This is from Jacqui Heinrich, White House correspondent for FoxNews via a twitter thread.
NEW, thread: Pentagon confirms to me the Department of Defense is preparing to house thousands of Afghan refugees on American military installations, immediately including Fort McCoy in Wisconsin and Fort Bliss in Texas. Documents obtained from a source show DoD planning to potentially relocate up to 30,000 Afghan SIV applicants into the United States in the immediate future.
“The situation in Afghanistan may lead to DoS [Department of State] allowing Afghan SIV applicants to be moved to temporary housing locations while still being vetted for parolee status,” the document reads. “We want to have capacity to get up to several thousand immediately, and want to be prepared for potential of tens of thousands,” Pentagon Spox John Kirby tells me. “Bliss & McCoy have capability right now – what’s advantageous is w/ a bit of work, could increase in short order.”
The move is a reversal from the Biden administration’s previous policy. On July 8th, President Biden told me the US government could not evacuate Afghan translators to the US to await visa processing like some migrants at the southern border. “The law doesn’t allow that to happen. And that’s why we’re asking Congress to consider changing the law,” Biden said.
Kirby says American citizens will not be given priority evacuation over Afghan SIV applicants. “Once we get more airlift out of Kabul, we’re going to put as many people on those planes as we can. There will be a mix not just American citizens, but perhaps some Afghan SIV applicants as well. We’re going to focus on getting people out of the country, then sorting it out at the next stop. It’s not going to be just Americans first, then SIV applicants,” Kirby tells me.
Some 6,000 US troops are expected in Kabul with the objective of keeping the airport open to achieve that goal. Kirby tells me, “We are already basically in charge of air traffic control at the airport, so we’re going to be in oversight of the air ops for as long as we can.”
The State Department will determine who is sent forward – the job of the military is to find facilities and infrastructure for refugees to sleep and receive food and medical care during processing. The Pentagon is working closely with the State Department to find overseas and possibly domestic processing locations for additional Afghan refugees who do not qualify for SIV status, falling instead under P-2 and P-1 visas.
“Secretary Austin has made it very clear to the Department and to military leaders that he wants additional options,” Kirby said. “We all share a sense of urgency and we’re going to be leaning forward to help the State Department as much as we can.” As for how much longer the military presence will remain tenable, Kirby says, “The President gave us August 31st as an end date, so that’s what we’re focused on.”
Comment: This is probably what Biden and his generals were frantically planning over the weekend at Camp David. Good. Too bad it’s now up to the Taliban whether this plan can be executed. This should have been planned right after Biden’s inauguration and implemented while we still controlled Baghram and whatever other airfields we had in Afghanistan. That we couldn’t anticipate the total collapse of the ANA and the corrupt Kabul leadership, or at least plan for that contingency, is a monumental failure for Biden, his DoD, his DOS and, yes, his IC. He has no reasonable choice but to fully own this failure. I agree with English Outsider’s comment of earlier today. “The manner of the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, and of ours, is deplorable, but the withdrawal itself can only be welcomed.”
TTG
For me the question is why on earth did they close Baghram Air Base? That base would be real handy right now.
Beats the hell out of me. IMO there should be a thorough housecleaning of generals, colonels, SESs and political appointees at DoD and CENTCOM involved in this goat roping and the “building” of both the Iraqi and Afghan militaries. Some should just be sent away. Others need to face UCMJ discipline.
There should also be a thorough housecleaning of the neocon scum infecting the political appointee slots at DoD, DoS and other involved bureaucracies.
Never happen.
Swamp protects its own.
We are not governed, we are ruled and we are ruled by corrupt incompetent slugs.
Should be, could be, won’t be! History, despite all the power of its’ Louisville Slugger, shall ensure it. Westmoreland paid no price, whereas the bozos who cost America yet another humiliating goat rope, shall remain blameless, and richer by the hour. The MIC has to get its’ money while the goings good. The American people, writ large and their expectations be damned. Unless they have/had blood in the game, will have too much to worry about to care, or vote in such a manner as to make a difference in their eyes. Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss. The fix is in, as surely as the nails hammered into the hands and feet of Jesus. The politicians are bought, and forever paid for. I could go on, but I need to go back to the telly to watch more high fallutins make excuses.
