In the wake of reports that British paratroopers are being sent into Kabul to rescue British citizens and eligible Afghans who want to leave Afghanistan, the U.S. is getting slammed in the media for not doing the same. “But if the British can take their paratroopers and they can get in vehicles and go get their people and get them to the airport, why can’t the U.S. do that?” Fox News host Bret Baier asked Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in an interview. “If there is a deal with the Taliban to provide safe passage, why is it left to the Americans outside of that ring to get there on their own? Why can’t we send vehicles to go get them?”
“We have not seen any great impediments to the safe passage that the Taliban have agreed to facilitate,” Kirby replied, contradicting reports that the Taliban are blocking access to the airport in Kabul. “Americans are getting through those checkpoints and they are getting onto the base — the airfield, and they are being flown out of Kabul. I won’t speak to potential future operations that may or may not be conducted. What I can tell you is the operation we’re conducting now, and that is to keep that airfield open and running and Americans are getting through the lines. They are getting onto planes.”
Kirby confirmed during a press briefing yesterday that Rear Adm. Peter Vasely, the U.S. senior officer in Afghanistan, has been in daily contact with Taliban officials to try to facilitate the flow of people, Americans in particular, who want to leave but haven’t been able to get to the airport. U.S. officials have also confirmed that the Taliban have ceded the airport to the U.S. military, but Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen told NPR that U.S. forces are expected to complete their withdrawal by Sept. 11, and any further continuation of the mission beyond that date could be considered an “occupation.”
