{"id":13118,"date":"2021-08-12T20:04:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T20:04:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/12\/about-8000-us-troops-are-deploying-to-secure-evacuations-from-kabul\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:34:44","slug":"about-8000-us-troops-are-deploying-to-secure-evacuations-from-kabul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2021\/08\/12\/about-8000-us-troops-are-deploying-to-secure-evacuations-from-kabul\/","title":{"rendered":"About 8,000 US troops are deploying to secure evacuations from Kabul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three infantry battalions are on their way to the Kabul airport, the Defense Department announced Thursday, as the State Department moves to evacuate civilians<\/a> from its embassy there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters, another 1,000 troops are headed to Qatar to help process special immigrant visas<\/a> for Afghan interpreters, while an entire infantry brigade combat team will set up in Kuwait as an on-call reaction force, as the Taliban advances<\/a> its campaign to take provincial capitals around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to stress that these forces are being deployed to support the orderly and safe reduction of personnel, at the request of the State Department, and to facilitate an accelerated process of working through SIV applicants,\u201d Kirby said. \u201cThis is a temporary mission with a narrow focus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battalions, two Marine and one Army, are expected to arrive at the Kabul airport within the next 24 to 48 hours, Kirby said. He would not provide details on which units or where they are based, only that they are already foward-deployed to CENTCOM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will report to Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, who heads up U.S. Forces Afghanistan Forward, the follow-on mission after the end of Operation Resolute Support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within days, 1,000 soldiers and airmen will arrive in Qatar, one of the proposed third-country partners for processing SIVs, to help with medical screenings and other steps in the process, in an effort to expedite the approval of thousands of applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And within the next week, an 82nd Airborne Division brigade will head to Kuwait as a back-up force to protect the airport, Kirby added, though he declined to specific which one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forces would join with 650 troops still on the ground in Kabul, as part of a long-term security contingent for the U.S. embassy. Though U.S. Central Command has declined to specify how many troops are still in Afghanistan, the deadline to withdraw the last 2,500 train-advise-assist and counter-terror troops comes at the end of August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emergency security mission is not expected to extend that deadline, Kirby said. The move, however, raises questions as to how a drawdown of 2,500 so quickly turned into a surge of at least 3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce this mission is over \u2015 I won\u2019t get into specific numbers here \u2015 but we anticipate having less than 1,000 troops on the ground to support the diplomatic mission in Kabul, which we all agree we still want to be able to have,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t