WASHINGTON: The largest US diplomatic drawdown in the Middle East since the Iraq War began more than two decades ago is creating an apparently unplanned-for crisis for the Trump administration as the United States and Israel strike Iran in a widening conflict.
\nThe State Department has been forced to close several embassies to the public, shut down at least one consulate, order the departure of embassy staff and families from at least six nations, and advise Americans in 14 countries to leave the region immediately despite the war closing major airports and causing widespread flight cancelations.
\nNonetheless, the department said Tuesday that more than 9,000 Americans had safely returned from the Middle East since the weekend, many of them without government assistance, and that it was actively assisting those who have reached out for help, including by securing military aircraft and charter flights.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple instances in which we have planes in the air, and on the way, and unfortunately, the airspace gets closed, and they have to turn back around,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters.
\nThe department has been in contact with nearly 3,000 Americans wanting to leave the region or seeking information about how to depart, Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for public affairs, said on X.
\nRubio, who spoke on Capitol Hill before briefing lawmakers on the latest developments, said 1,500 people had actually requested help in leaving.
\nCharter flights were being arranged from Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In countries where airports or airspace was closed, the department said, it is organizing land travel to countries where flights are available, including Egypt and Oman.
\nStill, emergency reductions in embassy staffing and post closures since the strikes on Iran began on the weekend have put a severe strain on the ability to help US citizens in need of assistance that might usually be considered routine. Consular services are unavailable in many places and the personnel reductions have limited crucial official engagements with allied and partner governments during the war, including in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
\nBiggest US drawdown in region since Iraq War
\nThe scale of the American drawdown in the region rivals if not exceeds what was done in the run up to and the immediate aftermath of the Iraq invasion in 2003. Back then, the State Department reduced its staffing in more than a dozen countries and advised US citizens to leave or seriously consider leaving countries throughout the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia from Morocco to Pakistan.
\nOn Monday, Americans were told in a hastily drafted announcement posted on X to leave Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen even though commercial flights and other transportation have been disrupted.
\nAmericans had been advised early Tuesday that the State Department had ordered nonessential diplomats and embassy families to leave Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
\nThe embassies in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia also were closed to the public Tuesday. But only one diplomatic mission \u2014 the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan \u2014 had completely suspended operations.
\nA drone attack on the US Embassy in Riyadh caused a \u201climited fire,\u201d Saudi Arabia\u2019s Defense Ministry said.
\nThe strike in Riyadh caused part of the embassy\u2019s roof to collapse, although there were no reported deaths or injuries to staff, according to an internal State Department memo. It said there were no deaths or injuries after two drones hit the vicinity of the embassy in Kuwait City.
\nConfusion leads to questions about preparations
\nConfusion was playing out around the region, raising questions about the preparations for possible military action and its impact on travel and the safety of Americans overseas, which is the State Department\u2019s primary responsibility.
\n\u201cIf Americans are being instructed to leave but are given no viable pathway, that suggests one of two things: The system is not being activated, or the system has atrophied,\u201d said Shawn VanDiver, president of AfghanEvac, a group that supports Afghan nationals seeking to come to the United States after having served with US forces in Afghanistan.
\nHe noted that during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Biden administration had organized the evacuation of 121,000 people in a matter of days.
\n\u201cCrisis response cannot be partisan,\u201d he said. \u201cIt has to survive transitions. It has to be staffed, exercised, and protected. The oversight question is straightforward: Was the post-Afghanistan crisis response architecture sustained, or has it been weakened?\u201d
\nThe State Department did not immediately respond to a query about its planning for embassy and consulate staffing or providing assistance to American citizens in the event of a conflict with Iran.
\nThe US government cannot compel American citizens to leave any country. In rare circumstances, it can make it illegal for US passports to be used for travel to a specific destination. The only such restriction is on North Korea. But before the strikes began, Rubio said Friday that the restriction might also be applied to Iran.
\nTravel advice from the State Department, including admonitions not to visit a country or to leave it, often is not respected. Many people reside in or have close family living there and either ignore or decline to heed the advice.
\nThere are large numbers of US citizens living in or traveling throughout the Middle East. The State Department, however, refuses to offer an estimate because Americans are not required to report their presence in any country abroad. It says any estimate would be inaccurate.
\nTens of thousands of US citizens, many of them dual nationals, are believed to live in Israel, Lebanon, Egypt and Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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