Thread by @RepSlotkin

Just a few hours ago, after what has been a tense, 10-day odyssey, Team Slotkin successfully helped evacuate 114 Afghan nationals out of Kabul and to safety. 1/14

Over 70 of these folks were affiliated with Michigan State University, while another 30+ were former Deputy Ministers, staff, and military officers of the former Afghan government who were being threatened and hunted by the Taliban. 2/14

Most of these Afghan nationals were flown this evening to Albania, where, thanks to the generosity of the Albanian government and the expeditious work of diplomats, they will be staying for the foreseeable future. 3/14

My staff worked around the clock to help make it happen, connecting to a broad & often ragtag network of people around the world who felt the fear of these Afghans & stepped up to help. Many had served in Afghanistan & put their energy & frustrations into getting people out. 4/14

The list of people to thank is immense and spans the globe: American and Australian military forces operating in the U.S., Afghanistan, Qatar, and Albania, who continue to bravely carry out the mission despite the serious risks; LTG (ret.) H.R. McMaster and his team… 5/14

…networks of current and former military who helped this group onto buses and safely enter the airport after 23 hours of anxious waiting outside the gates…6/14

…and the NGO community — especially @VitalVoices and @SpiritAmerica, which have supported and received this group of Afghan nationals at the airport in Tirana and is generously supporting their immediate needs as they seek to start their new lives. 7/14

Along the way, individual members of the U.S. Army, Marines, & Air Force, as well as State Dept. foreign service officers, staff at MSU, & friends from my prior work in the national security world stepped up when we were desperate, usually above & beyond any job description. 8/14

.@USAmbAlbania Yuri Kim, who I worked with many years ago, has been exceptional at helping us relocate these Afghan nationals to Albania on exceedingly short notice. 9/14

Over the next few days, my team and I will continue to do our part of the hard work of safely evacuating as many Afghan nationals as possible. Not all will get out, which is heartbreaking. 10/14

As the world witnessed yesterday, this mission is fraught with danger, and our entire nation grieves the loss of the 13 U.S. service members killed in the line of duty, helping others. 11/14

As I told my staff when the Afghan men, women and children were wheels-up from Kabul: in all my years working in war zones, there are few things I’m more proud of than helping these 114 individuals get a new chance at life. 12/14

There are simply no words to convey the pain of running from your own country. 13/14

As a Congresswoman whose family, generations ago, left their home countries seeking a better life, I know that there’s no telling what these resilient people will do with this opportunity. In the hardest of moments, I feel I have seen the best of American ingenuity & grit. 14/14