A colonel in the United States Army has been labelled a murderer for turning away four busloads of Americans, friendly Afghans, and 300 orphans during the country’s withdrawal from Kabul Airport last year, certainly committing them to death.
The unidentified colonel issued the order on August 25, less than a week before to the last troop withdrawal as the Taliban strengthened their hold on the capital.
The vehicles transporting Christians, families of Afghan evacuation pilots, and Americans were hijacked by a US military support coalition commanded by an ex-UFC fighter and former veteran who flew to the area to assist in the chaotic operation.
Aided by 12 other friends and former soldiers who composed the humanitarian organisation, retired MMA fighter Tim Kennedy and other members of Save Our Allies (SoA) campaigned for the innocents to be let onto a U.S. military post, but the colonel finally denied their request.
The tight standoff certainly claimed the lives of hundreds of Afghan children, commandos, and translators, as chronicled in the forthcoming documentary Send Me, which depicts the group’s tribulations throughout the evacuation.
Joe Biden authorised the withdrawal of the last of the approximately 13,000 Americans stationed in the war-torn nation, leaving many behind to suffer at the hands of the renowned terrorist organisation.
Send Me, which began streaming on Amazon Prime last week, recounts the events leading up to this incident and one of the greatest civilian rescue missions, which was thwarted by the unnamed colonel.
The event in issue occurred on August 25, according to the freshly released documentary, near the Kabul Airport, where a suicide bombing by ISIS-K operatives would kill 13 military personnel and 170 Afghans a few days later.
Nick Palmisciano, a co-founder of the SoA and a former infantry officer in the United States Army, said that he, Kennedy, and their other co-founders used the buses to expedite the evacuation when they realised the urgency of the situation.
The group of friends supervising the operation, which comprised Kennedy and Palmisciano, Special Forces Officer Dave Johnson, and ex-recon Marine Chad Robichaux, purchased the buses out of their own money and utilised them to transport different persons around the war-torn nation.
Among them were 100 Afghan Christians in fear of being persecuted by the Muslim Taliban as a result of the takeover, as well as 100 American citizens with citizenship certificates.
Also rounded up were some 300 orphans located across the city, as well as high-value individuals (HVIs) requested by government agencies with whom the group had been collaborating.
‘We had a location for 300 orphans,’ Palmisciano – an infantry soldier-turned Hollywood producer – says in a segment of Send Me that recounts the disagreement with the colonel, who was not named by the filmmakers.
‘We had a location for about 100 Christians. And then we had several high value individuals that were requested by government entities for us to pick up,’ he recalled.
He further revealed that the buses had also contained ‘families of the crews that had been flying the charter airplanes.’
Kennedy, 42, recalled: ‘We send out buses to multiple places throughout the city.
‘The most elite intelligence agencies in the world have their people on these buses,’ the ex-UFC middleweight went on. ‘Afghan Special Forces commandos, interpreters, Christians, orphans – all of these on these buses.’
Palmisciano added: ‘The guys worked all night and then filled those buses with those individuals.’
Once packed with the potential refugees, the convoy convened at the location outside the airport, known as the Black Gate, which had been agreed ahead of time with Marines stationed at the airport.
Johnson, a former special forces officer and ex-Westpoint graduate, recalled:
‘In one last swoop we thought we could just get one big, big lump through. We had this great little gate that we had arranged ahead of time with the Marines. We have five of them lined up at this one gate – Black Gate.’
Palmisciano was stationed at the airport with Sean Lee, the operations officer for Save Our Allies and a 22-year veteran of the U.S. military, at the time, and received a call from their colleagues notifying them of the buses arrival – which they in turn celebrated.
‘I got a SAT [sattelite] call: ‘Hey – We got 300 orphans, 100 Christians, the HVTs, and the families of about half the crew through the gate.’
Palmisciano recalled: ‘We danced a jig. Like, were like, you know, “F**k yeah.” Like, one of the happiest moments that we had during the whole event.