Group of 23 California school students stranded in Afghanistan

Six California families, including 23 young students, are stranded in Afghanistan, unable to fly out of the Kabul airport as the US nears its 31 August final deadline for leaving the country.

The group of students and their parents are from the city of El Cajon, near San Diego, and had been in the country on vacation, visiting family on special visas.

“They’re still in Afghanistan trying to find their way to the airport or on an airplane,” Michael Serban, director of Family & Community Engagement for the Cajon Valley Union School District, which is home to a number of migrant and refugee families, told CBS8. “Several of our families over summer break independently decided to go home to Afghanistan and see their extended family. A lot of the families, their nuclear families are here but all their grandparents and everybody are still in Afghanistan.”

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The Department of Defense considers the group of families and students eligible for evacuation, and they have tickets to leave the country, but have been unable to make their way to the Kabul airport, according to school officials in El Cajon.

“The biggest concern is that the Taliban closed the airport,” Cajon Valley School Board President Tamara Otero told The San Diego Union-Tribune. “We are so worried about our students that are stuck there. We’ll do the best we can to get them out.”

School officials say the families are safe, and are confident they’ll be able to leave the country, but have been working with congressman Darrell Issa’s office to expedite the process.

“Congressman Issa and his staff are working diligently to determine the facts on the ground, any bureaucratic barriers that can be removed, and the best ways to help those stranded leave Afghanistan and return home safely,” Jonathan Wilcox, spokesperson, said in a statement. “We won’t stop until we have answers and action.

Asked about the families on Wednesday, press secretary Jen Psaki did not appear aware of their specific case, but said US authorities are keeping detailed tabs on Americans remaining inside Afghanistan, and offered to take down the group of students’ information to see if more could be done to help them.

President Biden said on Tuesday the US is still on track to complete its full exit from Afghanistan by 31 August, though cautioned he could “adjust that timetable, should that become necessary.”

“We are currently on pace to finish by 31 August,” he said. “The sooner we can finish, the better. Each day of operations brings added risk to our troops.”

The US has already recalled 300 of the nearly 6,000 troops it had stationed at the Kabul airport.

Since 14 August, the US has helped evacuate roughly 58,000 people, according to the White House.

The Taliban has said it’s still allowing foreign nationals to leave the country, but has closed its borders to Afghans themselves trying to leave.

"We are not allowing the evacuation of Afghans anymore and we are not happy with it either," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said during a press conference Tuesday, adding that high-skill professionals like doctors and professors "should not leave this country, they should work in their own specialist areas.”