Thread by @DanLamothe

Got a leaked recording of a call today between congressional staffers and administration officials about Afghanistan.

A couple of takeaways:

Some American citizens have told the State Department that they do not plan to evacuate from Afghanistan unless they can bring Afghan family members with them, administration officials said. That's a group with an uncertain future.

“The embassy has told that us that an increasing number is telling us that they won’t leave unless they can take large families with them,” said Karin King, a senior State Department official. “So, part of the number you have been given are people who are self-selecting to stay."

A different official (unidentified in audio) acknowledged the situation is complicated by reports that some families have been stopped on the way to the airport with a mix of Afghan-Americans and Afghans seeking refuge. State Department seeking "ground truth" on those cases.

When will the military shift to "retrograde" operations rather than evacuation operations?

Rebecca Zimmerman, a senior Pentagon official, declined to say in an unclassified setting. But she added that DOD is "multi-tasking," and will try to do evacuation ops as long as possible.

Karin King from the State Department said the chaotic conditions outside the airport has prompted the U.S. government to reach out to American citizens and green card holders to go to specific rally points and then bringing them to the airport from there.

“My best advice to all those folks is to get themselves registered and get away from the gates because the gates are simply not a way to gain access at this point,” Karin King added.

A footnote: Rebecca Zimmerman of the Pentagon also said on this call that until recently, evacuees were offered one MRE per day for food at Kabul airport. That has 1,200 or so calories. They have since bumped that to two MREs, she said.