NYT Column: How the U.S. Helped, and Hampered, the Escape of Afghan Journalists

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/business/media/afghanistan-evacuation-journalists.html

As American news organizations scrambled to evacuate their Afghan journalists and their families last month, I reported that those working for The New York Times had found refuge not in New York or Washington, but in Mexico City.

The gist of that column was that even outlets like The Times and The Wall Street Journal had learned that the U.S. government would not be able to help at critical moments. In its place was a hodgepodge of other nations, led by tiny Qatar, along with relief groups, veterans associations and private companies.

Some State Department officials took umbrage at the idea that the U.S. government had abandoned Afghans who had worked alongside American journalists during the 20-year war. In telephone interviews last week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and two other officials closely involved in the evacuation of journalists and many others from Afghanistan made the case to me that the U.S. exit should be seen as a success. They pointed to the scale of the operation — 124,000 people evacuated, in total — as the ultimate American commitment to Afghanistan’s civil society.

“We evacuated at least 700 media affiliates, the majority of whom are Afghan nationals, under the most challenging conditions imaginable,” Mr. Blinken said in an interview on Friday. “That was a massive effort and one that didn’t just start on evacuation day.”

When it came to the government’s role, Mr. Blinken said he was referring, primarily, to the fact that the United States was able to operate Hamid Karzai International Airport, to the courage of military and State Department employees who worked there and to the decision in early August to include journalists among the “at risk” groups eligible to leave Afghanistan. (A spokesman later called to say Mr. Blinken wasn’t trying to take full credit for evacuations.) Mr. Blinken also said the United States was still trying to bring out more Afghan journalists, particularly those who have worked for Voice of America and other media outlets funded by the U.S. government.

But people at major news organizations and others who pushed to get journalists out of the country told me they were incredulous that the United States would claim to have played a pivotal role in the exodus. And further reporting bore out their contention.

Major American news organizations ended up dealing directly with Qatar’s government, which had cultivated a relationship with the Taliban. A Qatari official said that his government had led the evacuations of people working for The Times, The Journal, The Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, NPR, Vice and CNN, as well as the Committee to Protect Journalists group. Several people at those organizations confirmed that account, though they spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are still trying to get other journalists out of Afghanistan.

Many Afghan journalists who worked for media outlets funded by the U.S. government, including Radio Free Europe, also had to make other arrangements. Jamie Fly, the president of Radio Free Europe, told me that about 10 journalists from the outlet flew with their families on a private charter to another country in the region over the weekend without U.S. help, and many more remain in Afghanistan.

“The U.S. government has yet to fulfill its commitment to evacuate vulnerable Afghan journalists,” Mr. Fly said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/business/media/afghanistan-evacuation-journalists.html