We are passing along a message received by Clarice Feldman from Mary Beth Long, who is on the ground in Afghanistan.  She wrote about the situation there 6 days ago in American Greatness. Following the message is some background information about Ms. Long provided by Clarice. The unedited message is as follows:

For those of you interested in the REAL status on the ground:

   - we are still working several USCITS who have been waiting DAYS and STILL cannot get in the gates;

   - AMCITS required to fill out a local form with a face foto and passport open (we got a family turned away several hours ago because the father’s nickname on the on-site paper did not match his blue passport name, although foto clearly does). They had to start over; 

   - we are told not to bother with green card holders (not going to open the gates for them) or SIVS;

   - about 22 beaten Christians — I am not clear whether they are the same Christians kicked OUT of the airport yesterday — are still trying to get in (Cheney and Graham working, but Taliban blocking); 

   - Childrens’ music school torched and them chased for the last day.  They too in a bus trying to get in;

    - MOI biometrics unit (yes, we don’t want the bad guys to get that info) and a USAID convoy also still waiting trying to get in;

   - Ukraine offer of plane to get folk out refused;

    - we are told CIA also not permitted to fly planes in at this time for evac.

The situation is dire and a confused mess.

Civilian groups seem to be the only ones working. Last night we got over 300 SOF, nearly 100 girls, probably 100 DIA sources and several Americans in by working unofficial rat lines.

Horrific. Someone needs to be held accountable. 

Here is background information on Mary Beth Long:

The Honorable Mary Beth Long is founder of M B Long & Associates, PLLC, an international legal and advisory firm. From 2007-2009, Ms. Long served as the first woman confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and as Chair of NATO’s High Level Group (HLG), responsible for NATO’s nuclear policy. In her defense department roles, she also acted as Principal Deputy Secretary of Defense on the Middle East, Africa, the Western Hemisphere, Asia, and Southeast Asia; and was the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Counter Narcoterrorism with a budget of over $1 billion. To those credentials, she adds more than a decade of Central Intelligence Agency operational experience (1986–99) on terrorism and other security issues.

After leaving government, Ms. Long founded Metis Solutions LLC. Under her tenure as CEO, the company was recognized in Inc. Magazine’s List of America’s Fastest Growing Companies in 2014, 2015, and 2016. She was recently featured in Forbes magazine’s Women Business Leaders. Ms. Long advises several Fortune 500 companies on international defense markets. From 2013-2016, she served as a Senior Subject Matter Expert for the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and as a Senior International Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Colombia.

Ms. Long has advised several Presidential candidates and appears regularly on Fox News, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera English and NPR on Middle East issues and the Intelligence Community. She is a licensed lawyer and, from 1999 until 2004, was an associate specializing in civil litigation matters at Williams & Connolly LLP. Ms. Long travels regularly to the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and Afghanistan and has offices in Abu Dhabi and Kabul. She is an Honors Graduate of Pennsylvania State University, magna cum laude, and in 2016, Ms. Long received the Distinguished Alumni Award, the University’s highest honor presented to its alumni. She received her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Image: newsonline via Flickr, CC BY 2.0 (cropped).

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.