I hate to sound cold hearted, but people HAD to know the risks going in. Hope the hazard pay was worth it. Many of them probably had their own support network (locals, etc) in case shit hit the fan. It may be a little trickier to bribe their way out of country now though. *rolls eyes*
Having traveled significantly and lived abroad, I can confidently state that this is very unlikely.
Americans seem to take their “FREEDOM!” And “nobody fucks with America…” attitude on the road with them. I see it constantly in Mexico. They do shit they would never do at home thinking they are impune or at the least, good ol’ US guv’ment is going to bail them out. First thing they cry when they get arrested? “Ambassador, Embassy, Ah got rights!”
The reality is that everyone is on their own and damn well better have a contigency plan. I equate it to being at sea and your boat sinking. Sure, you can pop your EPIRB, call out MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY all you want but if you sit there expecting to be saved, you better be a good fucking swimmer. Your glorious government (or another) might save you, but expecting it because you are red, white and blue is folly.
Plus it’s more likely you WILL be saved at sea because there is a code and honor amongst seamen. Governments?….hahahaha
Secondly, the bribing thing. The whole damn world revolves around grift. In fact, a single thing never happens in our government without payola or some quid pro quo.
Americans, likely because we were raised to believe bribery is a form of dishonesty, are generally appalled by dishonesty…well, we used to be anyway. Unless someone living abroad understands and learns to stomach bribes, it’s hard to function successfully.
It’s plain fucked up to leave any Americans in Afghanistan that want to leave. Bagram is FUCKING MASSIVE and if we did in fact leave that base before full on exfil, the abandonment of Americans AND sypathetic Afghanis is unconscionable.