‘Safer than before’: Russian Embassy in Kabul sees no reason to evacuate as Taliban takes over security, ambassador tells RT https://www.rt.com/russia/532230-kabul-embassy-taliban-security-ambassador
If the goal was to recreate Saigon it was a overwhelming success.
Geography does not favor this plan. KIA is not an outlying airport, it’s right in the northern suburbs of Taliban occupied Kabul. What is the plan when the Taliban decide to put a few holes in the runway? The time for evacuations has passed, it is a shame none of the brass read this blog.
They’re too busy reading CRT and writing memos on promoting transgendered.
The Taliban certainly could attack the evacuation any time they chose. For whatever reasons of their own, they have chosen not to. The easy explanation is that they want to avoid a severe American reaction. But that is our kind of reasoning, not theirs. Accepting that explanation is an act of projecting our thinking onto them.
I have not yet seen any reporting that includes any level of understanding of what sort of victory they want, what sort of country they are looking for. Most “analysis” seems to go back to how the Taliban acted in the 1990s when they took over the country. The people run it now are not the same people who ran it then. Mostly not of the same generation even. They have different lived experiences, different organizational forms, probably quite different goals within the shared notions of Islamic rule. They run a much more sophisticated organization with, I think, a bigger budget than the original Taliban ever achieved even when they ran the country. The villages may be full of fanatical tribesmen, but those are not the people taking over Kabul. Their leaders also appear to have much more discipline than the original crew. They seem to have overcome the ethnic divisions that gave the US the rare opportunity of a competent army to ally with. I doubt that all this has been accomplished with the sort of ad hoc opportunism that was sufficient 25 years ago.
What do they want? I don’t know, and I don’t see much in the way of informed analysis. We have made it very dangerous for their leaders to expose themselves publicly with the result that we know very little about them. Baradar was in custody earlier this year. We should be analyzing whatever he told our interrogaters. Somebody should be poring over transcripts of what their negotiators said at Doha. Those are certainly tainted sources, but we don’t seem to have much else.
I am reminded again of a third world journalist long ago who noted that when he interviewed North Vietnamese leaders they were very familiar with the ideas, histories, and personalities of the major US govenment players. US leaders barely recognized the names of their opponents.
Anyway, I have been hoping that someone at Turcopolier might have the connections to get some actual information about the Taliban as it exists today.
fredw, I found the May 2021 article by Anatol Lieven helpful, as basic backgrounder.
Hat tip to “MILLER” on Paul Robinson’s blog. While Afghanistan or the triangle Afghanistan-India-Pakistan (Iran, Russia, China???) mattered to some of us post 9/11, it hardly did recently.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00396338.2021.1930403
Thank you. This doesn’t get to specific people and ideas, but it fills in a lot of detail about cultural background.
I would be worried that the Taliban will decide that too many are escaping sharia “justice.”
If the only area not under Taliban control is the airport, a perimeter of only a couple of miles square, I would have thought the Taliban could easily direct enough fire at it to prevent flights in or out. So what carrot or stick is stopping them doing that. Wouldn’t they want a few thousand hostages to bargain with. What realistic options do US/UK troops have if they bring up artillery/tanks? Could infantry and air support push them back sufficiently to continue evacuation? At current rate it seems like even the foreign nationals could take days to fly out.
The Taliban could turn this into a slaughter if they choose to do so. Biden’s stick is that he can choose to fire the FPF of round the clock B-52, missile and other aircraft strikes as long as there’s going to be a slaughter. The carrot is let the evac continue to the end of the month and no FPF. It all depends on the Taliban’s willingness to let all those Afghans escape sharia justice, as the Colonel brought up.
TTG,
I was thinking the same re; B-52s. However, a lot of civilians would get obliterated too and those images wouldn’t play well for Biden at home or around the world. If it was me or you, we’d do it anyhow, but pretty sure Biden won’t. I bet it was taken off the table 30 seconds after it was put out there. Cajones Nadas.
I don’t know. If faced with the prospect of thousands of US troops and Afghans being slaughtered at the airport, I don’t think Biden would think twice about unleashing the B-52s. As the Colonel told us from personal experience, Biden is prone to fits of rage.
