Dozens of family members of American soldiers remain trapped in Afghanistan and at the mercy of the Taliban more than two months after the Biden administration's botched withdrawal from the country.
Those stranded include children, siblings and parents of US service members, as well as more than 100 extended family members.
The Pentagon does not have a 'good accounting' of how many family members of DOD civilians remain trapped in Afghanistan since the last US flight left Kabul airport at the end of August, NBC News reported
'The federal government has turned their backs on them. If we abandon the family members of our service men and women in Afghanistan, they will certainly be slaughtered by the Taliban,' Texas Rep. Michael McCaul said.
Congress members have been pressuring the Pentagon to help those stranded since the withdrawal fiasco, which included the deaths of 13 troops in a terror attack at Kabul airport.
Dozens of Americans remained trapped in Afghanistan more than two months after the United States pulled troops out of Taliban-controlled nation (Pictured: Evacuation efforts in August)
Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, (pictured) asked any military personnel and defense department civilians with immediate family members stuck in Afghanistan to contact the government
In September, McCaul sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking them to assist in the escape efforts.
'Over the past month, I have been contacted by hundreds of Texans who are desperately trying to get friends and family members safe out of the country,' he wrote. 'That includes the family members of several Texans who currently serve in the military.'
Pentagon officials have claimed that many of services members whose family remain trapped were Afghan born.
In an effort to launch a rescue mission, the Pentagon has created a database of those who can't get out of the Taliban-controlled country.
Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl, in a memo Thursday, asked any military personnel and defense department civilians with immediate family members stuck in Afghanistan to contact the government and have their loved ones added to the database.
'Any US military personnel or DoD civilian employees with immediate family members still in Afghanistan who desire assistance departing should contact the OUSD(P) Afghan Referrals mailbox,' he wrote.
Kahl instructed citizens to email a specific address with the subject 'immediate family member' and include their loved one's location, contact, personal information and passport data in the body of the message.
The defense department previously said it was tracking cases of Americans stuck in Afghanistan.
However, Kahl's memo demonstrated a 'more deliberate effort at the DOD level' to get military family members out.
Until now, said defense officials, the individual military services had been tracking cases of U.S. military personnel with family still stuck in Afghanistan.
'There is an increased desire to make sure that as we make this push that we have every situation accounted for,' he wrote, adding that the department its working 'expand its reach'.
In a memo Thursday, Kahl instructed citizens to email a specific address with the subject 'immediate family member' and include their loved one's location, contact, personal information and passport data in the body of the message
The US military took over the Kabul airport in August in the last days of its 20-year war in Afghanistan, evacuating tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who feared the return of the Taliban
Since then the Pentagon has been working with the State Department to use the information gathered in their database and extract family members who want to leave Afghanistan (Pictured: Taliban security patrolling Afghanistan on November 8)
The US military retreated to Kabul airport in August in the last days of its 20-year war in Afghanistan, evacuating tens of thousands of foreigners and Afghans who feared the return of the Taliban.
Since then the Pentagon has been working with the State Department to use the information gathered in their database to extract family members who want to leave Afghanistan.
Officials note, however, that the US military will not have a role in actually removing people from the country.
Meanwhile, US officials are warning that Afghanistan's harsh winter will create new difficulties for people wishing to leave.
Thomas West, the US pointman on Afghanistan, said Monday that the Taliban has largely made good on promises to let US citizens and US long-term residents leave.
'I think the real challenge we face,' West told reporters, 'is potentially logistical especially as we head into the winter months.'
'Many runway lights are damaged and not functioning and the airport's ability to operate in the winter months is in question,' he said.
However, on Monday, US officials warned that Afghanistan's harsh winter will create new difficulties for people wishing to leave (Pictured: Taliban military parade on Nov. 8)
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