection and welfare of Americans abroad remains the State Department’s most vital and enduring mission. If an American in Afghanistan tells us that they want to stay for now and then in a week or a month or a year they reach out and say, ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ we will help them leave.”
There were 6,000 Americans evacuated from Afghanistan and a total of 123,000 people during the evacuation efforts.
