Pentagon defends against accusations it wasn’t ready for Kabul’s fall, won’t commit to evacuating all Afghan allies
Pentagon chief Austin takes questions on Kabul airport evacuations
By Dan Lamothe
and
Greg Jaffe
August 18, 2021 at 9:58 p.m. EDT
The Pentagon’s top leaders on Wednesday sought to defend the military’s planning ahead of a Taliban assault that led to the fall of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government, saying they are focused for now on securing the Kabul airport and evacuating all American citizens and as many Afghan allies “as possible.”
In their first public remarks since the Afghan government’s collapse, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declared the airport “secure” and said evacuation flights were ongoing, but they repeatedly declined to address what will be done for Americans who cannot reach the airport safely. They were even more evasive on the question of how they planned to aid Afghan allies whom the United States had pledged to evacuate, but who were being stopped at Taliban checkpoints.
Administration officials informed Congress earlier this week that upward of 15,000 U.S. citizens were in Afghanistan when Kabul fell. Milley and Austin acknowledged that significant threats remain for those outside the facility and indicated that the United States now is relying on the Taliban to ensure safe passage. Although the airport is controlled by thousands of U.S. troops sent back into the war zone as chaos unfolded in recent days, the militants have established their security perimeter several miles outside the facility.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/08/18/afghanistan-pentagon-fall-of-kabul/
