State Department hampered rescue flights from Afghanistan

 Rick Moran:

It’s almost as if the Biden administration doesn’t see the PR value in having Americans rescued unless the flights can be credited to the actions of the White House or State Department.

The actions — more specifically, the non-actions — of the Biden State Department in facilitating private rescue actions by individuals and groups should be seen in the context of the administration trying to control the “rescue narrative” to garner the greatest possible political benefit from the flights out of Afghanistan.

Fox News:

Eric Montalvo, who organized a series of private flights evacuating those stranded in Afghanistan, shared that email and others with Fox News after his evacuation efforts were repeatedly hampered by the federal bureaucracy.

A Sept. 1 email that a State Department official sent to Montalvo underscores the extent to which private evacuation efforts have run into bureaucratic roadblocks.

“No independent charters are allowed to land at [Al Udeid Air Base], the military airbase you mentioned in your communication with Samantha Power. In fact, no charters are allowed to land at an [sic] DoD base and most if not all countries in the Middle Eastern region, with the exception of perhaps Saudi Arabia will allow charters to land,” the official wrote.

“You need to find another destination country, and it can’t be the U.S. either.”

So where the hell are these planes full of desperate Americans wanting to leave the clutches of the Taliban supposed to go?

“Once you have had discussions with the host/destination country and reached an agreement, they may require some indication from the USG that we ‘approve’ of this charter flight. DOS will not provide an approval, but we will provide a ‘no objection’ to the destination country government via the U.S. Embassy in that country.”

How very big-hearted of them.

...

The Biden administration is worried about upsetting the Taliban.  It has been one of the bizarre aspects of the retreat from Afghanistan.  The Biden administration did not have a good evacuation plan and did not want to facilitate those who were trying to help Americans escape because they did not want to upset the errorist who run the Taliban.  This craziness extends to some of the military commanders who thought they could work with the perverts in charge.

See, also:

Taliban-controlled Afghanistan threatens post-9/11 counterterrorism gains, experts warn