Defense official during Saigon operation says Pentagon 'not trying hard enough' to evacuate Afghans

Bing West, a former Defense Department official who participated in the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam in 1975, said Monday the Pentagon under President Biden is “not trying hard enough” to evacuate refugees attempting to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban retakes power.

West compared the situation with the U.S. response to the Saigon crisis in April 1975. He recalled that Schlesinger called then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and then-White House chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld to inform them he would order an airborne evacuation of Vietnamese refugees. He proceeded with the plan without firm approval from the White House. The Air Force flew 201 C-141 missions and 174 C-130 sorties that April, evacuating more than 45,000 people from Saigon, including 5,600 U.S. citizens, according to the Air Force Historical Support Division. A further 7,800 people were evacuated by helicopter to the U.S. Seventh Fleet. The Air Force’s website describes the evacuation as the "largest such operation in history." "In contrast, we have airlifted only 2,000 Afghans and their families. That is far too few," West added. "Another 18,000 or more who worked for us are desperate. Schlesinger showed what a [Secretary of Defense] can do if he is determined."