Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany ripped President Biden for allowing the Taliban to dictate terms “to the most powerful country in the world” by sticking with the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline.
In an “Outnumbered” panel Tuesday, journalist Lara Logan joined McEnany and called the Aug. 31 deadline, “the Taliban’s deadline, not America’s.”
McEnany agreed with Logan’s assessment of the Biden administration conceding to Taliban threats. (RELATED: In The Wake Of Taliban Threats, Biden Reportedly Keeping With Aug. 31 Afghanistan Withdrawal Date)
“We are not negotiating with the Taliban. No, we are not. They are dictating terms to us,” she said. “Taliban, a terrorist organization, is dictating terms to the most powerful country in the world.”
The former Trump spokeswoman went on to explain that the Taliban are “dictating” because “we have an incompetent commander-in-chief.”
McEnany insisted that the Taliban would never have dictated terms under former President Donald Trump.
“Under President Trump, this would have never happened. You would have had a competent plan. Take the civilians out first. Take the equipment. Take the military,” she told the Fox panel. “But you simply do not have a commander-in-chief who is in control here. And Americans will be left behind and left for dead.”
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told Sky News on Monday that they would not allow the U.S. to extend the Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline and warned of “consequences” if the deadline is not met. (RELATED: Taliban Tells Biden To Focus On Extracting Americans … And Only Americans)
“It’s a red line,” he told correspondent Sally Lockwood. “If the U.S. or U.K. were to seek additional time to continue evacuations – the answer is no. Or there would be consequences.”
A Taliban spokesperson tells Sky’s @SallyLockwood that there would be ‘consequences’ if the US chose to stay in the country after the 31 August deadline.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 23, 2021
At a press conference Tuesday, Taliban representative Zabihullah Mujahid doubled down on not budging from the deadline.
“We are not in favour of allowing Afghans to leave”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid adds it would be a “violation” of the agreement to allow evacuations of foreign nationals beyond 31 August
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— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2021
“We want them to evacuate all foreign nationals by the 31st of August,” said the Taliban spokesman.