According to a story, seven US civilians on a private plane carrying weaponry were caught in Dubai last week after attempting to enter Afghanistan amid the US evacuation.
According to Newsweek, the would-be vigilantes planned to help the fatal military-led evacuation attempts from Kabul's airport before being detained with firearms by UAE authorities on August 31, the last day of the pullout.
According to a State Department document obtained by the magazine, the travelers "reportedly planned to assist Afghanistan evacuation efforts but had no approved onward travels plans." According to reports, the US Consulate General in Dubai was “engaging with authorities on the issue.”
The arrests occurred on the same day that the military evacuated tens of thousands of Americans and Afghan partners from Afghanistan following the coalition government's shocking and swift fall to the Taliban.
The State Department reportedly stated, "We are aware of reports of US citizens being detained and then released in Dubai."
According to Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres, vice-chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, the event is alarming.
The Democrat told the site, "The attempt by armed Americans to enter Afghanistan for reasons unknown is cause for alarm." “The Department of Justice must look into who these people are, what their intentions and motivations were, and whether they have any ties to domestic extremism if any.”
Torres and the State Department did not immediately reply to requests for comment from The Washington Post.
After two decades of combat failed to protect Afghanistan from radical Islamic control, the supposedly armed Americans were not the first US civilians to try to take matters into their own hands.
During the desperate American evacuation, Oklahoma Republican Rep. Markwayne Mullin attempted to arrange a covert rescue expedition to Kabul to retrieve an American woman and her four children, generally viewed as a terrible catastrophe.
Mullin intended to fly to Tajikistan and rent a helicopter to transport the expatriate translator out of danger.
According to The Washington Post, the lawmaker's scheme did not get off the ground, and he threatened embassy personnel who refused to aid him, despite broad do-not-travel warnings from US authorities.
