W.H.’s Bedingfield: We’re Doing What We Can to Evacuate Every American Who Wants to Get Out of Afghanistan

Friday on CNN’s “New Day,” White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the President Joe Biden administration is doing everything it can to evacuate every American out of Afghanistan who wants to get out.

After saying the White House doesn’t know the “precise number” of Americans still in Afghanistan after falling to the Taliban, Bedingfield revealed that they are working to get out every American and every ally who wants to leave.

“You know, we don’t have a precise number, and there’s a reason for that,” Bedingfield told host Brianna Keilar. “It’s because the number of people, of Americans, in Afghanistan, includes people who may have left the country, who may have left over the course of the last six months. So, what we’re doing is working to identify how many Americans are there. As of a few weeks ago, we had already begun reaching out to all American citizens who are in Afghanistan via email, via texts, via messaging app to hear from them and to understand their plans and work with them to get them out if they want to get out. And so, that is a massive logistical operation that’s underway.”

“The president has committed. We will get every American who wants to get out, out of Afghanistan. And we are working to move as many of our allies — who helped us, who stood by us, who helped our servicemen and women — get out as possible,” she added.

According to Bedingfield, getting everyone out by the August 31 deadline is Biden’s “sole focus.”

“We are doing everything we can to get as many people out who want to get out before the Aug. 31 deadline,” she advised. “That is the sole focus of the president of the United States and his team right now. They are doing everything operationally within their capacity to get out.”

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