WASHINGTON — Senior administration officials said Sunday the U.S was taking steps to save its remaining personnel and allies in Afghanistan as the Taliban encircled Kabul and helicopters lifted embassy staff out.
In a briefing for bipartisan House lawmakers on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin faced criticism and probing questions from lawmakers as President Joe Biden faces the political risk of a messy end to two decades of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan.
Blinken said the U.S. is prioritizing groups including U.S. citizens, local staffers and Afghan special-visa holders as two decades of American involvement in Afghanistan end under pressure from advancing anti-U.S. fighters.
Women’s advocates also are a priority group, Blinken told the lawmakers, according to a briefing participant. He the Biden administration, which has set an Aug. 31 deadline for completing the withdrawal, is still discussing ways to streamline the visa process for people who helped the U.S. and are now potential targets of the Taliban.
The Pentagon is deploying aircraft to Kabul that will bring departing personnel directly to military bases in the U.S., Blinken said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was among Republicans accusing the administration of mishandling the U.S. exit strategy.
“You say you had this plan,” McCarthy told the briefers, who also included Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “No one would plan out this outcome. The ramifications of this for America will go on for decades and it won’t just be in Afghanistan.”
Amid reports that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had fled Kabul, the administration officials said they couldn’t discuss his location at the briefing. Biden and Ghani met at the White House as recently as June.
Austin told lawmakers that the security situation deteriorated quickly with “extremely rapid gains” by the Taliban, who had now “encircled Kabul.” They faced little resistance from Afghan forces, Austin said.
Blinken said earlier in U.S. television interviews that Kabul embassy staffers are being moved to the capital’s airport, though the U.S. will maintain a “core diplomatic presence” in Afghanistan.
