Fox News:
Retired Marine Corps Major General Arnold Punaro told Fox News on Saturday that he was "not familiar with what technical definition" the Pentagon was relying on, but said the leaders and soldiers on the ground "will totally consider this to be a combat mission."
"First of all, these troops are fully armed and in their full battle gear. They are going into a situation prepared for the worst case. And frankly, that’s what they got to do because they are going to be charged with a mission of protecting American lives, evacuating Americans, evacuating others that they may be told to evacuate, and they have to be prepared for all eventualities."
Punaro, who served in Vietnam and has been involved in evacuation operations, explained that the Pentagon could be looking at the situation in Kabul as a "permissive environment" but warned, "it could very rapidly turn into a non-permissive environment."
