CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward has more than proven herself to be an indispensable journalistic asset with her thorough and genuinely brave reporting from Afghanistan.
And her reporting has more than proven the Biden administration to be a house of cards — and a global liability.
Today, once again, Ward is a witness to the abject chaos that continues to unfold in Afghanistan, as the Taliban’s grip tightens and American citizens, foreign journalists, and Afghans’ situation grows increasingly dire.
CNN’s @clarissaward in Kabul: “I'm sitting here for 12 hours in the airport, 8 hours on the airfield and I haven't seen a single US plane take off. How on Earth are you going to evacuate 50,000 people in the next two weeks? It just, it can’t happen.”
— Kate Sullivan (@KateSullivanDC) August 20, 2021
Ward’s reporting is nothing short of heartbreaking. The news, maddening:
#BREAKING from CNN's @ClarissaWard: "During the last eight hours, the time that we've been waiting here, we have not seen a single U.S. flight evacuate people. We saw one U.S. flight took off about half an hour to an hour ago but it was filled with U.S. servicemen and women." pic.twitter.com/rVtP7VMIOj
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
"The people who have been sitting on the tarmac for the last ten hrs have not been able to get on a flight, which means…that all of the other bottlenecks are now even more choked b/c if the flights aren't moving and the people aren't moving then they can't bring in more people"
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
More from Clarissa Ward: "A few hrs ago, there was a nasty looking storm on the the horizon. However, I would say that…other flights do seem to be taking off…I don't want to tell you what the bathrooms look like, Kate, because there's about three stalls for 500 people." pic.twitter.com/lNVVDjQpFj
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
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Clarissa Ward: "There are some U.S. Embassy personnel around here trying to facilitate getting them out and then other Afghans who have their paperwork… It's just unconscionable…and I just, you know, I hear it — at a certain point I'm at a loss for words honestly." pic.twitter.com/1Sa3iGzIur
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Ward: "What is sort of striking about this is that the people who are…loading their babies over razor wire hoping that an American soldier might catch it…How on Earth are you going to evacuate 50,000 people in the next two weeks? It just, it can't happen." pic.twitter.com/ujbeoMG7JV
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Ward: "It's not that often that you will find a soldier just start weeping in the middle of a conversation with you in the at 11:00 in the morning, but…that is the level of horror that they're witnessing and I think for a lot of them, that is the level of guilt they're feeling" pic.twitter.com/gWZz2xabmg
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Ward: "I've now spent more than 12 hrs watching this whole process…It is very disorganized and privately, off the record, these guys will tell you that…I'm watching children coming up to me and saying, 'please could you get me some food?'…Why did it have to be this way???" pic.twitter.com/HKx6RNpKy5
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Ward: "I don't think they really care about hearing from the President to be honest. I had a few people make comments to me like, 'you know, America is supposed to be the greatest superpower in the world. What is the hell is going on here?!'….They want action." pic.twitter.com/b6LcIr3XWB
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
They deserve action. Instead, they’re getting a massive middle finger.
Other governments are taking action to ensure safe passage to the airport for their citizens and allies. We are not. https://t.co/00wkNKgmRY
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) August 20, 2021
This is a decision the U.S. government is actively making. We all know we have capability, and it’s getting more dangerous by the minute for us to deploy it. I’d like to hope the ROE are different than they look publicly, but that’s surely too much optimism. https://t.co/aMd5TMKbFL
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 20, 2021
Shameful.
More from Ward:
"The answer is I don't know how it ends, but I could only pray for all of the people that I have come across today & in the past two days that I've been reporting around the airport & around the city of people who are even too afraid to go the to airport that it does end soon" pic.twitter.com/5G6YlPU5oe
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
THIS is on Biden.
Ward: "I would advise people in this moment, given what I've seen here over the last few days, not to come to the airport until the situation is resolved & until the process is streamlined, until there is a system in place — a efficient & effective system." pic.twitter.com/BUIkZX6o22
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Ward: "It is not that I would say it's not safe enough although the entry date is definitely — is definitely very dangerous. There are multiple factors: being trampled…beyond being beaten or getting hit by a stray bullet as the Taliban tries to clear the crowd."
(11/11) pic.twitter.com/F3r4gacKhn
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 20, 2021
Joe Biden’s knuckles must be bruised and bloodied from knocking on all that wood, yet it’s clearly done nothing to help Americans or the Afghan people.
Infuriating. https://t.co/9mk9ClptZo
— Evan Siegfried (@evansiegfried) August 20, 2021
"We planned for every contingency" – Joe Biden https://t.co/fmXxsxkgr5
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) August 20, 2021
Somehow Joe Biden made this even worse than Saigon https://t.co/tiWpENFz2L
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 20, 2021
Must watch
Biden's hell on earth 👇👇👇https://t.co/cHuHtb9bts
— Jim (@Bassmaster12) August 20, 2021
We are actively failing these people and our leaders need to be held accountable. https://t.co/2SxzgwwB1r
— Chris Gilmore. (@iamchrisgilmore) August 20, 2021
How much worse does it need to get before the Biden administration wakes the hell up? What’s it going to take?
Soldiers by the runway at Kabul airport tell me that there are 10,000 people here processed and ready to go… but nowhere to fly them to because Qatar is refusing to accept more Afghans because they’ve reached capacity. “It’s abysmal… someone needs to step up.”
— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) August 20, 2021
The Biden administration either needs to step up, or step down. Enough is enough.
In the meantime:
I really hope ppl on the Right who dislike CNN (for understandable reasons given the last 5 yrs) are able to set that aside & give credit to the absolutely amazing and wildly dangerous on-the-ground reporting done by Clarissa Ward at the Kabul airport. She better get hazard pay.
— Jeff B. tried to do his best, but he could not (@EsotericCD) August 20, 2021
God bless Clarissa Ward https://t.co/DcsZxJxrUM
— Call me Karen (@KatiaZatuliv007) August 20, 2021
Amen.
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