Man with family stranded in Afghanistan cautions Biden on trusting the Taliban: ‘Don’t fall for their lies’
Mansur, an Afghan refugee, says his family was turned away at Kabul airport and was forced to flee to a safehouse after being scared out of their home
An Afghan refugee who escaped the Taliban 20 years ago is fighting for his family’s safe return amid the collapse of Afghanistan.
Mansur, who is now living in the United States, told "America’s Newsroom," Wednesday four of his family members are currently stranded in Afghanistan and warned President Biden to not trust the Taliban and "fall for their lies."
"I hope and I pray that the president hears this…he understands that we all have family members. We're all human. We're all trying. We all want our family to be safe," Mansur said. "Don't fall for their lies, don't listen to their stories, and do what you can to get as many people that want to get out as safely as possible, that includes these four beautiful people of mine as well, please."
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Meanwhile, thousands of Americans and Afghan allies are scrambling to get to the airport in Kabul to board evacuation flights after the Taliban takeover. However, not everyone has made it past the checkpoints, including Mansur’s family.
The Afghan refugee stressed his family members only live about a mile or two from the airport, and when they arrived, they waited in a massive line to get processed.
Due to the extremely long wait, Mansur’s family had to stay overnight to finish the process the next morning.
"The next day they woke up, a lot of things happened. My aunt went unconscious. My uncle, he's claustrophobic, he had a panic attack. People were running all over the place," he told co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. "One of my younger cousins, she actually fell and got stepped on multiple times…everybody was dehydrated and nobody had [a] charge on their phone. So, there's no way for us to communicate to them directly."
He said his family was turned away at the airport at the last minute because of their paperwork and were told "it was not in order."
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"[My family] ha[s] passports. They have R5 visas that are pending with the United States immigration office, and they also have a very important letter from one of their employers, basically saying that their life is in danger and they have previously been directly attacked…by the Taliban," Mansur added. "Which is the main reason why I'm trying to get them out, because they actually had to flee from their house and go to a safe house closer to the airport to get easier access in and out."
Mansur said he’s "not hopeful" that his family will make another attempt to visit the airport. He believes there are rumors that the Taliban are not letting any Afghan citizens visit the facilities by themselves.
On Tuesday, President Biden announced that the U.S.'s planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 31 was contingent on the Taliban's continued cooperation with ongoing efforts to evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghan allies from Kabul's airport.
Hemmer asked whether the Afghan refugee felt like America has let him down.
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"[U.S. troops] definitely didn't bring my hopes up when they left in the middle of the night without letting anybody know that they left in Afghanistan," Mansur answered. "It could have been pulled off a little better. But I mean, who am I to say anything to the commander in chief?"
Fox News' Thomas Barrabi and Jessica Chasmar contributed to this report.