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General: ‘Hundreds Of Americans Left Behind In Afghanistan’

By Worthy News Breaking News Team George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos

(Worthy News) – The United States is potentially facing its biggest hostage crisis in decades Tuesday, with a key U.S. general confirming that at least hundreds of Americans are left behind in Afghanistan.

U.S. General Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, confirmed late Monday that American troops did not evacuate everyone they wanted out of Afghanistan.

He put the number of U.S. civilians left behind enemy lines after the last American planes left “in the low hundreds,” though critics say it could be thousands.

Even the lower number mentioned by the general would make it the most challenging hostage situation since 1979 when Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

The Iranian hostage-takers detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d’Affaires to the most junior staff members, as hostages. They held the American diplomats hostage, for 444 days.

However, decades later, U.S. military experts fear that this time as many as thousands of Americans and Afghan allies of the U.S.-led coalition could potentially be held as ransom by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The drama unfolded following a chaotic departure from Hamid Karzai International Airport just before President Joe Biden’s imposed deadline for completing the exit.

Suspected Islamic State militants fired a barrage of rockets towards the airport.

There were no reports of injuries. However, “There’s a lot of heartbreak associated with this departure. We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out,” General McKenzie stressed.

Yet, he defended the removal of troops before remaining Americans and others could be brought to safety. “I think if we’d stayed another 10 days, we wouldn’t have gotten everybody out,” the general stressed.

Thousands of troops had spent two weeks protecting a hurried and risky airlift of tens of thousands of Afghans, Americans, Australians, and others seeking to escape a country once again ruled by Taliban militants.

The airport had become a U.S.-controlled island, the last stand in a 20-year war that claimed more than 2,400 American lives and tens of thousands of Afghan civilians. Christian missionaries, journalists, aid workers, and others involved in rebuilding Afghanistan also died.

With the Taliban imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, there was mounting concern Tuesday about the plight of minorities, including thousands of Christians.

Under Sharia, especially Christians could face execution, in part because they are mainly former Muslims who could be accused of “Apostasy” or abandoning Islam.

While perhaps a few thousand may have fled the country, many more Christians of the underground church remained stuck in Afghanistan, according to groups involved in rescuing believers.