Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that U.S. personnel are being moved from the embassy in Kabul to the airport “to ensure they can operate safely and securely” as the Taliban enter Afghanistan‘s capital.
The relocation to the airport comes as Taliban fighters entered Kabul on Sunday, seeking the surrender of the central government. Diplomats have spent the weekend destroying sensitive documents at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. On Saturday, President Joe Biden ordered 1,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, amounting to a total of 5,000, despite the United States’s full withdrawal from the country nearing.
Blinken said the additional troops would aid in a “safe” drawdown effort for diplomatic officials still in the region amid the Taliban’s takeover.
AFGHAN PRESIDENT ASHRAF GHANI FLEES COUNTRY
“It’s why the president sent in a number of forces to make sure that as we continue to draw down our diplomatic presence that we do it in a safe and orderly fashion. And at the same time maintain a core diplomatic presence in Kabul,” Blinken said on ABC This Week.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization issued a statement on Sunday saying it is “helping to maintain operations at Kabul airport to keep Afghanistan connected with the world.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST ON THE AFGHANISTAN CRISIS
Blinken, in a separate interview with NBC, added that any assertion that U.S. forces could have stayed in Afghanistan longer is “fiction.”
”Because we inherited a deadline, negotiated by the previous administration. That deadline was May 1st,” Blinken said.
WATCH: Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells #MTP that it’s a “fiction” that U.S. forces could have stayed in Afghanistan longer. @SecBlinken:”Because we inherited a deadline, negotiated by the previous administration. That deadline was May 1st.” pic.twitter.com/u1dM1ZIPim
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 15, 2021
Biden has also underscored his decision to withdraw from the country, noting the “endless American presence” in Afghanistan for the past 20 years was not acceptable and that he would not pass on the decadeslong war to a fifth U.S. president.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“One more year, or five more years, of U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country,” Biden said Saturday. “And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
