CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The United States has ended its nearly 20 years in Afghanistan with the withdrawal of the final troops from Kabul on Monday.
The effort met President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to complete the military mission in Afghanistan, which ended with the Taliban ruling over the country. American troops had spent the final weeks transporting soldiers and evacuating Afghan refugees and allies.
According to the White House, service members evacuated 120,000 soldiers and allies from Afghanistan over the past 17 days.
Sen. Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, served in Afghanistan from October 2010 to July 2011 as part of the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He built multiple relationships with Afghan citizens, including one colleague and his family whom Weld has tried to get out of the country.
“Myself and a former teammate — we have been working this together — we have now transitioned into finding potential routes out on the ground into crossing the border into a neighboring a country or getting them a civilian flight that may or may not be flown into Kabul,” Weld said on Monday’s “MetroNews Talkline.”
“We don’t know what the status is and what the activity is going to look like at the airport after tomorrow. That is a difficult thing to plan for.”
Weld has contacted several embassies located in Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, but most countries are not accepting Afghans.
“That kind of leaves Pakistan, but it’s easier said than done,” he said. “There’s a lot of danger in getting there.”
Weld said he will continue working on trying to get his former colleague and their family out of the nation, but it should not have to be his responsibility.
“This administration should have got this done,” he said. “I’ve said this a thousand times before: Now is not the time to delve into the politics of this and start throwing things around. But this should not have been our responsibility. This should have been taken care of, and because it wasn’t, it has fallen on us. And we’re happy to take up the mantle, but it’s much more difficult with us doing so than the full weight of the United States government trying to do the same.”
The president will address the country at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday about troops leaving Afghanistan.
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US troops leave Afghanistan; Weld continues efforts to get former colleague out - West Virginia MetroNews
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