[sonograph]

3,000 troops to evacuate an embassy seems excessive? How many diplomats are there?

Nonetheless A terrible situation for Afghanistan; I wish the world could help them but I'm not sure what else could be done after trying for two decades.

[TkTech]

The 3000 troops aren't solely to hold the embassy, they're to hold the Kabul airport, and to handle the evacuation of diplomats and Afghans who assisted the US, such as translators and non-diplomatic embassy staff.

3000 staff is tiny percentage of the staff of an international airport, even a small one.

> The troops, consisting of two Marine battalions and one Army battalion, will be based at the Kabul airport. They will provide security for an airlift that will fly out U.S. diplomats, as well as Afghans who have worked with the U.S., and the family members of those Afghans.

[praxulus]

I suspect the number of troops needed to keep a facility secure depends not only on the size of the facility but also on the scale of the threat.

[rtkwe]

The US Embassy in Afghanistan is absolutely massive. From July 6 2021:

> the embassy is currently down to 1,400 U.S. citizens and about 4,000 staff working inside the compound the size of a small town.

It's a huge complex and those are the reduced staff numbers. Granted they may or may not actually be evacuating all the local staff (the US has been... not great about getting people who risked their lives to help the US in Afghanistan).

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-kabul-445f33e7bba08c382...

[shagmin]

If I recall correctly, some US embassies that have been built in turbulent areas are more accurately described as military bases that just happen to host an embassy. They're heavily fortified and don't resemble what we'd typically think of as an embassy.

[vimy]

Maybe it’s to protect the capital until everyone is evacuated?