Biden contradicted by Pentagon on claims al Qaeda ‘gone’ and Taliban letting Americans reach Kabul airport
WASHINGTON — President Biden on Friday claimed that al Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan, allies aren’t upset about the chaotic US pullout and the Taliban is letting Americans reach Kabul’s airport, before Pentagon leaders quickly contradicted the commander in chief.
Biden stumbled repeatedly when taking his first questions from reporters on Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban in the White House East Room five days after the Islamic fundamentalist group swept into the Afghan capital, toppling US-backed leaders after 20 years of war.The president repeatedly spoke inaccurately about facts around the evacuation of US citizens from the airport — saying that US citizens can reach the airport before clarifying that the Taliban is allowing Americans to pass but crowds are impeding them. But the Pentagon said Friday afternoon it’s heard the Taliban is actually stopping Americans.
Biden said in his remarks that 169 Americans “got over the wall into the airport using military assets.” Reuters later reported that those US citizens were loaded onto three Chinook helicopters from the Baron Hotel, just 200 meters from the airport. They reportedly were unable to reach the airport gates, casting further doubt on Biden’s claim that the airport was accessible.
Journalists and Biden’s own subordinates disputed his remarks on the situation in Afghanistan.
Biden defended the US departure by stating, “What interest do we have in Afghanistan at this point with al Qaeda gone?”
But a recent United Nations report said that the terror network is present in at least 15 of 34 Afghan provinces and Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed Thursday afternoon that “we know that al Qaeda is a presence, as well as ISIS, in Afghanistan and we’ve talked about that for quite some time.”
Attempting to put a positive spin on ongoing evacuations, Biden said in his remarks “we know of no circumstance where American citizens are carrying an American passport and are trying to get through to the airport.”
When an NPR reporter pointed out that was untrue, Biden changed his answer, saying that “to the best of our knowledge, the Taliban checkpoints, they are letting through people showing American passports” and that some Americans are struggling to reach the airport because of “the mad rush of non-Americans” crowding the area.
Kirby also said following Biden’s remarks that the Pentagon is aware of Taliban fighters impeding transit to the airport.
“We’re certainly mindful of these reports and they’re deeply troubling and we have communicated to the Taliban that that is absolutely unacceptable and we want free passage through their checkpoints for documented Americans. And by and large, that’s happening,” Kirby said at a press briefing.
Kirby firmly contradicted Biden’s claim that al Qaeda is “gone” from Afghanistan while arguing the terror network’s power is diminished.
“We do not believe it is exorbitantly high, but we don’t have an exact figure for you… our intelligence gathering ability in Afghanistan isn’t what it used to be because we aren’t there with the same numbers that we used to be,” Kirby said.
Kirby added, “what we believe is that there isn’t a presence that is significant enough to merit a threat to our homeland as there was back on 9/11 20 years ago.”
Biden, speaking for only the second time about Afghanistan since the Taliban seized Kabul on Sunday, also said “I have seen no question of our credibility from our allies around the world.”
The US departure, however, was condemned harshly during a UK parliament session. Armin Laschet, the conservative candidate to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, called it “the biggest debacle NATO has suffered since its founding.”
Meanwhile, there are many press reports of Americans unable to reach the Kabul airport. One American, David Marshall Fox, told The Post on Thursday that he and his son unsuccessfully sought to enter the airport on Wednesday while presenting his US passport.
“For me to be 10 feet from US Marines with my 3-year-old son, with my US passport and not being able to get through — that’s problematic,” Fox said, adding that he had given up hope of being evacuated.
While taking reporter questions, Biden said that he believed expanding the US military perimeter at Kabul’s airport could “draw an awful lot of unintended consequences.”
About 5,200 American troops are assisting with the desperate airport evacuation ahead of Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline to remove US troops from Afghanistan.
“The only country in the world capable of projecting this much power on the far side of the world with this degree of precision is the United States of America,” Biden said.
“We’ve already evacuated more than 18,000 people since July and approximately 13,000 since our military airlift began on August 14. Thousands more have been evacuated on private charter flights facilitated by the US government.”
On Thursday, Pentagon and State Department spokesmen admitted they didn’t know how many Americans still need to be evacuated from Afghanistan.
Biden said “we want to get a strong number as to exactly how many people are there, how many American citizens and where they are.”
The president spoke for less than 30 minutes and abruptly cut off questions and left the room.
Biden said “there will be plenty of time to criticize and second guess when this operation is over.”
Many top Biden administration officials have shied from public appearances this week amid the fall of Afghanistan. Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who both have been conspicuously quiet, stood behind Biden on Friday but did not speak.
Biden on Friday postponed a planned long weekend in Delaware as chaos continued in Kabul. His administration on Thursday abandoned plans to charge evacuees $2,000 or more for departure flights.
