ABOVE: Josie Thomas, photo via Thomas’ Facebook page.
As the government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani collapsed and he has now fled the country, chaos has descended on the Afghan capital city. Late reports Sunday indicated Afghan security forces had abandoned their posts which were quickly taken over by the Taliban insurgents.
Among the Americans now trapped in the suburban areas of Kabul under Taliban control is Josie Thomas, 32, a transgender government contractor for the U.S. State Department and former U.S. Air Force Sergeant. Thomas along with several others are trapped at the diplomatic support facility known as Camp Alvarado located on the outskirts of the capital city’s airport.
Thomas, in a series of text messages provided to the Blade on background by a colleague of hers, relayed that she and others were aware of the immediate presence of the Taliban insurgents, which was communicated at the time Afghan security forces had abandoned their posts. The texts also expressed frustration at the lack of communication regarding the lack of a presence of U.S. military forces to assist.
Thomas has been communicating with colleagues and friends in the United States in real time as the situation unfolds.
UPDATED at 3:30PM Pacific Time Sunday August 15 (U.S.) One of her colleagues communicating with Thomas received a text from her stating that elements of the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division had arrived at the Camp Alvarado diplomatic support facility;
“Just talked to her again for several minutes. The 82nd has taken control of her compound and there’s a clear route from there to the flight line now. That the place is looking like a refugee camp with the amount of displaced coalition personnel and there’s no aircraft coming in to evacuate people yet.”
The United States Embassy in Kabul issued a warning to remaining Americans to not head to Kabul’s international airport after reports indicated that the facility was taking fire from Taliban fighters.
“The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport,” the embassy said in a statement. “There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.”
The New York Times and major wire services reported that at 6:30 p.m. local time, the Taliban issued a statement that their forces were moving into police districts in order to maintain security in areas that had been abandoned by the government security forces. Taliban fighters, meeting no resistance, took up positions in parts of the city, after Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, posted the statement on Twitter.
“The Islamic Emirates ordered its forces to enter the areas of Kabul city from which the enemy has left because there is risk of theft and robbery,” the statement said. Mujahid added that the Taliban had been ordered not to harm civilians and not to enter individual homes adding, “Our forces are entering Kabul city with all caution.”
President Joe Biden who is spending the weekend at the Presidential retreat Camp David in the Catoctin Mountains near Thurmont, Maryland, participated in a series of video conferences regarding the rapidly changing situation on the ground in Kabul.
“This morning, the President and Vice President met by secure videoconference with their national security team to hear updates on the drawdown of our civilian personnel in Afghanistan, evacuations of SIV applicants and other Afghan allies, and the ongoing security situation in Kabul.
The President and Vice President met with Secretary Blinken, Secretary Austin, Chairman Milley, Director Burns, Director Haines, National Security Advisor Sullivan, Ambassador Wilson, Ambassador Khalilzad, General McKenzie, and other senior officials,” a White House official said.
President Biden ordered an additional 1,000 U.S. troops for deployment to Afghanistan Saturday, raising the overall number of U.S. military personnel to 5,000 that were sent to ensure what what the President defined as an “orderly and safe drawdown” of American and allied personnel.
UPDATED AUGUST 15 Sunday evening: The Department of State and Department of Defense issued a joint statement updating the situation in Afghanistan;
At present we are completing a series of steps to secure the Hamid Karzai International Airport to enable the safe departure of U.S. and allied personnel from Afghanistan via civilian and military flights.
Over the next 48 hours, we will have expanded our security presence to nearly 6,000 troops, with a mission focused solely on facilitating these efforts and will be taking over air traffic control.
Tomorrow and over the coming days, we will be transferring out of the country thousands of American citizens who have been resident in Afghanistan, as well as locally employed staff of the U.S. mission in Kabul and their families and other particularly vulnerable Afghan nationals.
And we will accelerate the evacuation of thousands of Afghans eligible for U.S. Special Immigrant Visas, nearly 2,000 of whom have already arrived in the United States over the past two weeks.
For all categories, Afghans who have cleared security screening will continue to be transferred directly to the United States. And we will find additional locations for those yet to be screened.
