Middle East
Pentagon Spokesman says ‘We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time’
By Jenny Goldsberry
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby downplayed the circumstances of Americans stranded in Afghanistan in a press conference Monday. He admitted that Americans “get stranded in countries all the time.” His comments dispute what the White House declared since people began evacuating Afghanistan.
A week ago, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied that Americans were stranded in the country in a press conference. “First of all, I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded,” Psaki said. “They are not.”
TODAY: Biden's Pentagon Spokesman: “We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time”
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) August 31, 2021
LAST WEEK: Biden's Press Sec Jen Psaki: "I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not." pic.twitter.com/fhte5I85R3
Instead, Psaki insisted that their communication strategy is helping get Americans out. “We are committed to bringing Americans, who want to come home, home,” Psaki said. “We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via e-mail, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home.”
Yet an American mother who claimed to be stranded herself said that there have been instances of miscommunication. “For four days, three, four days, we didn’t hear anything from anywhere,” she said. “And then they’re saying to go to the airport, but we’re not being clear guidance. They are saying one thing, and then the next thing, they come and say something else, so you really exactly don’t know what to do. There is a lot of miscommunication going on. You know, your emails are getting ignored.”
Then, photos of abandoned dogs at the Hamid Karzai International Airport made the rounds on Twitter. Some claimed they were military K-9 units. However Kirby also put those rumors to rest.
“To correct erroneous reports, the U.S. Military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, including the reported military working dogs,” Kirby tweeted Tuesday. “Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under our care.” Why their carriers were seemingly photographed at an airport is still a mystery.
As of Monday, the U.S. military evacuated over 123,000 people.
You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Scott Mannn discussed the withdrawal from Afghanistan in depth on the latest episode of The Sara Carter Show. Mann claims that although it was a botched withdrawal, our service members did their best. Instead, the government is to blame for the failure.
“Our Vets led the way when the government failed,” Mann said. “They fought till the last bullet. They fought until the bitter end, even when their president and their generals took bribes and abandoned them.” Therefore, Mann is advocating for immediate visas to these Afghan Special Forces.
Meanwhile, families like Sara Carter’s have stepped up to help Afghans out of the country. “It was the veteran population, for the most part, and the military family population who looked at this and said: ‘Okay, fine, nobody else is coming. I’ll do it.’ And we picked up our cell phones. We started working together to find ways to try to guide and shepherd our Afghan friends to some kind of safety, if not freedom,” Mann said. “We need their help. People like you [Sara Carter] who’ve been on this problem from the very beginning. You know, you’re on a 911 dispatch call, and you’re the dispatcher. You’ve been on the call for a month, and you are the dispatcher that is assisting a family who is being murdered one by one. You’re staying on the line with them as this is occurring. You have no shift relief.”
So Mann is lobbying Congress to write a law, that any Afghan who went through the school of excellence as a commando Afghan Special Forces, should have an immediate visa.
You can follow Jenny Goldsberry on Twitter @jennyjournalism.
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