Trump exaggerated the number of Americans he claimed were “hostages” in Afghanistan.

Many Americans, allegedly under coercion, are living in the nation, according to the former president. Two American citizens are being held there, and U.S. authorities are aggressively trying to get their release.

In Washington, several Democrats agree with former President Donald Trump when he criticizes President Joe Biden’s handling of the US pullout from Afghanistan in 2021. Trump has frequently voiced his concerns over the alleged hundreds or thousands of American citizens who are stuck in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

“We have not lost any soldiers in Afghanistan in the last eighteen months. Then, following his Super Tuesday triumphs earlier this month, we saw the horrible pullout, which left Americans behind and resulted in the deaths of 13 soldiers and 38 serious injuries.

He underlined, “You still have Americans left behind.” “Call them hostages, if you wish.”

Last week, Trump repeated the charge in a video released by his team.

“We still have numerous American citizens residing in Afghanistan, potentially as hostages,” he said.

But according to two top Biden administration national security officials who talked with NBC News, the Taliban is holding two Americans that the US government is trying to get released. They made it clear that other Americans who are in Afghanistan are doing it voluntarily.

According to the first official, “Every American who wanted to leave has done so. As a matter of fact, nobody was left behind. Furthermore, we still evacuate our allies in Afghanistan once a month.”

Representatives from the State Department acknowledged that they were unable to provide a precise number of American citizens in Afghanistan who were in need of help leaving the nation.

“Counting the exact number of American citizens in Afghanistan right now is difficult,” an official from the State Department said. “Over the past 30 months since the closure of our embassy, numerous U.S. citizens have departed, returned, and departed again.”

One of the Americans being held by the Taliban right now, Ryan Corbett, founded a microfinance business in Afghanistan during the conflict. With help from the US government, he left the nation in 2021 but came back in 2022. Former cellmates who were eventually freed have talked about the difficult circumstances and declining health Corbett is facing. It’s crucial to remember that he is not facing any criminal charges.

The identify of the other person whose release the national security officers are attempting to achieve was withheld. They did, however, note that this individual arrived in Afghanistan after the evacuation in 2021 using a tourist visa.

“Their entry into Afghanistan happened AFTER we left,” the initial representative wrote in a text.

More than 67,000 Afghans have applied for special immigrant visas intended for native-born citizens who supported the American mission in Afghanistan, according to State Department officials. Of these, at least twenty thousand Afghans have been found to be qualified for these visas and are currently advancing through the application procedure.

Since taking back control, the Taliban have been held accountable for the killings of more than 200 Afghan security forces personnel who had assisted American forces. Furthermore, the Taliban are the only administration in the world to have banned girls who are eleven years of age and older from going to school.

The ban’s application varies depending on the area of Afghanistan, although an unknown number of Afghan women are thought to want to leave the nation.

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt supported the former president’s position.

“President Trump is completely justified in criticizing Joe Biden for his abandonment of Americans in Afghanistan,” Leavitt said in a press statement. “Biden’s disastrous withdrawal resulted in leaving behind hundreds, if not thousands, of citizens and led to the heartbreaking loss of 13 U.S. Service Members at Abbey Gate.”

The location near Kabul Airport where 13 US service members were killed in a terrorist attack in August 2021 during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is known as “Abbey Gate.”

“Now, with the Taliban back in power and armed with billions of dollars’ worth of our military equipment, extremist terrorists are gaining confidence throughout the entire region,” Leavitt said.