A Few Good Men

ABC News;

With the Taliban growing more violent and adding checkpoints near Kabul’s airport, an all-volunteer group of American veterans of the Afghan war launched a final daring mission on Wednesday night dubbed the “Pineapple Express” to shepherd hundreds of at-risk Afghan elite forces and their families to safety, members of the group told ABC News.

Moving after nightfall in near-pitch black darkness and extremely dangerous conditions, the group said it worked unofficially in tandem with the United States military and U.S. embassy to move people, sometimes one person at a time, or in pairs, but rarely more than a small bunch, inside the wire of the U.S. military-controlled side of Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The Pineapple Express’ mission was underway Thursday when the attack occurred in Kabul. A suicide bomber believed to have been an ISIS fighter killed at least 13 U.S. service members — 10 U.S. Marines, a Navy corpsman, an Army soldier and another service member — and wounded 15 other service members, according to U.S. officials.

There were wounded among the Pineapple Express travelers from the blast, and members of the group said they were assessing whether unaccounted-for Afghans they were helping had been killed.

As of Thursday morning, the group said it had brought as many as 500 Afghan special operators, assets and enablers and their families into the airport in Kabul overnight, handing them each over to the protective custody of the U.S. military.

Read the whole incredible story.

10 Replies to “A Few Good Men”

  1. Off topic…Kate I sent a pm to you re some inappropriate links dropped in comment section under the Sophie story.

  2. Jolly good.

    It reminds me of the mission into Iran initiated and financed by Ross Perot. Some of his employees were held prisoner and he formed a group, led by U. S. Army Col. “Bull” Simons, to get them out.

    The story is told in the movie On Wings of Eagles, with Burt Lancaster and Richard Crenna:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq9gQSbA3oo

  3. Though this is an uplifting story, I wish they had held off publicizing it for the time being, for the same reason, I don’t think the DOS should reveal the number of Americans that may be stranded in Afghanistan.

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