White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that the Afghan government has all of the tools necessary to prevent a total Taliban takeover after U.S. forces withdraw from the country but needs to “develop the political will to do so.”
Psaki’s comments, delivered during Wednesday’s White House press briefing, came after Taliban forces have retaken control of more than 60% of Afghan territory. Meanwhile, U.S. personnel are conducting the final weeks of the withdrawal, which the administration moved up to Aug. 31 after President Joe Biden previously set Sept. 11 as his target for a full withdrawal.
TALIBAN CONTINUES CAPTURING PROVINCIAL CAPITALS AS EXPERTS WARN OF AFGHAN GOVERNMENT COLLAPSE
“We will continue to provide close air support, making sure that Air Force functions are operable, who will continue to resupply their forces with food and equipment and pay all their salaries,” Psaki told reporters. “The train, advise, and assist approach that we have been implementing and the range of assistance we’ve provided was done in coordination with military leaders and the implementation and designing of that plan with military leaders and civilian leaders in Afghanistan over the last several years.”
The top White House spokeswoman reiterated that the Afghan government has “what they need,” but qualified that “what they need to determine is if they have the political will to fight back.”
Psaki also declined to answer whether the U.S. Air Force will continue carrying out airstrikes after Aug. 31.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
You can watch Wednesday’s entire press briefing below.
