{"id":997750,"date":"2021-11-11T07:44:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T12:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=997750"},"modified":"2021-11-11T07:44:18","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T12:44:18","slug":"bidens-pentagon-likely-dozens-of-u-s-troops-family-members-still-trapped-in-afghanistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-pentagon-likely-dozens-of-u-s-troops-family-members-still-trapped-in-afghanistan\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden\u2019s Pentagon: Likely \u2018Dozens\u2019 Of U.S. Troop\u2019s Family Members Still Trapped In Afghanistan"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbidens-pentagon-likely-dozens-of-u-s-troops-family-members-still-trapped-in-afghanistan%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=997750&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The U.S. Department of Defense said on Wednesday that there are likely \u201cdozens\u201d of family members of U.S. troops still trapped in Afghanistan following President Joe Biden\u2019s chaotic pullout from the country back in August.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Defense Department is trying to compile a master list of relatives of U.S. troops who may still be in Afghanistan and wanting to leave, per a Nov. 4 memo from the Pentagon\u2019s policy chief,\u201d The Army Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/flashpoints\/afghanistan\/2021\/11\/10\/dozens-of-troops-family-members-still-in-afghanistan-pentagon-estimates\/\">reported<\/a>. \u201cThe memo encourages military or civilian personnel to send a note to a DoD email address created specifically for referrals of Afghan nationals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked Pentagon spokesman John Kirby to provide updates on the \u201cnumber of immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe it\u2019s certainly most likely in the dozens, but one of the reasons we put the memo out last week was to encourage service members to come forward,\u201d Kirby said, later adding, \u201cWe\u2019re working this as hard as we can. We take the obligation seriously to our people and to their families.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: John? Afghanistan?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>JOHN KIRBY, DOD SPOKESMAN: Can I get to somebody else just in case, since I already \u2014 nobody? All right, go ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: You can go.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>(LAUGHTER)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>KIRBY: Lucas, you\u2019ve had, like, seven. Go ahead.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: John, can you please update us on \u2014 on the number of immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>KIRBY: Update you on the number?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: Yes.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>KIRBY: I don\u2019t have a whole number on that, no.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: OK. So, I mean, the withdrawal ended on August 30th, and it\u2019s \u2014 today is November 10th. I mean, how is it possible that \u2014 that the department doesn\u2019t know how many immediate family members are still left\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>KIRBY: I didn\u2019t say\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>REPORTER: \u2026 especially in Afghanistan?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>KIRBY: I \u2014 I didn\u2019t say we didn\u2019t know; I said I don\u2019t have a number for you. We believe it\u2019s certainly most likely in the dozens, but one of the reasons we put the memo out last week was to encourage service members to come forward.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>It\u2019s a dynamic thing, Fadi. I mean, you make it sound like a snap on a chalk line, and boom! You\u2019ve got to know all the \u2014 you\u2019ve got to know every number. That\u2019s not even true for American citizens, as other \u2014 as American citizens in Afghanistan continue to come forward, because maybe they\u2019ve changed their mind. Maybe they didn\u2019t want out by August<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Defense said on Wednesday that there are likely \u201cdozens\u201d of family members of U.S. troops still trapped in Afghanistan following President Joe Biden\u2019s chaotic pullout from the country back in August.\u201cThe Defense Department is trying to compile a master list of relatives of U.S. troops who may still be in Afghanistan and wanting to leave, per a Nov. 4 memo from the Pentagon\u2019s policy chief,\u201d The Army Times reported. \u201cThe memo encourages military or civilian personnel to send a note to a DoD email address created specifically for referrals of Afghan nationals.\u201dAt a press conference on Wednesday, a reporter asked Pentagon spokesman John Kirby to provide updates on the \u201cnumber of immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan.