Three Days Left: U.S. Embassy’s Website Alert Page Down, Gives ‘404 Error’ to Stranded Americans

The website of U.S. embassy in Kabul on Saturday morning gave a “404 Error – Page Not Found” to stranded Americans who are looking for status updates on how to reach the airport to be extracted.

“We are sorry but the page you are looking for does not exists,” the page reads, pointing evacuees to “the homepage or browse some of our recent posts.”

Previously, the website page would give alerts to stranded Americans of whether they should or should not to travel to the airport due to security threats the Taliban were charged with mitigating.

For instance, the page read August 25, “Because of security threats outside the gates of Kabul airport, we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.”

Just a few days earlier on August 21, it warned trapped American citizens to “avoid” the Kabul airport because of “security threats outside the gates.”

“Because of potential security threats outside the gates at the Kabul airport,” the embassy advised, “we are advising U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the airport and to avoid airport gates at this time unless you receive individual instructions from a U.S. government representative to do so.”

The down U.S. embassy page comes as President Joe Biden is drawing down the U.S. military at the airport to abide by the Taliban-enforced deadline of August 31, three days from now, eastern standard time.

The U.S. State Department advised Wednesday about 1,500 Americans are stranded behind enemy lines. But a Senate aide told CNN the same day more than 4,000 Americans remain trapped inside the country. The precise number is not known.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø