As State Department personnel and military members were ferrying Americans and Afghans to the Kabul airport during the chaotic evacuation, the CIA oversaw an evacuation to get Afghan commandos and US citizens out of the country.
The effort use as an organizing point the CIA's secret Eagle Base – which was deliberately destroyed in an explosion just days before the last US troops left Afghanistan.
It succeeded in getting at least 1,000 Afghan commandos and service members out of the country, Politico reported.
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies near the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021. After the fall of the Afghan government, the CIA oversaw an evacuation to get Afghan commandos and US citizens out of the country using a CIA base as a staging facility
It all took place during a few frantic weeks in August around the time of the fall of the U.S. backed government in Kabul.
Some of the evacuees were flown between the base, housed in a former brick factory, and the Kabul airport located less than three miles away, according to the report after August 15th, when the government fell.
The military confirmed two instances of US troops going 'outside the wire' of the Kabul airport during the frantic last days before the US troop pullout, but generally sought to avoid giving detailed information about evacuation operations.
The Eagle Base, which also served as a staging area for the operations, was destroyed through a 'controlled demolition' just days before the final troop withdrawal, the New York Times reported.