\u201d\u201cWe believe it\u2019s certainly most likely in the dozens, but one of the reasons we put the memo out last week was to encourage service members to come forward,\u201d Kirby said, later adding, \u201cWe\u2019re working this as hard as we can. We take the obligation seriously to our people and to their families.\u201dREPORTER: John? Afghanistan?JOHN KIRBY, DOD SPOKESMAN: Can I get to somebody else just in case, since I already \u2014 nobody? All right, go ahead.REPORTER: You can go.(LAUGHTER)KIRBY: Lucas, you\u2019ve had, like, seven. Go ahead.REPORTER: John, can you please update us on \u2014 on the number of immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan?KIRBY: Update you on the number?REPORTER: Yes.KIRBY: I don\u2019t have a whole number on that, no.REPORTER: OK. So, I mean, the withdrawal ended on August 30th, and it\u2019s \u2014 today is November 10th. I mean, how is it possible that \u2014 that the department doesn\u2019t know how many immediate family members are still left\u2026KIRBY: I didn\u2019t say\u2026REPORTER: \u2026 especially in Afghanistan?KIRBY: I \u2014 I didn\u2019t say we didn\u2019t know; I said I don\u2019t have a number for you. We believe it\u2019s certainly most likely in the dozens, but one of the reasons we put the memo out last week was to encourage service members to come forward.It\u2019s a dynamic thing, Fadi. I mean, you make it sound like a snap on a chalk line, and boom! You\u2019ve got to know all the \u2014 you\u2019ve got to know every number. That\u2019s not even true for American citizens, as other \u2014 as American citizens in Afghanistan continue to come forward, because maybe they\u2019ve changed their mind. Maybe they didn\u2019t want out by August 30th, and maybe now they do. And so the number has \u2014 is changed a little bit.We\u2019re working this as hard as we can. We take the obligation seriously to our people and to their families. And we\u2019re \u2014 and that\u2019s why we put the advisory out to the services last week, to give them a place, a portal where they can go to put information on \u2014 on \u2014 on there that we can then share with our State Department colleagues to get them out. We\u2019re going to stay at this.I\u2019ve said it before but I think it bears repeating \u2014 the military mission in Afghanistan is over but the mission itself, to continue to \u2014 to get our people out \u2014 out of Afghanistan and back home or to their new homes in the United States, is not over, and we\u2019re going to continue to work inside the interagency to do that.REPORTER: I understand and appreciate all of that but my question remains \u2014 these are \u2014 these are the immediate family members of U.S. service members in Afghanistan. While many Afghans who have no relatives in the U.S. were evacuated a long time ago, the department, up until last week, did not issue a memo or considered this issue. I mean, don\u2019t you think it\u2019s\u2026KIRBY: That doesn\u2019t mean\u2026REPORTER: \u2026 it\u2019s late in the process\u2026KIRBY: So\u2026REPORTER: \u2026 you shouldn\u2019t \u2014 don\u2019t you think this should have been the priority to begin with?KIRBY: It was a\u2026REPORTER: \u2026 talking about\u2026KIRBY: Fadi, let me answer your question, please.REPORTER: No, no, I\u2019m just \u2014 I \u2014 I\u2026KIRBY: I \u2014 I know that, I get it, but we did take it as a serious priority back then. We were working it. Just because there wasn\u2019t a memo on the streets doesn\u2019t mean that we weren\u2019t focused on it or that we weren\u2019t talking to people about it.But more and more people were coming forward and wanted help for how to organize this effort, and now that the State Department has set up a \u2014 an interagency process over there, we now want to more discreetly, more carefully funnel these requests and that information to the care coordinator, as appropriate.So it\u2019s an ongoing process, it\u2019s somewhat iterative, we\u2019re getting better at it over time, and the fact that \u2014 you \u2014 you \u2014 you know, you\u2019re \u2014 you \u2014 that we didn\u2019t issue a memo earlier doesn\u2019t mean that we weren\u2019t thinking about it, weren\u2019t focused on it, weren\u2019t hearing from troops or concerned about family members.I mean, I \u2014 I have to take issue, I think, with the tone of your question, which seems to be that we just didn\u2019t care until last week, and that\u2019s just not true.REPORTER: Yeah, but the facts remains that we\u2019re talking about that issue still now.KIRBY: And you know what, Fadi? We\u2019re probably going to be talking about that issue for some time to come, and that has to be OK. It doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re not taking it seriously. In fact, quite the contrary.REPORTER: Are \u2014 are they \u2014 are there \u2014 is there any concern about their safety in Afghanistan?KIRBY: Of course there is \u2014 of course there is.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-997750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=997750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}