NBC News’ Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel appeared on “Meet the Press” this week where he shared his experience covering the American withdrawal from Afghanistan, describing it as “a moment of American humiliation.”
In the segment on Tuesday evening, Engel, who reported from Kabul during the withdrawal, joined Chuck Todd to discuss the August 31 deadline to have all Americans and allies evacuated from Afghanistan. Engel shared some harsh insight on the situation, noting that it is a shift from the way the U.S. previously operated in Afghanistan.
“If you step back and you look at what is going on, this is the United States after 20 years. This war used to be called ‘Operation Enduring Freedom,’ and it’s turned out not to be enduring, and they’re not leaving behind a society that is free. It is only free according to what the Taliban says it will be free, if the Taliban promises that it will be free,” Engel stated. “You could also look at this as a tremendously humiliating – moment of American humiliation – leaving, forced to leave, on the Taliban’s clock and with the Taliban’s good graces. Tactically, it makes sense, but I’m not sure how history will – I think history will judge this moment as a very dark period for the United States.”
WATCH: "This war used to be called Operation Enduring Freedom. It's turned out not to be enduring & this is only free according to what the Taliban says will be free. You could also look at this as a moment of ... American humiliation." — @RichardEngel pic.twitter.com/cEM56nyNB8
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 24, 2021
Engel added on, saying that evacuations have not been completely halted, presumably because the Taliban want Americans to leave so they can move forward with taking control of Afghanistan without any sort of intervention.
“It’s not exactly clear that they are shutting the tap entirely, they are still coordinating with Americans,” Engel explained.
“It seems that they are willing to cooperate. They want this process to move ahead. They want to do whatever is possible to get this going,” he added on. “They want this to go as smoothly as possible because of their end game.”
Last week, Engel joined several journalists who disputed Biden’s claim in a press conference that Americans have been able to make it past the Taliban to get to the airport in Kabul to evacuate. In a statement to Mediate, Engel noted the situation is much more “chaotic” than Biden let on.
“President Biden just described a very orderly process, an American airlift that is going efficiently, that there’s a negotiation with the Taliban, that it may be difficult, but Afghans can get to the airport and then get on these flights,” Engel reportedly said. “It is far more chaotic than that.”