The State Department refused to green light a number of privately chartered flights out of Afghanistan that could have evacuated US citizens and Afghan special immigrant visa applicants, leaked emails reportedly show.
Military lawyer and retired Marine Eric Montalvo shared the communications with Fox after he organized some of the flights and now claims the federal government thwarted his rescue effort.
The leaked emails show State officials refusing to allow Montalvo's privately paid for flights to use US property either inside the country or at one of its many overseas bases, after the Biden administration pledged to do whatever it can to rescue all Americans and as many Afghan allies as possible.
'No independent charters are allowed' at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar,' an email from September 1 says.
'In fact, no charters are allowed to land at an [sic] DoD base and most if not all countries in the Middle Eastern region, with the exception of perhaps Saudi Arabia will allow charters to land.'
Secretary of State Blinken tours the refugee processing center at Al Udeid Air Base on Tuesday. The leaked emails show the State Department refused to let privately chartered planes land at the US military base, even if they have Americans on board
Blinken meets with Afghan all-female robotics team members at Qatar's Education City Club House
The New York Times reported that a total of 1,000 people - including dozens of American citizens - had been held at the Mazar-i-Sharif airport for nearly a week.
Other passengers hoping to fly include Afghans who hold visas to move to other countries, including the United States.
The official suggested Montalvo look to a different destination country for help.
'And it can't be the U.S. either,' they added.
'Once you have had discussions with the host/destination country and reached an agreement, they may require some indication from the [US government] that we 'approve' of this charter flight.'
The State Department pre-emptively refused to provide that approval but conceded to tell that third country it had 'no objection' via the US embassy in that state.
On Sunday, Reuters reported that the delay had been caused by Biden administration officials not telling Taliban leaders it had approved the departures of the chartered flights.
This handout satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows satellite imagery of the Mazar-i-Sharif and grounded planes at the airport in northern Afghanistan on September 3
Tuesday's revelation comes in stark contrast to Biden administration officials' denials from around the same time.
State Department spokesman Ned Price dismissed the notion that the US government is preventing charter flights from leaving Afghanistan in a September 2 briefing.
That day Price told reporters the US doesn't control Afghan airspace and so couldn't possibly be in a position to grant or deny clearance.
'The misimpression that is out there that we are preventing or even the idea that we could prevent a charter flight from taking off - that is simply untrue. We could not and we are not,' Price said.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki also said on September 2, 'Anyone who's suggesting we are preventing these flights, that's not accurate. We couldn't prevent a charter flight from taking off.'
But she went on to say the federal government doesn't have 'reliable means' to confirm who is organizing the flights or the status of anyone on board.
The day after the bombshell leaked emails were reportedly sent, top Biden officials said the State Department would not and could not block chartered evacuation flights
