While the administration tries to take credit for top-line evacuation numbers, many outsiders — veterans, diplomats, NGOs and others — have been frantically coordinating to help American citizens and Afghan allies escape because the normal channels are chaotic. One such group of veterans has taken to calling themselves “digital Dunkirk” or “Task Force Dunkirk,” referring to the mass evacuation of allied troops from France in 1940.

“We are having to come up with alternatives to get people in,” said Mick Mulroy, a former defense official and CIA officer and Dunkirk member. “The sheer masses of people are making it very difficult.”

Members of these informal groups and the soldiers in the airport they are working with are increasingly frustrated by the bureaucracy and lack of support from the State Department. One person involved in the efforts shared screenshots of a chat with a soldier who expressed anger with State officials interfering at the last minute.

“They’re f---ing changing up everything because they decided to show up for the first time,” the soldier texted, after State officials changed the location for processing American citizens at the last minute.