{"id":66037,"date":"2021-08-17T20:02:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-17T20:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/17\/team-america-has-success-evacuating-afghans-seeks-help-as-requests-grow\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:42:59","slug":"team-america-has-success-evacuating-afghans-seeks-help-as-requests-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/2021\/08\/17\/team-america-has-success-evacuating-afghans-seeks-help-as-requests-grow\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Team America\u2019 has success evacuating Afghans, seeks help as requests grow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After days of frustration, an informal group of service members and veterans, who are now calling themselves \u201cTeam America,\u201d are seeing their hard work on behalf of Afghan allies paying off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working around the clock in the U.S, and Kabul, Team America finally received some good news about their efforts. After days of highlighting cases to the U.S. government and helping evacuees navigate a series of Taliban and American checkpoints, Team America says some evacuees they supported had flown to safety aboard an Air Force C-17 cargo jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got people on C-17s already, and we have a lot more people. We have 128 people on our list now, Joe Saboe, a former Army infantry officer and unofficial spokesman for Team America, told Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A critical development occurred overnight when order was restored at Hamid Karzai International Airport allowing evacuation flights to resume. According to Saboe, the chaos prevented evacuees from being admitted to the airfield at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe big change right now is that the airfield is now very orderly, and people are being processed. Neither one of those things were to before,\u201d said Saboe, adding that American citizens, U.S. Green Card holders, and those with an approved visa can clear American checkpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were getting a lot of people through the North Gate and the abbey gate, which is on the southeast side of the airport,\u201d said Saboe. \u201cThose two gates are the ones that are letting people in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t