Changes

Michael Yon, a former Special Forces soldier and war correspondent was among the private citizens working with private networks and the military to rescue stranded Americans.  Yon said, "We had them out there waving their passport screaming, 'I'm American.'  People were turned away from the gate by our own Army."  Yon emailed to an Army major whose team had tried to coordinate the rescue before abandoning it.  "You guys left American citizens at the gate of the Kabul airport.  Three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone. I told you where they were. Gave you their passport images. And my email and phone number. And you left them behind.  General Milley also knew. Great job saving yourselves. Probably get a lot of medals."<ref>https://justthenews.com/government/security/were-americans-people-screaming-outside-gates-kabul-airport-turned-away</ref><ref>https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2021-08/YonEmailToMajorRedacted.pdf</ref>

Michael Yon, a former Special Forces soldier and war correspondent was among the private citizens working with private networks and the military to rescue stranded Americans.  Yon said, "We had them out there waving their passport screaming, 'I'm American.'  People were turned away from the gate by our own Army."  Yon emailed to an Army major whose team had tried to coordinate the rescue before abandoning it.  "You guys left American citizens at the gate of the Kabul airport.  Three empty jets paid for by volunteers were waiting for them. You and I talked on the phone. I told you where they were. Gave you their passport images. And my email and phone number. And you left them behind.  General Milley also knew. Great job saving yourselves. Probably get a lot of medals."<ref>https://justthenews.com/government/security/were-americans-people-screaming-outside-gates-kabul-airport-turned-away</ref><ref>https://justthenews.com/sites/default/files/2021-08/YonEmailToMajorRedacted.pdf</ref>

Former Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux told the Daily Caller News Foundation that his nonprofit organization had organized bus transport to the Kabul airport for 100 Christians, 300 orphans and 25 American citizens before sunrise on August 26, 2021.<ref>https://dailycaller.com/2021/08/30/ron-johnson-american-citizens-blocked-kabul-airport-state-department/</ref>  But when the evacuees arrived at the airport, Robichaux said a “military commander” made a scene and made the evacuees leave the airfield.  “He really created a scene with us, did not like what we were doing and how we were doing it and actually made the people get back on the bus, put them outside the gate and essentially sic them back off to the Taliban,” Robichaux said of the military commander, which he identified as the commander of the 82nd Airborne Brigade during a separate interview with Newsmax.<ref>https://twitter.com/newsmax/status/1431018570822062081</ref><ref>https://twitter.com/laralogan/status/1432470776205217808</ref>  Army Gen. Chris Donohue is the commander of the 82nd.  “Donahue, one of the last things he did before leaving, was talk to the Taliban commander he’d been coordinating with…about the time we were gonna leave just to let them know that we were leaving,” McKenzie said.<ref>https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2021/08/inside-final-hours-kabul-airport/184975/</ref>

At least 24 students from a [[Califirnia]] school district and 16 parents had tickets to fly out but were not able to get to the airport.<ref>https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-24/students-from-cajon-valley-school-district-stranded-in-afghanistan?utm_id=36108&sfmc_id=4509190</ref>  School district officials believe there could easily be a thousand more still stuck in the country after being left behind.<ref>https://thepoliticalinsider.com/california-school-officials-there-may-easily-be-over-a-thousand-left-behind-in-afghanistan/</ref>

550 members and their families of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which runs the ''[[Voice of America]]'' and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, were abandoned.  A group trying to get VOA staffers and other vulnerable people out of Afghanistan ran into a wall because the evacuees were unable to get into the airport. The group, which consists of humanitarian aid workers and former embassy, and [[U.S. Agency for International Development]] (USAID) officials, had two charter flights that can carry 340 people each.<ref>https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/08/26/the-journalists-for-u-s-media-getting-left-behind-in-afghanistan/</ref>  VOA reported on a 25-year-old [[pregnant]] American woman in hiding who was denied entrance to the airport despite State Department and White House assurances it was not happening.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/wow-pregnant-american-trapped-in-kabul-talks-to-voa-from-hiding-after-taliban-shot-at-her-in-view-of-u-s-troops/</ref>

550 members and their families of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which runs the ''[[Voice of America]]'' and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, were abandoned.  A group trying to get VOA staffers and other vulnerable people out of Afghanistan ran into a wall because the evacuees were unable to get into the airport. The group, which consists of humanitarian aid workers and former embassy, and [[U.S. Agency for International Development]] (USAID) officials, had two charter flights that can carry 340 people each.<ref>https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/08/26/the-journalists-for-u-s-media-getting-left-behind-in-afghanistan/</ref>  VOA reported on a 25-year-old [[pregnant]] American woman in hiding who was denied entrance to the airport despite State Department and White House assurances it was not happening.<ref>https://therightscoop.com/wow-pregnant-american-trapped-in-kabul-talks-to-voa-from-hiding-after-taliban-shot-at-her-in-view-of-u-s-troops/</ref>

On September 5, 2021 it was reported 5 planes loaded with Americans were being held [[hostage]] on the ground in Mazar-i-Sharif.<ref>https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/taliban-holding-americans-hostage-at-afghanistan-airport-top-republican-lawmaker_3982311.html</ref>

On September 5, 2021 it was reported 5 planes loaded with Americans were being held [[hostage]] on the ground in Mazar-i-Sharif.<ref>https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/taliban-holding-americans-hostage-at-afghanistan-airport-top-republican-lawmaker_3982311.html</ref>