TTG,
Maybe. Guess it kind of depends on how cognizant Biden is of what is happening and how much decision making control he allowed (IMO, not much).It could be more a matter of what his handlers (Dr. Jill?) think are the right moves.
Without a hint of irony, VP Harris bemoans we don’t get to see the Biden she sees: I guess this means she gets basement privileges but we do not. Quote attributed to Kamala Harris as she does a speedy fan dance away from Biden’s Afghan departure decision:
……..“And I’m going to tell you something about him. He is acutely aware that it may not be politically popular or advantageous for him personally. It’s really something to see, and I wish that the American public could see sometimes what I see, because ultimately — and the decision always rests with him, but I have seen him over and over again make decisions based exactly on what he believes is right, regardless of what maybe the political people tell him is in his best selfish interest,” she said.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
She went from calling Biden a pervert to now this?
Selfish interest? That’s rich coming from her. “Joe Kickback Biden” doesn’t have the mental capacity to find the door of the White House let alone give a dam about the fate of Americans and Afghanis. It is most disconcerting to see the Pentagon spokesman with all those medals on his chest say he doesn’t know the answer to some very basic questions that were asked. I pray for all the souls in the path of this 6th century mind set.
The chaos continues. At the Pentagon Press Conference we are told that 700 people were flown out of Kabul yesterday, then a correspondent asked clarification that a C-130 took off with 640 individuals (overloaded) while another correspondent requested clarification of several these C-130 ‘s taking off with similar amounts of personnel. The official departures of yesterday remain as 700.
Yes, we are o0erating on b9rroed time.
We’re going to see nothing but severely overloaded plane leave Kabul until this ends one way or another. You wouldn’t believe how many we stuffed into a CASA C-212 one night.
I don’t think so, 640 people on a C130 I think is impossible.
I believe it was a C-17. I’ve seen another report of a C-17 with 800 aboard. Here’s a photo. That’s a lot of souls.
https://www.facebook.com/AFamnncosnco/posts/158806686367746
TTG
It WAS a C-17 from Scott AFB.
All,
If you want to learn the level of incompetence among the leadership in “the greatest nation in world history” then you should listen to this interview of Gen. Asad Durrani, the previous head of ISI, the Pakistani patron of the Taliban and AQ. The interview took place in 2015. Out top brass whether in the military or in the IC or in the State Department or our POTUS get played by Third World generals. How could they ever imagine to compete with Putin & Xi? We are a delusional nation. That’s why we’re fixated on wokeism.
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1427008166529847304?s=21
As the saying goes, you cannot fool a honest man. Pakistan was an essential conduit for the transfer of wealth over 20 years to be feasible. Finger them and more ugly tales will see the light of day. So there will never be more than a slap in the wrist for this perfidy.
Remember the charade of the first 10 years in the GWOT where everyone spent money pretending to search the caves?
I think you’re spot on that Pakistan was a conduit for the looting. They also had us by the balls in a way since most material into Afghanistan was transported through Pakistan. No matter, I wonder why contemporary American leadership are such easy marks?
I get it to some extent that they want to be deceived since a decision has already been made, like the invasion of Iraq, and how Chalabi and all the other grifters blew smoke up the asses of Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld & Cheney.
This interview is fascinating however. You can see the contempt with which Gen. Durrani holds the American leadership. Would they double-deal with the CCP who are also paying them boatloads of cash?
No one but the American taxpayer is the easy mark here.
Check out the smiling winner here from 2008
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilal-e-Pakistan
And the wiki is kind enough to cite this as a reference.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-usa-idUSTRE49R5I120081028
Arrrgghh…. Ahmed Chalabi — even in death he and his US Neo-con cronies continue to haunt us. He got busted by journalist Seymour Hersh in a lengthy New Yorker piece, long, long before GW Bush invested our nation’s prestige in that rank charlatan.
“Out top brass whether in the military or in the IC or in the State Department or our POTUS get played by Third World generals. How could they ever imagine to compete with Putin & Xi?”
