The chaotic airlift to evacuate Afghans amid the fall of Kabul in 2021 allowed at least 82 people who have been on the terrorism watchlist to get into the U.S., an inspector general said Tuesday.

That includes 55 who were already on the watchlist before the summer of 2021 or were placed there during the evacuation, and 27 more who weren’t added to the list until after settling in the U.S.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the FBI, once it learned of the names, generally took the right steps to track them, working to confirm if they were threats.

“In each instance we found that the FBI’s screening, vetting, investigative and continuous identity discovery efforts revealed potential threats that existed, and appropriate mitigation steps were taken in response to those threats,” the audit concluded.

Tens of thousands of Afghans were airlifted out of Kabul in July and August 2021 as President Joseph R. Biden scrambled to salvage a disastrous troop withdrawal.

While the airlift was supposed to be rescuing Afghans who assisted the U.S. in its 20-year war effort, experts said a large amount — perhaps most — of those evacuated lacked those ties but were lucky to get through the Taliban’s roadblocks and into the airport perimeter.

The goal of the audit was to evaluate how the FBI handled evacuees who were on the watchlist, which is why it focused on the 55 allowed into the U.S. even after their identities were known.

Mr. Horowitz said the bureau also found the 27 already in the U.S. when they were added to the list.

As late as last year, 19 of them were still on the watchlist and 15 were “encountered by various agencies” after they were listed.

In each case, the appropriate follow-up was done, Mr. Horowitz concluded.

Of the 55 Afghans who settled in the U.S. even though their names were already on the watchlist, nine remained as of last year. Four of them were under active FBI investigations and four others remained under suspicion because of their association with known or suspected terrorists.

The ninth remained on the watchlist but was no longer in the U.S.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.