National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, during a lengthy press briefing at the White House yesterday, called the images of the chaos at the airport from the day before “heartbreaking,” but said Biden “had to think about the human costs of the alternative path as well, which was to stay in the middle of a civil conflict in Afghanistan … and President Biden was not prepared to send additional forces or ask any American personnel to do that over the period ahead.”
Otherwise, Sullivan offered an update on the operation to evacuate American citizens, Afghans who worked with the U.S. military and other third country nationals from Kabul, report the U.S. military had secured the Kabul airport and restored it to normal functioning. As for the Taliban, he said they are going to have to show that they are prepared to meet their obligations to human rights and fair treatment of civilians. “I come at this with no expectations, but only a sense that they will have to prove to the international community who they ultimately are going to end up being.”
