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.
Q: "Will the US government commit to ensuring that any Americans that are currently on the ground in Afghanistan get out?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2021
SULLIVAN: "We have asked them all to come to the airport to get on flights and take them home." pic.twitter.com/4gEV2cVNNg
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.
Jake Sullivan says that the US is "taking it up in a channel with the Taliban" in an effort to stop people from being beaten in the street by the Taliban on the way to the Kabul airport. pic.twitter.com/Jlcpr4J1PU
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2021
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.
Q: "Can you offer any guarantee to the Americans and Afghan allies that, if they remain there past the end of the month, US troops will help them evacuate?"
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2021
PSAKI: "Our focus right now is on doing the work at hand." pic.twitter.com/kBAW8UM3Vd
"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.
This morning, Pentagon Spokesman John Kirby said on CNN that the military is not "equipped and able" to help Americans trapped inside their homes in Kabul. pic.twitter.com/km02CVNeha
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 17, 2021
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."
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