The Scoop

Biden Official Gives Poor Excuse Downplaying Admin Role In Stranding “Hundreds” Of Americans In Kabul

By • August 31, 2021 1:26 pm

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby clarified the “hundreds” of Americans who wanted to be evacuated but were left behind in Afghanistan after the US military withdrew entirely on Monday, telling MSNBC that Americans “get stranded” in foreign countries “all the time,” and downplaying the administration’s responsibility in leaving citizens, passport holders, green card holders, and allies behind enemy lines.

According to the State Department, about 1,500 Americans who had contacted the Biden administration to coordinate extraction were still in Afghanistan waiting to be evacuated as of last week. Kirby himself acknowledged on Sunday that there were “roughly” 300 Americans remaining behind enemy lines, awaiting  travel out of Afghanistan.

On Monday, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), verified that there were Americans who wanted to leave Afghanistan who were still on the ground in or around Kabul, and that their numbers were in the “very low hundreds.”

“We did not get out everybody we wanted to get out,” McKenzie revealed Monday, adding that diplomatic steps would most likely be required to extract Americans who have been left behind.

In addressing the issue on Tuesday, Kirby seemed to confirm once again that Americans had been left behind, but he minimized the dangers they now face living under Taliban control.

When asked how the Biden Administration intends to remove its own people from Afghanistan, Kirby replied, “It’s not completely unlike how we do it elsewhere around the world. We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time, and we do everything we can to try to facilitate safe passage.”

That is most certainly correct, but such Americans are not always stuck in unfriendly nations, and they are rarely in significant numbers.

Kirby did seem to contradict White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s remark from a few weeks ago, in which she said that no Americans were “stranded” in Afghanistan.

“Does the President have a sense that most of the criticism is not of leaving Afghanistan, it’s the way that he has ordered it to happen — by pulling the troops before getting these Americans who are now stranded?” Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked Psaki at a press conference following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. “Does he have a sense of that?”

“First of all, I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not,” Psaki said in return. “We are committed to bringing Americans, who want to come home, home. We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via e-mail, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home.”

Kirby also contradicted the Biden administration’s prior stance, which said that Americans who were left behind in Afghanistan chose not to be extracted. In this instance, both the Pentagon and CENTCOM have acknowledged that Americans who wished to leave the country were not evacuated in a timely manner. In the same interview, Kirby reiterated CENTCOM by stating that the number of Americans who want to leave but are unable to do so is in the “low hundreds.”

Biden is scheduled to address on the issue of rescuing Americans left behind after the pullout on Tuesday afternoon, and to explain the administration’s determination to rely on the Taliban to help with such rescues rather than to stretch the timeframe for departure.

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