Speaking to reporters at the White House Tuesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked about President Joe Biden's claims only 100-200 Americans were abandoned behind enemy lines in Afghanistan.
"Why is it that there are still Americans stranded in Afghanistan?" Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked.
"Let me just reiterate something that Tony Blinken said back in August which is that if Americans who are in Afghanistan wanted to leave whether it was three weeks from now, a month from now, two months from now, back in August, we would help them get out and that is something we have delivered on our word on," Psaki said. "Since that time we've directly assisted 479 American citizens, 450 lawful permanent residents and SIV holders and SIV applicants to depart Afghanistan."
"Okay 479 left behind is a lot higher than the 100 to 200 that President Biden talked about at the end of August," Doocy followed up. "How did you get the numbers?"
"There were people who determined they wanted to leave since then," Psaki said.
.@PressSec is asked why there are still Americans left behind in Afghanistan.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 14, 2021
PSAKI: "The United States does not track or put a tracker on American citizens traveling overseas...that would be quite a Fox News story, wouldn't it be if we did that?" pic.twitter.com/YDzBlnmknX
During the catastrophic and chaotic exit from Afghanistan, which resulted in a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. Marines, President Joe Biden promised to get Americans out before the U.S. military left the country. That didn't happen and for weeks the Defense and State Departments refused to give solid numbers on the Americans left behind.