Following the rapid capitulation of Afghan forces and the evacuation of the American embassy, chaos descended on the effort to save those who risked their lives to help the U.S.
Thousands remained trapped.
The Pentagon said it is ramping up plans to evacuate as many as 22,000 Afghans by President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. But for those unable to get out, the future is bleak.
Days after the capital of Afghanistan fell, Military Times Senior Managing Editor Howard Altman spoke via Skype to a former interpreter for the U.S. still stuck in the city, frantically looking for a way out for he and his family.
Howard Altman is an award-winning editor and reporter who was previously the military reporter for the Tampa Bay Times and before that the Tampa Tribune, where he covered USCENTCOM, USSOCOM and SOF writ large among many other topics.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/OPKDWE7CSBB4XMLXUJGTBKACJU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/3GSWNNM6DBEV5LNVKTA36NZSLY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/VTJITK652RCY7A6IUH4BWIOOJY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/T4PTIAOR2FFT7DB6JMGTLEHTUA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/archetype/HN3MRVVFDFDP7OZRBZIBYR6SEU.png)