What really happened as the U.S. left Afghanistan
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 August 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the last days of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber set off a blast at Kabul airport. It killed an estimated 170 Afghans and more than a dozen U.S. troops. Today, one year after the withdrawal, Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe takes a closer look at the days leading up to that devastating blast and what happened in its aftermath.
From a Marine in a scout-sniper team, to the top military commander who planned and directed the operation, today’s episode shares the stories of the U.S. service members who lived through the violent evacuation process. Some of these never-before-heard accounts offer a different and more nuanced picture than the story the U.S. government tells.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, this is Ella Hay Azadi. |
| 0:06.0 | Before we start the show, just a warning. |
| 0:08.6 | Today's episode is about war and its tragic consequences. |
| 0:13.2 | You're going to hear a lot of strong language and profanity. |
| 0:17.0 | We've made the editorial decision to leave this kind of language in unfiltered because |
| 0:22.3 | it's one of the most detailed accounts of the American military's final days in Afghanistan. |
| 0:28.4 | There will also be graphic descriptions of the violence that happened in those last days. |
| 0:33.1 | So please be aware as you choose when and where to listen. |
| 0:37.8 | You're going to hear this story from my colleague Dan Lamoth, a reporter who covers the military. |
| 0:43.6 | He's been reporting for years on the war in Afghanistan. |
| 0:47.3 | And recently, he's been trying to piece together what happened right before a deadly blast |
| 0:53.1 | at the Kabul airport a year ago during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. |
| 0:58.8 | Okay, here's a tan. |
| 1:01.7 | As you get especially toward the last several days, the last week or so in particular of |
| 1:06.7 | this evacuation effort, there was numerous warnings in the expectation that suicide bomber |
| 1:13.7 | or bombers could be coming to the airport. |
| 1:18.6 | The Islamic State has a component in Afghanistan and the United States was deeply concerned |
| 1:26.2 | that there could either be car bombs or people with suicide vests mixed into the crowd. |
| 1:32.8 | They had specific descriptions of people they thought might be suicide bombers. |
| 1:38.1 | They had specific descriptions of vehicles that they thought were points of concern. |
| 1:43.6 | We were watching from our tower. Tyler Vargas Andrews was the sergeant and a member of |
| 1:50.4 | a scout sniper platoon at the airport. |
... |
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