Former CIA Analyst Says Gates at Kabul Airport Being ‘Welded Shut’ — While 175,000 Still Need to be Evacuated

Former CIA analyst Matt Zeller said Thursday the gates at Kabul’s international airport were being “welded shut” even as up to 175,000 people in the country were still seeking to leave.

“I agree with the analysis that … the evacuation is over,” Zeller said in an afternoon MSNBC interview. “We are now leaving. The gates at the airport are being welded shut.”

He said sources on the ground were being told to burn documents that tie them to the United States after making digital copies. “The general advice that has been given is that they need to make it seem as if we never knew — that their lives simply never transpired,” Zeller said, adding that a “humanitarian corridor” needed to be established by air or otherwise. “There is going to be some clandestine efforts, I’m sure, that are going to be undertaken both by governments and private individuals. Those efforts are going to need to be supported.”

The State Department cancelled a media briefing scheduled to take place on Thursday hours after several suicide bombers killed at least 12 American troops and dozens of Afghan citizens in Kabul. The department acknowledged a day earlier that it was aware of just 1,500 U.S. citizens still trapped in the country, and said it was in contact with around 500 of them. Its ability to maintain that contact was in question ahead of the Taliban’s expected dismantling of Afghanistan’s communications infrastructure.

“The easy part of the evacuations were actually these last couple of weeks,” Zeller said. “The Biden administration should be commended for getting as many folks as they could out. But now the reality is that there is actually probably around 175,000 or more people we are tracking that are going to need to be evacuated. It is going to take years. I realize that the public’s interest is going to wane … but those of us who have committed to this aren’t going anywhere.”

Watch above via MSNBC.