EXCLUSIVE: The organizer of a private mission to rescue an American mom, Mariam, and her three children from conflicts says the foreign-policyis now trying to insert itself into the story of her evacuation, despite playing little to no role for much of the rescue effort.
Senior State Department officials on Monday announced that the “U.S. has facilitated the safe departure of four US citizens by overland route from Afghanistan. Embassy staff was present upon their arrival.”
But those actually involved in the dangerous rescue operation say the State Department deserves little to no credit for Mariam’s escape from Afghanistan.
Cory Mills and a private team of military veterans, drawing on funding by private donors including the Sentinel Foundation, led the effort to rescue Mariam and her three children from Afghanistan, where they had been left behind by the joe-biden” target=”_blank”>Biden administration<
A State Department spokesperson, when asked whether the agency is overselling its role in Mariam’s rescue, told Fox News in an email: “The Department assisted four Americans depart Afghanistan via an overland route on Monday. We provided guidance to them, worked to facilitate their safe passage, and Embassy officials greeted the Americans once they had crossed the border.”
But Mills and others with knowledge of the operation say the State Department is exaggerating its role and had little to do with the rescue mission until the most dangerous part – getting Mariam and her children across the border – was completed.
“This is an attempt to save face by the administration for the Americans they left behind. This is a woman with three children from age 15 all the way down to two-years-old. And they did nothing to try to expedite this… But at the very last minute you have these ‘senior officials’ at the State Department trying to claim credit for this like ‘oh yeah look what we’ve done,'” Mills said.
“It’s like we carried the ball to the 99-and-a-half yard line and them taking it that last half yard and being like ‘look what we did.’”
Rep. Jackson echoed that criticism.
“The only thing the Biden Administration seems to be good at is patting itself on the back for a job horribly done. This administration left my constituents behind in Afghanistan and now they’re lying about their role in getting these four American citizens out,” Jackson said.
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“The State Department didn’t do anything for two weeks except put my constituents in danger and leave them stranded. I know this for a fact because my office has been working around the clock to get our people home with no legitimate support from State. Only after Cory Mills and his team got them into the third country did State offer support by securing tourist visas,” the congressman continued.
“Cory and his team are brave patriots. Praise God that American veterans have more resolve than Joe Biden or his State Department.”
Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla, called it a “flat out lie” that the State Department facilitated Mariam’s evacuation, saying the credit belongs to a “team of patriots who worked around the clock for two weeks to get them out, despite the many roadblocks from the State Department.”
