Ross Wilson, the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul who helped handle the evacuation from the Kabul airport, has examined constructive for the coronavirus, in response to an individual acquainted with his situation who was not approved to talk on the document.
Politico broke the story on Wednesday, and quoted Mr. Wilson as saying he had been vaccinated.
Mr. Wilson was one in every of quite a few officers who continued working within the nation as Taliban fighters swept into the capital, prompting the evacuation of round 123,000 individuals. The final American diplomat to depart Kabul, he continued working on the airport to course of the paperwork of Afghans who needed to depart for 2 weeks after the embassy shut down on Aug. 15.
Mr. Wilson’s situation on Friday was not instantly clear..
Within the rush to finish the evacuation, army and diplomatic officers have scrambled to place in place a system for screening these airlifted overseas for the virus. Many have arrived in america.
Pentagon officers have mentioned that they established temperature checks and different Covid protocols on the airfield in Kabul. Final week, the White Home press secretary, Jen Psaki, mentioned that each one evacuees would even be examined and supplied vaccines upon arrival.
“As regards to Covid, the Afghans coming from the Center East into our areas that we have now stood up are all being examined, truly, a number of instances,” Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, the commander of the North American Aerospace Protection Command, mentioned final week.
Of those that arrived final week, roughly one out of 1,200 had examined constructive, he mentioned.
Addressing the evacuation efforts on Monday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken thanked Mr. Wilson, whom he credited for “distinctive, brave work throughout a extremely difficult time.”
Mr. Blinken additionally acknowledged the heavy toll that the pandemic had taken on Afghanistan, the place vaccines have been scarce and a summer season surge simply months in the past badly strained the nation’s hospitals.
Lara Jakes contributed reporting.
