Joe Biden appeared to admit US officials had effectively handed Taliban terrorists a “kill list” to target Afghans who previously helped Americans in the country.
Following the Islamic extremist group’s takeover of Kabul, they were given names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies.
The list was intended to allow those on it to enter the Taliban-controlled perimeter around Hamid Karzai International Airport to allow them to be evacuated.
But in doing so they exposed those who helped the US to the terror group, which has a notorious reputation for brutally executing anyone who aided the American military.
During his address about Thursday’s deadly terror attack at the Kabul airport, Biden acknowledged unspecified “occasions” on which the US military had contacted the Taliban to say: “For example, ‘This bus is coming through with X number of people on it, made up of the following people.'"
“And to the best of my knowledge, in those cases, the bulk of that has occurred. They’ve been let through,” he said.
“But I can’t tell you with any certitude that there’s actually been a list of names. There may have been, but I know of no circumstance.”
Biden added: “That doesn’t mean it’s not - it didn’t exist. That, ‘Here’s the names of 12 people. They’re coming. Let them through.’ It could very well have happened.”
The shocking revelation came just days after it was revealed Taliban death squads have been going “door to door” to hunt down suspected Afghan “collaborators,” with tens of thousands of American allies potentially at risk.
Biden’s revelation was met with widespread criticism, with Donald Trump leading the fury.
“Now we’re giving lists of Americans to the Taliban so now you just knock on the door and grab them and take them out,” he said.
“What you are watching now is only going to get worse, it can only go one way.
“We look like fools all over the world.”
H.R McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, said Thursday’s attacks which left 13 US military and dozens of Afghan civilians dead was “just the beginning”.
“We are going to see horrible image after horrible image,” retired Army Lieutenant General McMaster said.
“We’re going to confront the steady drumbeat of horrors inflicted on the Afghan people. What are we going to do about it?
“Are we going to give a damn? Or is this going to be like Rwanda?"
“I would not be surprised at all if ISIS-K - in fact, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the case - is being used by the Haqqani network as a cutout to attack us and humiliate us on our way out,” he added.
