The Washington Times
By. Joseph Clark 

To read the full article click here. 

Lawmakers say the Biden administration does not know how many Americans are left to evacuate from Afghanistan as it nears the end-of-month deadline for a full troop withdrawal.

The White House reported late Monday that the U.S. has evacuated approximately 48,000 people since full-scale evacuation efforts began from the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on Aug. 14.

But some lawmakers question whether the administration grasps the total number left to evacuate.  

“I don’t think this administration knows, that’s part of the problem,” Rep. Mike Garcia, California Republican, told The Washington Times. “I think part of what they are trying to do right now is characterize how many people are on the ground. We’re actively filling out spreadsheets, as members of Congress, to help sort of funnel all this data up into one story for the State Department. But the short answer is they don’t know.”

Mr. Garcia said the administration has held several briefings for members of Congress and sends updates almost daily. He said the briefs have been unclassified, which he said may be part of the problem.

A classified briefing for lawmakers is scheduled for Tuesday, and Mr. Garcia said he hopes the administration will provide more detailed information in the classified setting.

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, wrote in an opinion piece Monday for Fox News that the lack of detail coming from the administration is frustrating.

“So far, the Biden administration cannot tell Congress and the American people how many of our countrymen are in Afghanistan which leaves all of us frustrated,” Mr. Rogers wrote. “Worse, there is no plan to get our citizens to the Karzai Airport in Kabul. Instead, the Biden administration told them to travel at their own peril through Taliban-controlled streets.”

But even the numbers of total evacuees reported by the administration can be hard to follow, regardless of how many may remain in the country.

Politico reported Monday afternoon that an internal State Department situation report they obtained, which they said had received signoff from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, stated that a total of 25,091 individuals had been manifested on flights out of Kabul since the evacuation operation began Aug. 14.

Of those evacuated 4,293 were American citizens, 20,156 were Afghan nationals and 642 were from third countries. The report was time-stamped at 7:30 a.m Monday.

The situation report obtained by Politico indicates that the State Department contacted 1,000 U.S citizens believed to be in Afghanistan “to inform them to travel to the airport for processing.”

The report also stated that “a portion of them may be outside of Afghanistan.”

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters at approximately 2:37 p.m. Monday that 37,000 total individuals had been evacuated since Aug. 14, of which 10,400 had been evacuated in the past 24 hours.

The White House later told reporters that as of 3 p.m. the White House had evacuated approximately 48,000 individuals since Aug. 14, of which approximately 10,900 were evacuated between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday.

The White House reporting did not indicate how many of those evacuated were American citizens. Mr. Sullivan said the count is not as straightforward as many expect.

“When Americans have come to Afghanistan over the years, we asked them to register with the embassy,” he said. “Many have left without de-registering; others never register at all. That is their right, of course. And it’s our responsibility to find them, which we are now doing hour by hour.”

A State Department spokesperson told The Washington Times that the administration continues moving thousands of people each day and that the constant flow of evacuees may cause minor disconnects between the numbers reported by agencies.

“There are going to be different numbers for a variety of reasons, including the exact time period for the data; whether we are looking at those manifested or processed into the airport or those who have actually departed; and whether we are including flights that may be operated by our coalition partners or going to destinations other than our designated transit points,” the spokesperson said.

Mr. Garcia said he still worries that the administration is not conveying the full picture.

“The overarching theme here is that we’re not getting the ground truth,” he said. “We’re not getting the real story of what’s going on. And then the Commander in Chief gets up there and starts talking about the fact that things are going smoothly when we know damn well, both within the perimeter of the airfield and, as well as outside of the perimeter of the airfield, it’s not going smoothly.”

The questions about how many Americans remain come as the Biden administration comes under growing pressure to withdraw all U.S. troops on Aug. 31.

Originally a deadline self-imposed by the Biden administration, the Taliban has now begun to threaten violence if the deadline is not met.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to call on the administration to lift the deadline and continue working to evacuate U.S. citizens and Afghan allies until the mission is accomplished.

“An arbitrary deadline is not what guides us,” said Rep. Salud Carbajal, California Democrat and member of the bipartisan Caucus for Country at a press conference Monday.

“What guides what we do here is where we are able to accomplish the mission of getting everybody out of there safely. So today, I tell you, we as the United States need to honor our word, and make sure that we help get those people out, along with Americans,” he said.

Mr. Garcia said the deadline set by the White House further raises his suspicion of how the administration has handled the withdrawal.

“That’s literally painting us into a corner,” he said. “My suspicion and my worst fear is that we have made some sort of drug deal with the Taliban. And when [August] 31 comes and goes, we’re going to be in a more precarious position. And not knowing how many people to get out is a tall order right now, especially with so few days before [August] 31.”