‘60 Minutes’ to air gripping tale of how KC politician helped save 383 desperate people
In its 57th year on air, the CBS news magazine “60 Minutes” on Dec. 1 plans to air a segment on the gripping and life-saving tale of “Operation Bella,” in which a former Kansas City area politician helped save 383 people fleeing from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The story, first recounted in February by The Kansas City Star, centers on U.S. Army veteran and former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander.
Kander was a guest Friday on the KCUR radio program “Up to Date,” hosted by journalist Steve Kraske, who announced the future airing.
The nail-biting tale of “Operation Bella,” named for one of Kander’s daughters, can be read here, as it first appeared in The Star.
A synopsis: The story unfolds in Afghanistan in September 2021, three weeks after the U.S. military had pulled out of the country after 20 years of war. Kander, who for four months in 2006 and 2007 had worked in the country as a military intelligence officer, had grown close his Afghan translator, Salaam Rauffi. Because Rauffi had also been American-born, he did not need help fleeing the country. But some of his relatives with ties to Americans, and thus considered enemies of the Taliban, did.
Kander, with extensive help, eventually concocted a plan — involving moves across the country and a fake wedding — to try to save Rauffi’s relatives and, along the way, 74 other families.
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 11:42 AM.
