A New York Times reporter and former Marine who evacuated Kabul flew back to help his Afghan colleagues escape the Taliban

• Three US newspapers led an effort to evacuate their Afghan employees out of the country.
• One NYT journalist initially left Afghanistan but returned to help his Afghan colleagues escape.
• A group of 128 people for the Times left the country through the help of the Qatari government.
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Three US media organizations – the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal – led a global rescue effort to evacuate their Afghan employees amid the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.

A New York Times report published Thursday described this week's chaotic journey to get over 200 Afghans – journalists connected to the three papers and their families – through the Kabul airport and on a plane out of the country. The journalists reported fears for their safety under a new Taliban rule.

The newspapers sought assistance from high-level diplomats, Biden administration officials, and people on-the-ground to evacuate their colleagues.

One NYT foreign correspondent who's also a former US Marine, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, helped coordinate the effort. He was in Kabul covering the conflict and left the city with an early round of American evacuees.

But Neff soon returned to the country to aid his Afghan colleagues' escape. He flew back on a military plane and stayed in the American-occupied wing of the airport, advising Afghans when and how to flee, the Times reported.

Neff did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

After several failed attempts, a group of 128 people from the NYT successfully managed to leave Afghanistan once the Qatari government stepped in to help, the newspaper reported. Qatar has a relationship with the US and hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East.

NYT publisher A.G. Sulzberger said the news organization was "deeply grateful" to Qatar "which has been truly invaluable in getting our Afghan colleagues and their families to safety," per the Times.

"We also thank the many U.S. government officials who took a personal interest in the plight of our colleagues and the military personnel in Kabul who helped them make their exit from the country," Sulzberger said. "We urge the international community to continue working on behalf of the many brave Afghan journalists still at risk in the country."

Thirteen people from the Washington Post were able to leave for Qatar on Tuesday, the Times reported. Seventy-six people from the Wall Street Journal also left, publisher Almar Latour announced in a staff email on Friday.