FOX News Reveals Evacuation of Afghans

FOX News Media successfully evacuated three Afghan nationals, as well as an Afghan colleague from a regional media company, and their respective families who formerly served as freelance associates, from Kabul on Sunday.

Those associates included consultants who served as local producers, translators, drivers, and security guards supporting our correspondents throughout FOX’s coverage of the war in Afghanistan for nearly two decades. A total of 24 people were evacuated from the embattled area.

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Afghanistan has been in crisis mode for nearly a week following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, which led to a Taliban takeover of key parts of the country. The Pentagon said at least 17,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul as of Saturday, with several thousand more reportedly still attempting to flee the extremist group. 

President Biden and his national security team have been criticized for their messaging in the wake of the disaster, including rhetoric which appears to be at odds with the reality on the ground. Asked by the press how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, both Pentagon press secretary John Kirby and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan admitted they could not provide a concrete number.

"We cannot give you a precise number," Sullivan said. "We believe it is several thousand Americans who we are working with now to try to get safely out of the country."

Fox News recently dispatched correspondent Trey Yingst to Afghanistan to cover some of the chaos taking place there as the Taliban reasserts itself over the nation while the U.S. withdraws troops and other operations there. In a tweet posted Sunday afternoon, Geraldo Rivera said Yingst had left the country along with the 24 nationals. “Included in group of friends & colleagues is highly-regarded translator Akbar Shinwari, with whom I proudly worked,” Rivera said.

Mediaite reports other news outlets that have helped with evacuation efforts include CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

On Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter shared that “CNN quietly helped ten Afghan colleagues leave the country in the past few days.”

“Many other newsrooms are working on the same thing,” he added. “This is, from what I’m hearing, excruciating and emotionally draining work, but it is necessary work.”