USAF Lieutenant Colonel recalls mission to rescue, bring hope to those in Afghanistan
Eric Kut, Lieutenant Colonel for the U.S. Air Force, says his crew answered the nation's call to bring hope to the people in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Air Force crew that flew a C-17 out of Kabul said on "America’s Newsroom" that their goal was to deliver hope and freedom to people in Afghanistan.
The crew rescued 823 people as the Taliban regained control and started threatening the lives and civil rights of those living in Afghanistan.
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"We saw what needed to be done to deliver hope and freedom," said Lt. Col. Eric Kut.
"We knew the capability of our aircraft and what we needed to do – do it safely and effectively. With all the crew members I had, I had the utmost trust in them to get it done and to make sure that we could get them to safe passage."
The U.S. had evacuated nearly 7,000 people as of Thursday and had returned more than 5,200 troops to the ground in Afghanistan, according to Maj. Gen. James E. Taylor.
Taylor said in a Pentagon press briefing Thursday that 12 flights had departed from Kabul with a total of about 2,000 evacuees in the previous 24 hours.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., took a strong stance on the ongoing crisis, saying on "Fox & Friends" President Biden should be impeached if any Americans or Afghan allies are left behind.
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"If we leave one American behind. If we don’t get all those Afghans who stepped up to the plate to help us out, then Joe Biden, in my view, has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached," Graham said.
The Air Force crew, however, was focused solely on its mission – to safely and effectively evacuate people and while bringing hope.
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"We were doing what we were trained to do," Kut said. "And again, making sure that we answer our nation's call to deliver that freedom."
Fox News' Nikolas Lanum contributed to this report.