US special operations forces race to save former Afghan comrades in jeopardy
The current and former military members are getting people out "one at a time."
ByJames Gordon Meek andMatt Seyler
August 22, 2021, 6:01 AM
Americans warned to avoid Kabul airport unless specifically instructed
Tens of thousands of people are still desperate to get out of Afghanistan.
Current and former U.S. military special operations and intelligence community operatives are using their own networks of contacts to get elite Afghan soldiers, intelligence assets and interpreters to safety as they've become increasingly disillusioned and fed up with the U.S. government-led evacuation effort in Kabul, ABC News has learned.
One informal group, dubbed "Task Force Pineapple," began as a frantic effort last weekend to get one former Afghan commando into Hamid Karzai International Airport as he was being hunted by Taliban who were texting him death threats. They knew he had worked with U.S. Special Forces and the elite SEAL Team Six for a dozen years, targeting Taliban leadership, and was therefore at high risk of reprisal.
Two months ago, he told ABC News, he had narrowly escaped a tiny outpost in northern Afghanistan that was later overrun, while awaiting his U.S. special immigrant visa to be approved.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-special-operations-forces-race-save-afghan-comrades/story?id=79583150
