Evacuations

Pentagon: Kabul evacuations not solely reliant on 'goodwill' from Taliban

Defense Department press secretary also acknowledged the Pentagon was abreast of the reports on airport access.

By QUINT FORGEY

The Pentagon’s top spokesperson denied on Wednesday that the United States was solely dependent on the “goodwill” of the Taliban as the U.S. military forged ahead with its urgent mission to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies from the international airport in Kabul.

Still, Defense Department press secretary John Kirby was largely unable to assuage concerns about reports of Taliban fighters preventing access to the airport and myriad threats posed to potential evacuees — despite an agreement the Biden administration said it brokered with the militant group to allow civilians safe passage to U.S. flights.

“I’m not going to walk you away from the idea that that’s not important. Of course it’s important,” Kirby told reporters Wednesday, referring to the safe passage agreement. “But to say that the evacuation all hinges on [the] goodwill of the Taliban I think is to overstate all the efforts that have to go into this.”

Kirby also acknowledged the Pentagon was abreast of the reports on airport access, which has been complicated by a Taliban-imposed curfew in Kabul and checkpoints erected across the capital city, as well as confusing documentation requirements.

“This is one of the reasons why communication with the Taliban is so important,” Kirby said. “And what I can tell you is we’re not unaware that there has been issues out in town and harassment of individuals.”

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that U.S. officials believed the safe passage agreement with the Taliban could last until Aug. 31, President Joe Biden’s self-imposed deadline for the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. But Sullivan did not say whether evacuations would continue beyond the end of the month.

Kirby, too, declined to answer whether the evacuation mission would blow past the Aug. 31 end date, which a bipartisan group of 40 House lawmakers urged Biden to disregard Tuesday as the administration seeks to ramp up U.S. military flights out of Afghanistan.

“The mandate by the president is to complete this mission by the 31st of August, and that’s the target we’re shooting for,” Kirby said. “I won’t speculate about any possible different decisions going forward. That would have to be a decision made by the commander in chief.”