Confusion Reigns Over Whether Americans Required to Pay for Afghanistan Evacuation

Thursday afternoon, State Department spokesman Ned Price told the press that the U.S. government has “no intention of seeking any reimbursement from those fleeing Afghanistan” after the Taliban takeover of the country.

However, the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) reported that just hours after the announcement the online form that Americans in Afghanistan have been told to fill out prior to being able to board an evacuation flight still included prompts that required American citizens to agree to a “promissory note for the full cost of the flight, which may exceed $2000 per person…before boarding” in order to continue the process of their evacuation.

The title of “14.” on the form, according to screenshots collected by DCNF, is “Repatriation flights are not free.” The subsequent “15.” on the form is titled, “Loan Repayment.” Both are required to be acknowledged before being able to continue the process.

The two parts of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul’s online form that are mentioned above seem to no longer appear on the form, although, ten of the parts within numbers one through 13 are required to be answered in order to move forward. So, numbers 14 and 15 could still be there after hitting the “Next” button on the form.

The confusion over whether Americans are being forced to pay for their evacuation out of Afghanistan stems from a note in a Politico article published on Thursday, before Price’s comments to the press.

The outlet reported that a State Department spokesperson “didn’t deny” a source’s claim that “State Department staff were seeking large payments — up to $2,000 — from American passengers and even more from non-U.S. citizens.”

As reported by the Washington Examiner, a security alert published last Saturday by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, which is “part of the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security,” told possible evacuees that “Repatriation flights are not free.”

Under the “Eligibility Requirements” section of the alert, sub-section two states the following:

2. Flight Costs: Repatriation flights are not free, and passengers will be required to sign a promissory loan agreement and may not be eligible to renew their U.S. passports until the loan is repaid.  The cost may be $2,000USD or more per person.

All of this confusion is on top of the Biden regime’s Wednesday statement that safe passage can’t be guaranteed, which was reiterated in a tweet by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Conflicting reports are typical of government, especially a federal government in the middle of such a level of turmoil.