I touched on this a few days ago in another post. What is going on in Afghanistan is about a lot more than just Afghanistan. I have been getting more and more nervous about Russia and China and our current display of well, where do I even begin to characterize it — is like the Democratic candidates all agreeing in the 2020 debates that they wouldn’t deport anybody and would all start giving illegal immigrants healthcare.
When you show everybody your idiocy on network TV, they tend to remember it and think of ways to take advantage of it.
I did see a really great day after article talking about why things went so wrong so quickly in Afghanistan. I am sure it is not the level of detail you want but you could look up some of the people quoted and their employers’ websites to find out more.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/16/how-afghanistan-fell-to-the-taliban-so-quickly.html
I’m sure many “peer-reviewed” papers will be written by professors, think-tanks and military analysts. Look who they’ve had on TV to opine in grave tones – Brennan, Gates, Panetta, McMaster, Petraeus, etc. The same guys who ran the shit show over 20 years.
This Afghan vet on Tucker said it best. Our mission in Afghanistan was over when we got Al Qaeda on the run.
https://twitter.com/tpostmillennial/status/1427437077814251522?s=21
But Bush/Cheney and the neocon crowd sold the American people on nation-building with no real intention to build anything. It quickly devolved into its main purpose – the Swamp Racket. K-Street, Wall St and all the fascists had a perfect gravy train across many administrations.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2021/08/16/make-no-mistake-the-us-military-will-continue-to-thrive-after-afghanistan/
America as a global hegemon is in terminal decline. Not because we don’t have resources and the ability but because we no longer value competent hard-nosed governance of national affairs. We’ve handed over all levers of power to the fascists and the feeding frenzy of the kleptocracy. If the American people truly cared about governance then Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell and all the K-St grifters wouldn’t be running things for 50 years straight.
Has any country in world history voluntarily dismantled its industrial base? And financed and provided the technology and the revenue streams to a communist state who now holds them over a barrel?
There’s not much analysis required. The American people over decades have enabled the fascists to assume all levers of power while simultaneously selling them down the river.
jcj,
“where do I even begin to characterize it — is like the Democratic candidates all agreeing in the 2020 debates that they wouldn’t deport anybody and would all start giving illegal immigrants healthcare.”
Joe Biden, largest vote getter in American history in that election that was the most safe and secure ever. You and I no longer matter to those politicians.
Encouraging to see Germany has refused to take any Afghans and Austria has called for deportation centres for Afghans in neighbouring countries for them to be repatriated now there is peace in Afghanistan. Macron is also pushing an EU initiative to stop a repeat on 2015. The EU is moving in the right direction, as a Brexiteer I say bravo!
https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ive-worked-refugees-decades-europes-afghan-crime-wave-mind-21506?nopaging=1
Yes, bravissimo!
Here in the USSA, I am sure that the glazed-eyed fanatics of the Invade the World, Invite the World persuasion are busy little bees, figuring out how to increase these numbers, and where to stick them for the maximal social disruption, wherever that might be.
They already have had great success in Minnesota and Maine (and probably elsewhere) in this regard with the Somalis, and to our nation’s lasting benefit, might I add. Just look at Representative Ilhan “situational incest” Omar; what an unquestioned asset she has proven to be!
Editorial lambasts make a clear distinction between leaving (OK), and how we left (NOK).
Leaving was already on the table; how we left is a black mark against America.
Joe pitches the leaving part and tap dances on Trump’s original decision, but claiming it as all his own – Biden plagiarism strikes again.
However, Biden-Harris have full 100% ownership of how we left – if you hate America, this is how you leave. Which now they want to blame on Trump. Everyone is seeing through them.
They should have run this debacle departure past more than Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC.
fredw
> The Taliban certainly could attack the evacuation any time they chose. For whatever reasons of their own, they have chosen not to
Maybe because they are smarter than you give them credit for.
They may be medieval is some ways, but basic common sense was not invented in the 20th century. Taliban always wanted to get rid of Americans. Americans are leaving. Why interfere? Best way to get rid of them is to let them go in peace. When your enemy is doing what you want him to do, why stop him? A few thousand collaborators run too, ok fine, let them go. Big deal.
