US BARS evacuation charter flight carrying American citizens and Afghan green card holders from landing as official claims DHS may need time to background check those on board
The US has barred an evacuation charter flight carrying American citizens and Afghan green card holders from landing in the country.
A Department of Homeland Security official claimed it was because authorities need time to conduct background checks on those on board.
Twenty-eight Americans, 83 green card holders and six Afghans with US Special Immigration Visas, granted to people who worked for the US government during the 20-year war, were aboard the Kam Air flight, according to organizer and veteran Bryan Stern.
He said Customs had cleared his charter flight to land at in New York but later changed the clearance to Dulles International Airport outside Washington before denying the plane landing rights anywhere in the US.
The plane was held on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi for 14 hours amid the debacle yesterday after taking off from Kabul Airport with 117 on board, among them 59 children.
News of the denial was announced by evacuation organization Project Dynamo on Tuesday
Organizer Bryan Stern branded the denial a 'tragedy'
He also shared a snap of a young child trying to sleep on an uncomfortable airport seat
Childern are seen sleeping on the floor after the US barred the flight
Men are seen sleeping with the heads on backpacks after the flight was barred
A young child is seen sleeping under a sheet on an uncomfortable chair
Stern had planned to transfer the passengers to a chartered Ethiopian Airlines plane for an onward flight to the US that he said the Customs cleared to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.
Customs then changed the clearance before denying the plane landing rights anywhere in the United States, he said.
'Today's triumph is ending in tragedy. After initial approval, the US government is now denying entry into the US for our American passengers aboard Dynamo 01', he wrote on Instagram.
'These passengers are all US passport holders, US green card holders with valid Afghan passports, and a few SIV approved Afghan passport holders.
'There are 59 children under the age of 18 and 16 under the age of 3. ALL of these passengers have been Covid tested, are Covid negative, and have been MR vaccinated.
'These Americans are being denied entry into THEIR OWN COUNTRY by the US government.'
Stern explained intermediaries in Kabul had obtained permission from the Taliban-run Afghan Civil Aviation Authority for the groups to send a charter flight to retrieve the passengers from Kabul airport.
The State Department and the United Arab Emirate's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also cooperated with the effort, he said.
His group is one of several that emerged from ad hoc networks of US military veterans, current and former US officials and others that formed to bolster last month's US evacuation operation they saw as chaotic and badly organized.
Stern, pictured last month, lashed the US government for denying the flight permission to land
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But an administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unfamiliar with the matter, but that the US government typically takes time to verify the manifests of charter planes before clearing them to land in the United States.
A State Department official told CNN they would not 'detail out involvement with any specific groups at this time' and described the evocation effort as a 'monumental task'.
'The US government understands the need to coordinate across agencies, as we have done, but we also appreciate the desire of NGOs and private citizens to assist and have identified a greater need for coordination there,' the official said.
'The State Department has established a team to coordinate across government agencies and with advocacy groups, nonprofits, and other partners to facilitate freedom of movement for those who wish to leave Afghanistan, including US citizens, LPRs, and at-risk Afghans to whom we have a commitment to assist.'
US President Joe Biden's administration has said its top priority is repatriating Americans and green card holders unable to leave Afghanistan in the US evacuation operation last month.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said yesterday 21 US citizens and their families had been evacuated from Afghanistan that day, but declined to give further details.
He also declined to put a figure on the number of Americans left in Afghanistan, saying it 'fluctuates daily'.
On Monday a senior State Department official said the US was aware of about 100 American citizens and legal permanent residents ready to leave Afghanistan.
State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter said yesterday they were 'constantly touching base' with the 100 Americans and were preparing an evacuation effort.
But she warned the departure of US citizens was hampered by the Taliban's 'unpredictability regarding who is permitted to depart'.
'There's a range of contact and dialogue ongoing with the Taliban, particularly in Doha, with the remaining members of the Taliban political commission who are based there,' the official said.
Last month saw chaotic scenes at Kabul Airport as thousands of desperate Afghans and westerners tried to flee Afghanistan after the Taliban swept to power in a lightning offensive of the country on August 15, weeks before Biden was due to withdraw remaining US troops.
US Marines are seen handing out water during an evacuation at the Hamid Karzai International Airport
Afghan evacuees are seen taking off in a C-17 Globemaster III at a Middle East staging area
Anwari was among young Afghan men were seen clambering onto the USAF jet as it took off from Kabul on Monday. At least three of them died, two teenage brothers by falling from the wheels and Anwari was reportedly found dead in the wheel well
At least three bodies were seen falling from the USAF jet as it climbed into the air on August 16
Soldiers were flown in to assist with the evacuation efforts as thousands swarmed the airport in last ditch efforts to get on the final commercial flights out of the country.
Harrowing images emerged amid early evacuation efforts of hundreds of young men sat on a fin below a US military plane's turbine as it barreled down the runway, only to then fall hundreds of feet to their deaths.
At least two people died after falling from a US Air Force C-17 on August 16 and the remains of another were discovered in the wheel well of the jet when it arrived in Qatar.
Days later a suicide explosion claimed by ISIS-K, an Islamic State offshoot based in Afghanistan's Khorasan region, left 170 dead, including 13 US service members.
In a near two-week span approximately 124,000 people were evacuated from the country in US Airforce C-17's.
Around 79,000 of those, including 6,000 civilians, were rescued directly by the US airlift, with the remainder flown out on charter flights supervised by the military.
Around 20,000 refugees were taken to eight US military bases across the Middle East for processing and vetting before further evacuation.
A further 23,000 refugees were taken to bases in Europe and around 14,000 to Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Isa Air Base in Bahrain, Ramstein Air Base, Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait and Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar were staging areas for refugees brought from Kabul and were supported by more than a dozen other 'temporary safe haven' locations.
Meanwhile bases in Morón de la Frontera, Spain, and Aviano, Italy, also took in refugees for screening. And tent cities were erected at several military bases across the US.
Around 20,000 refugees were taken to eight US military bases across the Middle East for processing and vetting before further evacuation. While 20,000 refugees were taken to eight US military bases across the Middle East for processing and vetting before further evacuation
Temporary housing was built for Afghan refugees at the Dona Ana Housing Area near Fort Bliss in Texas
Military officials at Ramstein, Germany, erected a tent city to temporarily house Afghans. Ramstein is one of the largest staging areas the US is currently using to evacuate and screen people
