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The Biden administration is making efforts to conduct a massive evacuation from Afghanistan. The American officials quietly instructed US citizens and at-risk Afghans, including Afghan commandos, to head to a secret CIA base outside Kabul to secure safe passage to the US. The instruction came after increasing risks of a terrorist attack on the capital city’s main airport. The clandestine operation took place over several weeks in August and resulted in the successful evacuation of hundreds of American citizens and vulnerable Afghans. More than 1,000 Afghan commandos and their family members were evacuated in the overall US effort. Politico reported that a US official confirmed the CIA’s involvement in the evacuation. The official said, “Agency closely worked with other agencies to facilitate in various ways access to the airport for American citizens and Afghans at risk”.

The New York Times first reported that the US used the base for evacuations. A CIA spokesperson declined to comment on the operation. At least some of the evacuees were taken by air from the secret compound, known as Eagle Base, to the airport in order to bypass the chaotic crowds and terror threats around the gates. Several helicopter flights operated by a US company flew from an area around Eagle Base to the Kabul airport started on 15^th August. Flight data suggests some of the evacuees were flown to Germany. An aircraft owned by a US government contractor flew from the Kabul airport to Ramstein Air Base in Germany during that same time period. The effort was coordinated with US diplomats and the staff members who were relocated from the embassy to Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The diplomats had been communicating directly with American citizens who were trying to leave Afghanistan but feared for their safety. The Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command was also helping reach out to hundreds of American citizens inside Kabul and around the country. The House Intelligence Committee was briefed about the operation in August. US legislators from both parties were seeking details from the Biden administration about efforts to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan. Eagle Base is the sprawling CIA compound located less than 3 miles north of the airport. It was established early in the Afghanistan conflict at a former brick factory. The CIA used the base from 2002 to 2004 for enhanced interrogation of terror suspects. The agency also used it to train Afghan counterterrorism units.