During Thursday's press briefing at the Pentagon, General Hank Taylor and Press Secretary John Kirby provided an update on the airlift of Americans and Afghan allies out of Kabul before taking questions on the Biden administration's handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
General Taylor reported that in the last 24 hours, the U.S. military footprint grew to number more than 5,200 total troops on the ground at Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport and that additional gates for entry to the airfield were opened while the airport remains open and secure.
He also reported that 13 C-17 transport planes had arrived at HKIA with additional troops and equipment and 12 C-17s departed with evacuees.
When asked by Fox News' Jennifer Griffin about how planes conducting the airlift were being fueled, Taylor and Kirby refused to deny whether the United States was buying from the Taliban.
"The assets on KHIA, on the airfield, are what we need to maintain the operations, all operations to support the mission," Taylor responded without answering the question.
Griffin pushed, asking "so that's a no — you're not buying fuel from the Taliban?"
Taylor stepped back from the podium and Kirby stepped in. "There's- um- plenty of fuel sustainment capability at Hamid Karzai Airport and as you know Jen, we also have the ability of our- on our own- our logistics ability to fuel our aircraft as needed," he explained without denying that the U.S. was paying the Taliban for fuel.
Q: How are you fueling your planes... are you now in a position that you have to buy fuel from the Taliban?
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) August 19, 2021
Taylor: The assets on HKIA... are what we need.
Q: So that's a no? You're not buying fuel from the Taliban?
Kirby: There's plenty of fuel. pic.twitter.com/yx7Aoy1SPU
Of the 2,000 evacuees the Pentagon reports flying out of Afghanistan in the last 24 hours, just 300 were Americans, Kirby later explained, adding "we're very focused on making sure we get as many people out as possible and as fast as possible."
Pentagon: Of the 2,000 evacuated from Afghanistan in the past 24 hours 300 are Americans, Kirby says
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) August 19, 2021
However, despite the seemingly impossible task of getting every American — not to mention Afghan ally or special immigrant visa recipient — out of Afghanistan by the current August 31st deadline, Kirby said "there has been no decision to change the deadline" even as he admitted "I don't know" how many Americans remain behind Taliban lines.
Amazingly incompetent moment as Defense Department spokesman John Kirby says they don't have a breakdown of the people who've been on flights out of Afghanistan AND they still have no idea how many Americans are still trapped in the country behind enemy lines. pic.twitter.com/jyV4Z2nZZe
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) August 19, 2021
The pentagon is paralyzed in fear -they have no leadership out of the White House & they are terrified of another Blackhawk Down happening. No One in DOD leadership is willing to take that risk by sending US troops out into the streets of Kabul to get Americans out.
— Amber Smith (@AmberSmithUSA) August 19, 2021