Staff at the U.S. embassy in Kabul are “deeply discouraged” by evacuation efforts in Afghanistan, with at least one saying they would rather “die under the bullet of the Taliban” than die crushed at the airport, according to a report.
Employees accused the United States of treason after being advised to head to the airport, but suffered an unprotected “brutal experience,” according to a diplomatic cable obtained by NBC News.
They complained to the State Department about being attacked and spat at by Taliban fighters at checkpoints near the airport and also targeting criminals, NBC said.
Others said they nearly lost their children in the run-up to flee the brutal Taliban rule, while some were hospitalized after collapsing into a crowd of people. Others said they had collapsed on the road due to heat exhaustion, NBC said.
“It would be better to die under the bullet of the Taliban” than to face the crowds again, a staff member said on cable.
Another said, “Happy to die here, but with dignity and pride.”
At least one staff member also said his home had been labeled with spray paint, a Taliban tactic to mark homes with people who need to be interrogated, the cable reports. That family fled and was unable to get to the airport, NBC said.
The cable was sent on Saturday, according to the network, a day before at least seven people, including a small child, died in some of the most heartbreaking scenes of the attempted mass exodus.
On Monday, an Afghan guard was shot dead and several wounded when a gun battle broke out, according to reports, following a sniper attack amid fears that ISIS would also try to take advantage of the chaos. Others have died until they clung to U.S. military aircraft.
A State Department spokesman insisted to NBC that the United States has a “special commitment” to local embassy staff members who “have suffered hardship, pain and loss due to their dedication to working with us.” to build a better future for all Afghans. “
The U.S. has been “working tirelessly to improve access to the airport” and to help people eligible for flights, the spokesman said.
President Biden on Sunday tried to deflect international outrage over the humanitarian crisis, saying evacuation would always “be hard and painful, no matter when it began.”
“It would have been true if we had started a month ago or in a month. There is no way to evacuate so many people without the pain and loss of heartbreaking images you see on television, ”he said.
The White House said that since Aug. 14, the U.S. has helped evacuate about 37,000 people.
With publishing cables