Evacuees Plead For Action: 'We Are In Some Kind Of Jail'

Many are being prevented from leaving as they wait to board pre-arranged charter flights at the airport in Mazar-e-Sharif.

American veterans groups and others are pleading for U.S. and Taliban action on a weeklong standoff that has left hundreds of would-be evacuees from Afghanistan desperate to board waiting charter flights out of a northern Afghan airport. These groups say several dozen Americans, along with a much larger number of U.S. green card holders and family members, are among those waiting to board pre-arranged charter flights at the airport in Mazar-e-Sharif that are being prevented from leaving. "We think we are in some kind of jail," said one Afghan woman among the would-be evacuees gathered in Mazar-e-Sharif. She said elderly American citizens — parents of Afghan-Americans in the U.S. — are among those being blocked from boarding evacuation planes.