During Tuesday’s press conference, both White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan refused to say if U.S. troops would remain in Afghanistan until the evacuation of Americans was complete.
A reporter asked Sullivan if evacuations were not complete by August 31st and “there are Americans and Afghan allies who remain there, will U.S. troops stay until everyone is out or will they leave?”
“So I’m not going to comment on hypotheticals,” Sullivan responded. “What I’m going to do is stay focused on the task at hand, which is getting as many people out as rapidly as possible and we will take that day by day.”
“So, you can’t commit to bringing back every American?” the reporter asked.
Sullivan ignored the reporter and moved on to another question.
Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan refuses to commit to evacuating all Americans from Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/zJT0NC7fEv
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 17, 2021
Near the end of the press conference, a reporter asked Psaki the same question.
“I know we all tried to ask Jake this question, but can you offer any guarantee to the Americans and Afghan allies that if they remain there past the end of the month, U.S. troops will help them evacuate past the end of the month?” the reporter asked.
“Our focus right now is on doing the work at hand and on the task at hand,” Psaki responded. “And that is day by day, getting as many American citizens, as many SIV applicants, as many members of vulnerable population who are eligible to be evacuated, to the airport and out on planes.”
“And we’re going to do that in an expeditious fashion,” Psaki added. “That is the focus of the president of our Secretary of Defense, have our Secretary of State and everybody on our national security team. So that is where we will keep our efforts.”
.@PressSec is asked if U.S. will can guarantee to Americans and allies in Afghanistan that if they remain there past the end of the month, American troops will help them evacuate:
"Our focus right now is on doing the work at hand. pic.twitter.com/LzAwBVQz1r
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 17, 2021
