Tipsheet

The White House Is Relying on the Taliban's Goodwill to Allow Americans Out of Afghanistan

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  August 17, 2021 3:00 PM

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki interrupted her vacation to return to the White House Tuesday to brief reporters on the Biden administration's disastrous handling of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan alongside National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Meanwhile, President Biden remains hidden away at Camp David.

Failing to directly answer many questions posed by the press, Sullivan said the Biden administration has to "focus on the task at hand" — the Kabul airlift — because "at the end of the day, the question is can we effectively evacuate those people who we intend to evacuate."

The logistics of that airlift, however, are as muddy as the Biden administration's supposedly "clear-eyed" planning that resulted in the chaos the world has watched unfold. "We did not anticipate it would happen at this speed," Sullivan admitted of the Taliban's swift toppling of Afghanistan.

Sullivan repeatedly refused to clearly state that the Biden administration would ensure the evacuation of all U.S. citizens in Afghanistan, instead reiterating earlier messages that the State Department had issued urging Americans to get out of Afghanistan. But there's a significant difference between the Biden administration telling U.S. citizens to evacuate, and the Biden administration actually ensuring no American is left behind or held up by Taliban fighters.

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And instead of explaining how the Biden administration would work to help Americans get out of Afghanistan, Sullivan said that the United States was talking with the Taliban itself in an effort to stop the beating or obstruction of those trying to get to the airport in Kabul after reports of such attacks broke Tuesday.

Jen Psaki was later asked if the evacuation of Americans and Afghan allies would continue past the August 31 deadline, to which she dodged and said the administration is focused on the task at hand of flying out those who have so far made it to the airport in Kabul. She also issued a vague threat that if the Taliban doesn't allow safe passage of individuals out of Afghanistan, the full force and weight of the U.S. military could be brought to bear.

"We have been clear... that we have our own capacity — military capacity — from here," Psaki explained. "Obviously we have worked with [the Taliban] to ensure safe passage, that's where our objective is — I'm not going to outline or detail it further."

The statements from Psaki and Sullivan at Tuesday's White House briefing follow Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby's comments on CNN that the U.S. military is not "equipped and able" to aid American citizens who are trapped in their homes in Kabul.

For Americans in Afghanistan, their ability to get to the airport in Kabul and on a flight out of the country is now apparently dependent on the Taliban's goodwill toward the requests of the U.S. government and some kind of gentleman's agreement between the hostile parties. 

As for the fate of the Afghan people, especially women, children, or other minorities, Sullivan had little hope to offer. "It's up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are," he said before admitting the Taliban's human rights track record is not great. 

Sullivan also said that the Biden administration would "do a hotwash" evaluation of the chaos in Kabul and what led up to it, but denied the characterization that it would be a review of "what went wrong."