Thousands of Americans remain in Kabul, with Washington instructing them to walk the Taliban's gauntlet to the airport on their own. They are not, however, "stranded," claims White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
At Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, the American evacuation mission is still in full force. Despite overcrowding, mortality, and runway closures at the airport early last week, President Joe Biden said on Sunday that 11,000 Americans, nationals of US allies, and Afghan refugees flew out of the airport in 36 hours over the weekend.
Psaki refuses to use "stranded" as a term for Americans stuck in Afghanistan
Officials from the Biden administration say they don't know how many US citizens are still in the country following the Taliban's takeover last week, but several have told news outlets that they can't get to Kabul's airport to be evacuated. The situation in Kabul has put the White House on the defense in regards to President Biden's plans to remove US troops by August 31 after a 20-year conflict. Many Americans were caught behind enemy lines as a result of the Taliban's quick attack.
The White House believes that around 4,000 Americans have been evacuated from Afghanistan, according to a senior US source, implying that thousands more may remain in Taliban-controlled areas. According to the official, the Pentagon initially projected 8,000-10,000 Americans in Afghanistan, while the State Department predicted 10,000-15,0000.
There have been several reports in the news of Americans being unable to access the Kabul airport. One American, David Marshall Fox, told The New York Post on Thursday that he and his son attempted to enter the airport on Wednesday with his US passport but were denied.
During her heated exchange, Psaki's vehement condemnation of the "stranded" description was widely mocked on social media. Per Fox News, even CNN's Jake Tapper reacted to Psaki's statements, saying, there is, no question, Americans who feel stranded in Afghanistan right now, recognizing the Biden administration's attempts to rescue Americans.
The Press Secretary's statements were partially intended to reassure Americans remaining in Afghanistan, but she was parsing words on what precisely is stranded, according to CNN Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann. The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, ABC News, Axios, and NBC News all used the term "stranded" as recently as Sunday, critics pointed out several headlines.
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White House can't determine the number of Americans in Afghanistan
In recent days, the Biden administration has failed to provide an exact number of Americans still in Afghanistan, provoking Conservative and other criticism of the government's readiness to withdraw US people.
The problem in determining a precise number stems from the fact that some Americans failed to inform the US Embassy when they arrived in Afghanistan or when they left, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan explained.
Because there are thousands of more Afghans trying to escape the country, Sullivan claims that a "significant majority" of the 37,000 people evacuated by the US military in the previous nine days are Afghan civilians and allies of the war effort. However, a few thousand Americans had been evacuated from Afghanistan since the Taliban began conquering major cities on their way to seizing Kabul's capital.
In recent days, Biden administration officials have been questioned about how many American citizens are in Afghanistan and need to be evacuated. Many spokespeople have hesitated to provide a more definite response than a few thousand. Sullivan said the administration has attempted to reach people thought to be in Afghanistan by email, text messages, phone calls, and public media such as radio, The Hill via MSN reported.
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