(RepublicanInformer.com)- It seems like only a week or so ago that the Biden administration was assuring the American people that they would not rest until every single American citizen in Afghanistan was evacuated.
In his interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired just days after Kabul fell, President Biden was unequivocal. We were going to stay in Afghanistan until “we get them all out.”
On August 19, Biden said “if there are American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out.”
He lied. pic.twitter.com/yOKN8RRgO6
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 30, 2021
As the days ticked down to August 31 and it was clear that the White House had no plan to stay beyond that date, Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked Jen Psaki about those Americans stranded in Afghanistan. And Psaki played the “righteous indignation” card and scolded Doocy for even daring to use the word “stranded.”
PSAKI: "I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not."
DOOCY: "'There are no Americans stranded' is the White House's official position on what's happening in Afghanistan right now?" pic.twitter.com/0FEq5VkO6V
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 23, 2021
Along the way, the talking points altered slightly. Americans were told that those citizens in Afghanistan “who want to leave” will be evacuated. The purpose of this narrative shift couldn’t be more clear. The Biden administration knew that some Americans weren’t going to make it out. And rather than accept their own culpability for failing to rescue them, they were setting it up as “hey, those guys didn’t want to leave.”
In the afternoon of August 30, the Pentagon announced that the US had officially withdrawn from Afghanistan. And during the Pentagon press briefing, they admitted that some Americans remained behind. But don’t worry. The number is only in the “low hundreds.”
Naturally the public didn’t respond well to the news that the US government left Americans stranded in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
And how did Pentagon press secretary John Kirby respond?
Hey, Americans get stranded in countries all the time.
Pentagon Spokesman, today: “We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time”
Jen Psaki, August 23: "I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not." pic.twitter.com/syyDJT9P6N
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 31, 2021
Worse still, Kirby had the shameless audacity to blame the very Americans they left behind for getting left behind.
It’s their fault, see. They waited way too long to try and leave.
Perhaps if the administration had been honest from the start, those would’ve taken steps to get out of Afghanistan sooner. But even days before the Taliban swept into Kabul, the Biden administration was assuring the world that the fall of Afghanistan’s civilian government and a takeover by the Taliban was still months away.
