1,000 US citizens and allies were evacuated through secret CIA base

REVEALED: More than 1,000 US citizens and Afghan allies were evacuated through a secret CIA base outside of Kabul during chaotic airlift

  • CIA’s secret Eagle Base used for staging evacuees
  • Afghan commandos considered some of the best fighters in allied govt force
  • Came amid chaos at the airport in Kabul
  • Base in a former brick factory was destroyed in ‘controlled demolition’ days before the US took out its last troops

As State Department personnel and military members were ferrying Americans and Afghans to the Kabul airport during the chaotic evacuation, the CIA oversaw an evacuation to get Afghan commandos and US citizens out of the country.

The effort use as an organizing point the CIA’s secret Eagle Base – which was deliberately destroyed in an explosion just days before the last US troops left Afghanistan.

It succeeded in getting at least 1,000 Afghan commandos and service members out of the country, Politico reported. 

A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. After the fall of the Afghan government, the CIA oversaw an evacuation to get Afghan commandos and US citizens out of the country using a CIA base as a staging facility

It all took place during a few frantic weeks in August around the time of the fall of the U.S. backed government in Kabul.

Some of the evacuees were flown between the base, housed in a former brick factory, and the Kabul airport located less than three miles away, according to the report after August 15th, when the government fell.

The military confirmed two instances of US troops going ‘outside the wire’ of the Kabul airport during the frantic last days before the US troop pullout, but generally sought to avoid giving detailed information about evacuation operations. 

The Eagle Base, which also served as a staging area for the operations, was destroyed through a ‘controlled demolition’ just days before the final troop withdrawal, the New York Times reported.  

In this Aug. 24, 2021, file photo provided by the U.S. Marine Corps, families walk towards their flight during ongoing evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan. The CIA oversaw missions to get an estimated 1,000 Afghan commandos and family members out of the country

In this Aug. 16, 2021 file photo, U.S. soldiers stand guard along the perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan

Special operations Blackhawk takes off fast in Afghanistan

The facility was ensconced in 10-foot walls, was used for training Afghan commandos deemed to be the most effective fighters in an Afghan military that collapsed, and was located near a secret detention facility where an Afghan man died in CIA custody early in the war.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki during her briefing Wednesday revealed new details of efforts to get American and Afghans out, even while dodging a question about an estimated 100 Afghan workers for Voice of America, Radio Free Liberty, and Radio Azadi, the Afghan branch of the broadcast service.

‘I think it’s important to remember, again, 120,000 people made it out of the airport and the country, and our commitment to people who want to evacuate, once we leave: American citizens, journalists, Afghan partners who have stood by our side, is enduring and remains,’ she said. 

Without speaking to the fate of the journalists, she then spoke about ‘some of the ways that we worked to get American citizens out,’ including the ‘muster points.’ She said State officials would ‘blast notifications through a variety of channels’ to people who would then travel by bus into the airport in convoys or travel on foot. 

She said there were ‘multiple opportunities for each of these muster points at various times. ‘We also talked people through one-on-one walking to the airport,’ she said. She called it ‘incredibly labor intensive.’

She said in ‘limited cases’ where people were ‘trapped or in immediate danger’ US security forces ‘went beyond the wire, sometimes in a helicopter, to pick people up safely.’ She said they were ‘dangerous missions.’

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