Less than a week before the last forces left the nation and as the Taliban strengthened their hold on the capital, the order from the unknown colonel was given on August 25.
Tim Kennedy, a former MMA fighter who is now a soldier, was there when it happened.
He said in the Send Me Tim Kennedy documentary, an upcoming Amazon Prime Video production: “(We) inquired whether those holding up blue passports and SIVs could go through.
“I don’t care who they are; those individuals go back on those buses and return to Kabul,” he said. Get them off this base, please.
The time spent in agony and grieving might have been used to save other lives, Kennedy remarked of the incident: “There is not enough capacity in my soul to be able to grieve four busloads of people who are going to die.”
After President Biden declared his intention to depart, a team of extraordinarily skilled security level professionals was sent into Kabul to round up those authorized to go back to the US aboard chartered aircraft.
That caused a rapid and frantic race to airlift refugees out of Kabul’s beleaguered airport as well as an almost instantaneous surrender to the Taliban by US-trained Afghan troops.
American citizens, those with green cards, Afghans who had contributed to the war effort and received Special Interest Visas, Christians who had been persecuted by the Taliban, and orphaned children were among those who were picked up by the buses.
On that fateful day, the buses are shown arriving at the airport just before the nameless colonel turned them away.
The colonel who ordered the evacuees back was dubbed a “murderer” by Chad Robichaux, another rescuer. According to participants in the newly released video, the event in issue happened on August 25 in front of the Kabul Airport, where days later a suicide bombing by ISIS-K operatives would kill 13 military personnel and 170 Afghans.
Nick Palmisciano, a co-founder of the SoA and a former infantry officer in the US Army, said that he, Kennedy, and their other colleagues recruited the buses to facilitate the evacuation after realizing the urgency of the situation.
He said that this group of migrants, who they believed to be among the most worthy of being saved, had his crew very enthusiastic.
“We had 100 Christians, 100 orphans, and some high-value persons whom the government had asked for.” Additionally, there were members of the crews of the charter aircraft.
The colonel refused to process them once they arrived at the airport despite being thoroughly checked. Instead, he questioned if the documents they had produced as proof of their admission into the United States may have been fraudulent.
Kennedy recalled the horrifying moment the news was announced and said of the colonel’s mysterious order: “He simply makes the call – “Turn everyone around – throw everybody back out, I don’t care who they are.”
They said that the gang, which consisted of Kennedy, Palmisciano, Special Forces Officer Dave Johnson, and ex-recon Marine Chad Robichaux, had paid for the buses out of their own wallets and had used them all night to pick up different people all throughout the war-torn nation.
The ex-UFC fighter, who is also a former soldier, hijacked the buses that were transporting Christians, families of Afghan evacuation pilots, and Americans with passports to help with the chaotic operation.
There were 100 Afghan Christians in danger of being persecuted by the Muslim Taliban after the takeover, along with Americans with documentation proving their citizenship.
Throughout 300 orphans that had been located around the city were also taken in, along with high value persons (HVTs) whom the government organizations the group had been collaborating with had instructed them to take in.
Send Me includes a scene in which Palmisciano, a former infantryman who is now a Hollywood producer, describes the argument with the colonel, who was not identified by the filmmakers: “We had a site for 300 orphans.”
We provided a space for roughly 100 Christians. After that, numerous high-value persons were picked up at our request by government agencies, he recounted.
The “families of the personnel who had been flying the charter jets” that evacuated hundreds of Americans and Afghan allies were also aboard the bus, Palmisciano said.
The retired MMA star Kennedy and the other members of the humanitarian organization would then battle for the innocents to be let through into a US military post, but were eventually unsuccessful. They were joined by 12 other friends and former soldiers who made up the group.
The tense confrontation, which likely resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Afghan children, commandos, and translators, is fully described in the new book Send Me, which describes the difficulties Kennedy’s team faced throughout the evacuation.
The last of the roughly 13,000 troops stationed in the war-torn nation were ordered to leave by Joe Biden days after the buses were turned away, potentially leaving many behind to suffer at the hands of the deadly terrorist organization.
Send Me, which debuted last week on Amazon Prime, describes the events leading up to this incident and the history of one of the greatest civilian rescue efforts, which in this instance was thwarted by the unnamed colonel.
Refugees are pictured waiting at Kabul Airport during last summer’s’ chaotic withdrawal
The airport in Kabul is seen. People trying to flee the plant during the retreat surrounded a safe US zone. Despite having authorization to enter the US, many were turned away.
Kennedy, 42, recalled: “We dispatch buses to several locations all around the city.
The former UFC middleweight said, “The most elite intelligence services in the world have their agents on these buses. Orphans, Christians, translators, Afghan Special Forces commandos—all of them are aboard these buses.
“The boys labored all night and then loaded those people onto those buses,” Palmisciano said.
The convoy gathered at the Black Gate, which had been the prearranged meeting place for the bus evacuation and had been arranged in advance with Marines who had been stationed at the airport, after the vehicles were fully loaded with prospective evacuees.
The frenzied evacuation attempt was described by Johnson, a former special forces officer and Westpoint alumnus, as follows: “In one final rush we believed we could simply get one huge, big lump through.” We had this wonderful little gate that we had planned with the Marines in advance. Five of them are arranged in a line at the Black Gate.
Sean Lee, the operations officer for Save Our Allies and a 22-year U.S. military veteran, and Palmisciano had been waiting for the buses at the airport at the time.
Finally, at approximately three in the morning, the two got a call from their coworkers informing them of the buses’ arrival, which they could not help but rejoice over.
“Hey – We got 300 orphans, 100 Christians, the HVTs, and the families of nearly half the crew through the gate,” said the SAT [satellite] call.
We danced a jig, Palmisciano remembered. Were like, “F**k yes,” you know. Like, one of the happiest times we had during the whole event.