Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Wednesday press briefing that the United States is not anywhere close to where we want to be in terms of evacuating people from Afghanistan.
Austin said the U.S. plans to send more military assistance to aid evacuations from the war-torn country. He added it’s “obvious” that the number of evacuations is not near the goal.
A bit of candor from Sec. Austin, who says “It’s obvious that we’re not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through” on evacuations. Says they’ll get everyone they can out “until the clock runs out or we run out of capability.”
— Dave Lawler (@DavidLawler10) August 18, 2021
“As I stated earlier, we’re gonna push more military assistance down to the entry points to facilitate these efforts, but we’re really working hard to get as many people through as possible,” he said. “And, quite frankly, it’s obvious we’re not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through.” (RELATED: Thousands Of Americans Stuck In Afghanistan Told To Shelter In Place, US Can’t Clear Path To Airport)
Austin said the U.S. will work constantly to ensure as many evacuations as possible.
“So we’re going to work that 24 hours a day, seven days a week and we’re going to get everyone that we can possibly evacuate, evacuated,” he continued. “And I’ll do that as long as we possibly can until the clock runs out, or we run out of capability.”
Chaos ensued at the Kabul airport when people tried to evacuate as the Taliban took over Afghanistan after President Joe Biden ordered the U.S. military to withdraw. Harrowing images and videos emerged of people clinging to planes and falling to their deaths in an attempt to escape.