Everything Taliban has done in the last year (when American withdrawal became realistic), seems rational and logical. They got everything they wanted – foreign troops gone, entire country is theirs, no need to share power with that idiot Ganzi, etc. Any mistakes they made?
Given that we are ruled by idiots, maybe we should hire some Taliban strategists.
MSNBC Contributor Tells Propaganda Network We Must Have Watched a Different Speech
Former Central Intelligence Agency analyst Matt Zeller appears on MSNBC as Brian Williams was singing the praises of Dear Leader Joe Biden for his magnificent words and exceptional work on Afghanistan. Unfortunately for MSNBC, Mr. Zeller stunned the Baghdad Bob network by saying: “I was appalled” by President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan speech, it was a lie.”
https://youtu.be/CdSIxWLzEuo
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/16/msnbc-contributor-tells-propaganda-network-we-must-have-watched-a-different-speech/
Thanks for this. Matt Zeller made a a very impressive and impassioned appeal for the Afghans who helped us — two of whom he claimed saved his life. He says he and his group have been trying to get things done and people out for months but were ignored.
I would encourage everyone to watch this video. Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC said he could come on her show every day until things are resolved. I hope she keeps her promise and that he keeps on talking.
If the Taliban, or some rogue elements of same, decided to take potshots at the runway, or the airplanes, hopefully, there are already in place missile-armed drones loitering overhead poised to take out any mortars or artillery responsible, and satellite surveillance to supply guidance and/or updates if they were to shoot and scoot.
Why did I italicize “hopefully”? Because it no longer seems a given to expect contingency planning and execution from the Executive or from the military sufficient to the circumstances. This is a sad testimony.
Colonel,
Even now with no personal on the ground, humanitarian parole is still available, no formal requirement to do the ds160, no requirement to go to a consulate….DOD can do it once DHS approves the humanitarian parole request, on anybody they want….they can be processed at pre clearance stations without entering the US…hp can cover anyone incl those with pending SIVs or any other visa type….doesnt solve getting to the airport though, but simple and lawful mechanism to help whoever USG wants to…its being done right now by practitioners…the problem is the airport
Mac,
“the problem is the airport”
The problem is the 25 million or so illegals here who will claim the same ‘rights’. ten thousand a day across the Southern border the left insists is not a problem. Meanwhile make sure your kids mask up, Covid! Yep, I sure confident in our government. I hear the DHS has a new terrorism threat assement. Guess which color they are on now.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/14/dhs-labels-opponents-of-covid-measures-as-potential-terror-threats-during-protests/
Fred,
Yes, in reference to the legal issue of extraction of friendlies from the airport and how best to proceed.
More afghans killed by the US during evacuation of Kabul than by taliban during entire takeover of Kabul .
Blowback, blowback, get yer fresh blowback here!
This is a comment from a German poster at a dissident right blog that I follow.
https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=24776#comment-262004
44 upvotes, 0 downvotes. “Losing” Afghanistan seems hardly the point. Losing trust among your supposed allies is the point. Rule by grifters and hostile mutants can run down your nation with a vengence; competence vanishes, trust evaporates, and even your nation’s leaders being in touch with reality comes to be doubted. The world likes the strong horse, and becoming a lame, broken-down nag only evokes scorn. A life without honor is no life at all.
Yep, one has to wonder what the Taiwanese are thinking now.
I think that the Taliban are playing nice because they would like to be recognized as the lawful Government as quickly as possible.
They will want to keep the country connected to the rest of the world despite their public posture.
They will want as a minimum:
-Control of afghanistans national bank accounts.
– Access to SWIFT and the international central bank services, BIS, IMF, etc.
-International communication links
– Air services.
– Everything required for continued international trade.
– everything required for continued international investment.
– Afghanistans seat at the U.N.
-etc.
walrus,
What in the name of God do they need any of that crap for? They ARE the government of Afghanistan. I can think of few who they would trust less than the international bankers and the IMF.
It is unclear to me if flights with civilians aboard, at this time are able to depart.
It seem as if they may be grounded?
And airport perimeter, outside of US forces perimeter, this outer perimeter manned by the new government in Afghanistan.
Biden did not say flights are departing with civilians aboard, during his 18 minutes Monday afternoon.
