White House press secretary Jen Psaki would not say Tuesday whether the United States and the Taliban had any official agreement regarding Americans remaining in Afghanistan.
Psaki held a press briefing immediately following the president’s remarks on the end of American military involvement in Afghanistan, and while she made it clear the expectation was that the Taliban would allow American citizens to leave the country through diplomatic arrangements, she stopped short of saying there was any such agreement. (RELATED: Psaki Says No One ‘Anywhere In The World’ Thought Afghan Government Could Fall So Quickly)
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Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason asked Psaki whether she could clarify any agreement the White House might have with the Taliban with regard to the 100-200 American citizens estimated to still be in Afghanistan who want to leave.
“Jen, can you clarify whether the United States has an agreement with the Taliban to allow more Americans and Afghans to leave the country?” he asked.
“I will say it’s not just our expectation but the expectation of 100 countries around the world,” Psaki replied, adding that the U.N. Security Council and others expected the Taliban to “abide by what they committed to last Friday, which is the ability of people to leave Afghanistan should they choose to leave.”
Psaki went on to say that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his team would be putting diplomatic pressure on the Taliban to make sure that they did allow American citizens and Afghans to leave the country if they desired to do so.
“Again, more than half of the countries in the world have conveyed what they expect and the U.N. Security Council signed a resolution yesterday,” Psaki concluded. “So those are the diplomatic pieces moving forward, this will be a top priority in the days ahead.”