Fox News obtains leaked email confirming State Department obstruction of private evacuation flights from Afghanistan

A leaked email from the State Department confirms that the Biden administration refused to grant permission for private evacuation flights from Afghanistan to land in third countries, even though the administration was aware official authorization was needed for them to do so.

Additionally, Fox News reported that the State Department explicitly said private charter flights, even those carrying American citizens out of Afghanistan, would not be permitted to land at Department of Defense airbases.

These revelations appear to confirm what BlazeTV host Glenn Beck reported Tuesday, when he said on-air that the State Department refused to grant landing clearance to planes chartered by Mercury One and The Nazarene Fund, which prevented them from departing.

Fox News obtained the email from Eric Montalvo, who organized a series of private flights to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies left behind in Afghanistan by the Biden administration. The email, sent Sept. 1, shows how the State Department set up bureaucratic roadblocks to private evacuation efforts.

"No independent charters are allowed to land at [Al Udeid Air Base], the military airbase you mentioned in your communication with Samantha Power. In fact, no charters are allowed to land at an [sic] DoD base and most if not all countries in the Middle Eastern region, with the exception of perhaps Saudi Arabia will allow charters to land," a State Department official wrote.

"You need to find another destination country, and it can't be the U.S. either."

According to Fox News, the official added that some third countries "may require" official approval from the State Department before permitting private charter flights to land there, but said the State Department "will not provide" that approval.

"Once you have had discussions with the host/destination country and reached an agreement, they may require some indication from the USG that we 'approve' of this charter flight. DOS will not provide an approval, but we will provide a 'no objection' to the destination country government via the U.S. Embassy in that country."

During a Sept. 2 press conference, both White House press secretary Jen Psaki and State Department spokesman Ned Price denied that the Biden administration was preventing private planes from leaving Afghanistan.

When TheBlaze attempted to reach the State Department for comment on Beck's reporting, a spokesman for the department referred to comments made Tuesday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a press conference in Doha, Qatar.

"We're working around the clock with NGOs, with members of Congress and advocacy groups, providing any and all information and doing all we can to clear any roadblocks that they've identified to make sure that charter flights carrying Americans or others to whom we have a special responsibility can depart Afghanistan safely," Blinken said.

"We've also been engaged with the Taliban on this topic, including in recent hours," he added. "They've said that they will let people with travel documents freely depart. We will hold them to that."