Biden Ordered Troops Into Afghanistan Last Week As The Taliban Swept Toward Kabul

Enlarge this image

U.S. soldiers stand guard as Afghan people wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on Aug. 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule.

Wakil Kohsar/AFP

hide caption

toggle caption

Wakil Kohsar/AFP

World
Chaos At The Kabul Airport Reflects The Desperation Afghans Are Feeling

He said there have been reports of some people being turned away from the Kabul airport and that the U.S. has taken that up in talks with the Taliban officials. He said that people have been getting through the airport gate and placed on planes but that it’s «an hour by hour issue.»

Meanwhile, the Air Force is looking into an incident Monday at the Kabul airport that resulted in the death of multiple Afghan civilians, according to the AP. Hundreds of civilians, desperate to leave the country, surrounded a C-17 cargo plane that was taxiing after landing. It then quickly took off again. Videos on social media showed people falling off the plane as it gained altitude.

Enlarge this image

Evacuees crowd the interior of a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft, carrying some 640 Afghans to Qatar from Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021.

Defense One/Reuters

hide caption

toggle caption

Defense One/Reuters

Asia
The Taliban Claim They’ll Respect Women’s Rights — With Their Reading Of Islamic Law

Sullivan also acknowledged that other U.S.-supplied weaponry was also now in the Taliban’s control.

«We don’t have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone, but certainly a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban,» he said, adding «we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.»

Sullivan did not directly respond to a question as to whether the U.S. considered the Taliban the legitimate governing power in Afghanistan. «Right now, there is a chaotic situation in Kabul where we don’t even have the establishment of a governing authority,» he said. Ultimately, Sullivan said, «it’s going to be up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are and how they intend to proceed. The track record has not been good,» he said.

World
What Kabul Looks Like 2 Days After The Taliban Took Control

Under repeated questioning, Sullivan refused to guarantee that all Americans who wish to leave Afghanistan will be able to do so by the August 31st deadline the administration has set for ending the evacuation mission.

The administration is planning a «hot wash» review of what happened

Sullivan said that at some point in the future the administration will conduct a so-called «hot wash» review of what happened. It won’t be a «what went wrong review.»

«We’ll look at everything that happened in this entire operation from start to finish, and the areas of improvement, where we could do better,» he said. He pledged to make the results public, but that for now he said officials are focused on the mission at hand of «getting these people out.»

Analysis
A Mission To Give Afghans Democracy Became A Bid To Repair America’s Own

Sullivan said the U.S. does not have a complete picture of what other material the Taliban has, but said «we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport.»

Sullivan did not directly respond to a question as to whether the U.S. considered the Taliban the legitimate governing power in Afghanistan.

«Right now, there is a chaotic situation in Kabul where we don’t even have the establishment of a governing authority,» he said. Ultimately, Sullivan said, «it’s going to be up to the Taliban to show the rest of the world who they are and how they intend to proceed. The track record has not been good.»