When Joe Biden retreated to Camp David for vacation, national security adviser Jake Sullivan attempted to clean up the president’s mess in Afghanistan, where more than 10,000 Americans could be stuck facing the advancing Taliban.
Sullivan’s strategy for returning our fellow citizens to safety? Taking the Taliban at their word and trusting they won’t rape, pillage, and murder them.
The State Department’s current system for evacuation involves emailing Americans who registered to leave Afghanistan when they’re due to fly out of the Kabul airport. But despite Pentagon press secretary John Kirby’s assertions they’ve secured the airport itself, no system has been put in place to get those Americans to the airport.
But not to worry, Sullivan says — the Taliban pinky-swore they’ll ensure the “safe passage” of Americans en route to the airport.
“We intend to hold them to that commitment,” Sullivan said.
So the Taliban, armed with U.S. military equipment we left behind in Biden’s slapdash escape from Afghanistan, won’t be going door to door in pursuit of Westerners to take hostage? Our strategy is simply to trust them?
This is not a small issue. Kirby has told CNN there are 10,000 Americans stranded in Afghanistan. White House press secretary Jen Psaki put the number at 11,000 during Tuesday’s press conference with Sullivan. Former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Charles told Fox News his embassy sources believe the figure ranges from 15,000 to a staggering 40,000.
All of that is ignoring the 80,000 visa applications from Afghans who “worked with the U.S. government or find themselves at risk,” according to Josh Rogin at the Washington Post.
All in all, we could be leaving the fates of over 100,000 Americans and our allies in the hands of the Taliban based on the sheer trust they won’t do what they’ve spent the entirety of their existence doing.
Either Biden lied when he claimed his administration prepared for “every possible contingency,” or he simply never cared what happened to the Americans in Afghanistan.
