Psaki Says: ‘We Have Enormous Leverage Over The Taliban’, Who Now Has Over $85 Billion-Worth Arms
On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was questioned about the United States’ “leverage” over the Taliban.
Psaki directed reporters to Secretary of State John Kerry’s comments from Monday. She said, “we have enormous leverage over the Taliban.”
She said that this includes “access to the global marketplace,” which she claims is “not a small piece of leverage.”
Former Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany called out Psaki on Twitter,”PSAKI: our leverage over the Taliban is: “Access to the global marketplace.” UN REPORT: “The primary sources of Taliban financing remain criminal activities, including drug trafficking and opium poppy production, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, mineral exploitation…”
PSAKI: our leverage over the Taliban is: "Access to the global marketplace."
UN REPORT: "The primary sources of Taliban financing remain criminal activities, including drug trafficking and opium poppy production, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, mineral exploitation…"
— Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) August 31, 2021
“The Taliban is now said to be the first extremist group with an air force, apart from being armed with Humvees, tanks, artillery, machine guns, etc.; courtesy of the US government,” according to Yahoo News.
“According to The Times, the Taliban now has its hands on 22,174 Humvees, 634 M1117s, 155 MxxPro mine-proof vehicles, 169 M113 armored personnel carriers, 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs, and 8,000 trucks. In terms of weaponry, the Taliban has reportedly seized 64,363 machine guns, 176 artillery pieces, 126,295 pistols, 358,530 assault rifles, along with 16,035 night vision goggles and 162,043 radios,” the outlet noted.
“In order to gain access to the global marketplace, we’re going to be watching closely as will the global community. I would note that yesterday, the U.N. Security Council also…passed a resolution that made clear to what the expectation is in terms of safe travel and evacuation, or departure, I should say, of individuals who want to leave Afghanistan,” Psaki added.
Psaki further said that “nearly half of the world’s countries have also signed onto a statement making clear that is the expectation.”
She went on to add that the engagement with the Taliban will continue “through our ongoing channels that we have with the Taliban on the diplomatic front.”
.@PressSec Jen Psaki: "We have enormous leverage over the Taliban including access to the global marketplace. That's not a small piece of leverage."
Full video here: https://t.co/h2rgYtVM91 pic.twitter.com/lSBGj0UkY2
— CSPAN (@cspan) August 31, 2021
Hundreds of Americans are still stranded in Afghanistan after the last US troops left the region.
Psaki stated last week that it was “irresponsible” to suggest Americans were “stranded.”
“I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not,” Psaki last week at a press briefing. “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.”
Biden spoke on Tuesday about the departure of US soldiers from Afghanistan and the disaster that has occurred in recent weeks.
Following his address, Biden turned his back on reporters and refused to answer questions again and again.
Biden told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos earlier this month that soldiers would remain in the area until all Americans had evacuated but he broke that commitment.
Stephanopoulos: Does that mean troops will stay beyond Aug 31st if necessary?
Biden: “We’re gonna do everything in our power to get all Americans out & our allies out” …
Biden: “If there’s American citizens left, we’re gonna stay to get them all out”
In his address on Tuesday, Biden said that he accepts responsibility for the events of the last few weeks, but he also seemed to point fingers in other directions.
“The assumption was that more than 300,000 Afghan national security forces that we had trained over the past two decades and equipped would be a strong adversary in their civil wars with the Taliban,” he said. “That assumption, that the Afghan government would be able to hold on for a period of time beyond military drawdown, turned out not to be accurate.”
Last week, at least thirteen US military personnel were murdered in a terror attack at Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. Several additional military personnel were injured, and over a hundred Afghans were killed in the attack.
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