He claimed all contingencies had been examined and thought out and planned for. And that they had a plan to implement, to solve what is currently happening. . . .
Biden: “Moving quickly to execute the plans we have put in place. . . . to respond to every contingency, including the rapid collapse we are seeing now. . . This did unfold more quickly than we had anticipated. . . . Now we will focus on what is possible. . . our troops are working to secure the airfield. . . .”
And what is the plan: should the new Afghan government plan, with forces surrounding the US forces in the immediate airport perimeter — should that plan be to keep air transport grounded and/or breach the US perimeter in front of them?
If so, Dien Bien Phu comes to mind. . . .
[[[In 1954, the Viet Minh army, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, moved against Dien Bien Phu and in March encircled it with 40,000 Communist troops and heavy artillery.
The first Viet Minh assault against the 13,000 entrenched French troops came on March 12, and despite massive air support, the French held only two square miles by late April. On May 7, after 57 days of siege, the French positions collapsed.]]]
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/french-defeated-at-dien-bien-phu
-30-
The end of this war is welcomed indeed by any sane person, but one has to ask, in the name of Machiavellian realism, when does the next one starts?
My bet is .. on American (U.S., not Venezuelan) soil.
Pulling out of Afghanistan is the best thing Biden has ever done. The Taliban would have taken over Afghanistan just as fast with Trump as president, it’s shameful now how both the right an the left media and politicians have piled on him now, cowards all of them.
racan84,
Poor Joe, he’s the real victim. Biden, who rescinded all those Trump executive orders on day 1, decided to recind the agreement with the Afghans, including the Talilban, unilaterally so he could leave on 9/11 and have a ‘symbol’ to wave around.
Allegedly 10,000 Americans remain behind – 800 crammed per plane – at least a dozen flights out need to be recorded and that is just for Americans, not the untold numbers of Afghan-US helpmates on top of that.
Who and where are they absorbing these numbers? Which must have long been known and part of any Biden “draw down” plan. Surely this must have been part of the final Biden-Harris confirmation discussions.
pro Russian pov:
1: Russia deal with whoever is in charge. Taleban have been hardened and ironed in that war, ignoring them is not feasible and fighting them is costly.
2: Pro Western afghan government was a corrupt weak clowny pedo narco shitshow. To qualify for beign a Russian proxy, you have to limit your inadequacies to 3 out of these 6.
It was also so irrelevant that its recognition of Crimea as Russian did not matter one bit.
3: Deal with the Talebs will be either tacit or open recognition, in return for the Talebs recognicing Russian primacy in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as reducing drug exports. Talebs wish to consolidate gains, do some purging, show some mercy, what you normally do after winning. Much easier to do this when Russia isnt messing with you. Bottom line here is kind of that Russia wants more from the Talebs then the Talebs want from Russia, we will see how this turns out.
https://twitter.com/dpatrikarakos/status/1427567411692244992?s=21
No comment required. Just cracked up 🤣
https://twitter.com/kylieatwood/status/1427712841457545217?s=21
It appears Covid Ministry of Truth has taken over State Dept communications. 😢
Which means the US Embassy “annex” at the airport is safe, secure and functioning. Did the Ambassador leave early, or is he still manning the post?
How much will “safe passage” for the remaining 10,000-60,000 US citizens cost them or us?
That is a heck of a lot of loose-end American in this war torn burg- what were we paying them for their “contract” services or were they just high risk taking entrepreneurs meeting economic needs in this emerging country.
US providing flights, but Taliban is blocking all airport access roads – planes leaving only partially full: https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2021/08/17/planes-flying-out-of-kabul-half-empty-as-taliban-beat-people-on-road-to-the-airport-n428460
Sundance over at CTH opined at length on a subject many of you, in particular Colonel Lang, know a great deal about.
Col. Lang’s views on this subject would seem very valuable.
To what extent is sundance correct?
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/08/22/sunday-talks-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-gives-his-best-efforts-to-justify-afghan-crisis/
sundance writes:
Qatar is CENTCOM’s forward base with massive aerial port and support facilities. It’s where 82d Airborne forces are staging in support of the evacuation. It makes perfect military and logistical sense to evacuate the majority of evacuees through Qatar.