Pentagon Spox Kirby: Need Taliban to ‘Understand’ Why Allies ‘Deserve to Be’ on Flights

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said evacuating American allies will “require cooperation with the Taliban, making sure that they understand the credentials that these people have and why they deserve to be on these flights,” and the Taliban has “been cooperative” with the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan, but “additional conversations” with the group will be required to finish the evacuation of Americans.

Kirby said evacuating Americans will “require additional conversations in cooperation with the Taliban. And so far, they have been cooperative, and — as we’ve just seen.”

He later addressed the evacuation of U.S. allies, stating, “I think you’re going to see it sort of similar to what we’ve just seen with this charter flight…it’s going to require cooperation with the Taliban, making sure that they understand the credentials that these people have and why they deserve to be on these flights, making sure that there’s full transparency there and helping them facilitate movement to the appropriate aircraft at the appropriate time to get them out.”

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