US Evacuated 1,24,000 From Afghanistan. It Doesn't Know Many Of Them

What's emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list.

Days after the Biden administration finished evacuating about 124,000 people from Afghanistan, it's coming to grips with the reality that it doesn't know who many of those people are. What's emerging, according to government officials and advocates, is that a small percentage of the Afghan citizens who got out are the ones the U.S. pledged to place at the top of its priority list: the thousands who had worked for the U.S. and its allies as well as employees of nongovernmental groups and media organizations. Instead, initial findings suggest that while some who escaped were locally employed staff, many got out because they were part of the initial crush of people who made it to Kabul's airport as the city fell to the Taliban or secured passage through airport gates thanks to luck or help from people in the U.S. or elsewhere. The U.S. is looking into reports that older men may have been admitted along with young girls they claimed as "brides" or otherwise sexually abused, according to an official who discussed the concern on condition of anonymity. That issue was reported earlier Friday by the Associated Press.