WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty
- Politico reporter Alex Thompson shared a video showing the outside of the airport in Kabul.
- Several experts have asserted that the Biden administration is "gaslighting the country."
- A former CIA analyst estimates that evacuations won't be complete until September 21 at this rate.
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A video posted by a Politico journalist on Twitter shows people outside the gates of the airport of Kabul holding their US passports.
President Joe Biden has reiterated that all Americans who want to leave will be evacuated from the country, but an August 31 deadline looms. So far, more than 70,000 people have been evacuated in 10 days.
Though reports from the ground have painted a more harried picture of evacuation.
The video, posted by Alex Thompson, depicts a soldier standing on a wall, seemingly giving directions or pointing, as people – including those with US passports – wait outside the gate. The video, which blurs out bystanders, was sent to Politico through a liaison.
According to a report from Politico, the makers of the video "wanted to raise awareness of the difference between the rhetoric and reality."
On August 16, the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, following the US's announcement that it would leave the country. The swift fall of the US-backed Afghan government has sparked a mass exodus of Americans living in Afghanistan as well as Afghans who fear retribution from the Taliban for working with the Americans or other foreign groups.
The Biden administration has been critiqued over the chaotic evacuations and concerns that those who helped the US would be left behind.
Chris Purdy, the project manager of the Veterans for American Ideals program at Human Rights First, told Politico that the administration's efforts to make the chaos in Kabul appear under control is "the definition of gaslighting."
Insider's Bryan Metzger previously reported that Matt Zeller, a veteran and former CIA analyst, also accused the administration of "gaslighting the country" on the topic of Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans in a discussion on MSBNC on Tuesday.
Zeller told MSNBC that he had tried to give the administration a better, more organized way for the country to leave Afghanistan "as early as February."
Zeller said he hopes that "the Biden administration finally understands that they're going to be judged by one number and one number alone, for the rest of history: And that's how many people did we leave behind?" Zeller estimates that September 21 would be a more likely deadline to complete evacuations at the current rate.