“A Sept. 1 email that a State Department official sent to Montalvo underscores the extent to which private evacuation efforts have run into bureaucratic roadblocks.
“No independent charters are allowed to land at [Al Udeid Air Base], the military airbase you mentioned in your communication with Samantha Power. In fact, no charters are allowed to land at an [sic] DoD base and most if not all countries in the Middle Eastern region, with the exception of perhaps Saudi Arabia will allow charters to land,” the official wrote.
“You need to find another destination country, and it can’t be the U.S. either.”
The official noted that though some third countries “may require” official approval from the State Department before accepting the private charter flights, the department “will not provide” that approval.
“Once you have had discussions with the host/destination country and reached an agreement, they may require some indication from the USG that we ‘approve’ of this charter flight. DOS will not provide an approval, but we will provide a ‘no objection’ to the destination country government via the U.S. Embassy in that country.”
During briefings on Sept. 2, the day after the official noted that the State Department would not be officially approving charter flights, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and State Department spokesman Ned Price both denied that the Biden administration was preventing planes from leaving Afghanistan.
A State Department spokesperson declined to answer Fox News’ questions for this story, referring instead to remarks that Secretary of State Antony Blinken made on Tuesday.
“We’re working around the clock with NGOs, with members of Congress and advocacy groups, providing any and all information and doing all we can to clear any roadblocks that they’ve identified to make sure that charter flights carrying Americans or others to whom we have a special responsibility can depart Afghanistan safely,” Blinken said.
“Without personnel on the ground, we can’t verify the accuracy of manifests, the identities of passengers, flight plans, or aviation security protocols. So this is a challenge, but one we are determined to work through. We’re conducting a great deal of diplomacy on this as we speak.”
Blinken also denied that the Taliban was seeking to block passport-holding Americans from leaving Afghanistan. “And it’s my understanding is that the Taliban has not denied exit to anyone holding a valid document, but they have said those without valid documents, at this point, can’t leave,” he said. ” foxnews
Comment: State Department. I see they have not changed. I dealt with them for a long time as head of the Defense Attaché service. They are good at looking down their noses at people who are often better educated than they. They lie a lot. They will do just about anything to avoid work. They think of their role in life as writing diplomatic cables to Washington. They have no organizational skill whatever. pl
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/state-department-afghanistan-private-rescue-flights-leaked-email
It’s such a great thing we turned the FSO exam from a straight meritocratic civil service examination into a dog’s breakfast of needing resumes, recommendations, correct schools, fraternities, extra curriculars, and so forth. Everything is running much better now.
Gallo Rojo
When was it different? I took both the written and verbal interview, passed and was offered appointment. I preferred to stay where I was.
I took it in 2008 or so and didn’t make it past the reflective essay/tell us about yourself part.
Gallo Rojo
What they wanted was transparent and like the spook that I am I gave it to the asses.
Oh I didn’t even get a chance to do that. Enlisted paratrooper with 0 college at the time and two wars? Hah!
Not complaining. Happy where I ended up and what I’m doing.
Took the Foreign Service exam in 1986, the same year I passed the California Bar exam during one of the lowest state bar pass rates on record- an exam which requires clarity in writing, thinking, recalling and analyzing. I think only 46% who took it passed. Even Stanford barely cracked 50% pass rate that year.
So naturally that very same year, it stands to reason that I flunked the State Dept, getting only in the low 30 percentile on their”verbal” score, while passing the other substantive parts. Huh? That left me speechless, after having just taken my victory lap on the Cal Bar exam.
Later I was informed that other women taking the exam that year were filing a class action lawsuit, since they were able to demonstrate the exam was some how skewed against women. Never knew what happened to that lawsuit, but friends in academia claimed gender-skewing in “objective” exams was real back in the 1980’s.
This was the time when the state dept claimed they were admitting women into mid-career positions, in order to “diversify” their ranks. Or at least they could demonstrate higher numbers of women were actually taking the exam. Talked to a childhood friend who had recently retired from the FS, He explained anyone coming into this closed culture operation mid-level would not find a happy welcome from the other career officers.
So they did me a favor flunking me out. My thinking at the time was how do I put my love for travel into a secure job setting, but I was pretty naive about the nuts and bolts of the job itself. Going to law school at that time was for personal resume building mid-life, more than any desire to be a “lawyer”.
Too bad those good ladies did not prevail on their class action lawsuit. It would be nice to have settlement checks trickling in, to compensate for the alleged roadblocks they put in my path.
Obama’s Beau Bergdahl Five that he released from Gitmo, finds four out of those five have found future success as leaders in the new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Heckuva job, Barry.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/09/four-members-gitmo-5-exchanged-obama-bowe-bergdahl-named-taliban-government-commanders/
BTW, what is Beau Bergdahl doing today?
Deap
“Bergdahl was tried by general court-martial on charges of desertion and misbehavior before the enemy,[9] and on October 16, 2017, he entered a guilty plea before a military judge at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[10] On November 3, 2017, he was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, reduced in rank to private and fined $1,000 per month from his pay for ten months, with no prison time.[11] The fine and reduction in rank took effect immediately, while the discharge was stayed pending automatic appeal.” wiki on him
hi pat.
just want to say how sad,very sad your comment on bergdahl makes me.i mean he was swapped for the 5-1 gitmohicans.also its bowe not beau and he is worth his weight in gold some would say.
Mcidiot
I don’t like your silliness in changing your posting name every time. If you do it again I will ban you. Deap said his name was “Beau” not me.