On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) said that the way the U.S. is leaving Afghanistan is “regrettable” and negotiating with the Taliban to ensure people can leave Afghanistan safely “is the best we can do right now.” She also said she has constituents who are in Afghanistan “who are American citizens, who were previously interpreters, who have no way to get to the airport right now.”
Speier said Biden “was being very honest,” during his speech earlier in the day, and “has been committed to getting out of Afghanistan for close to a decade. I think many of us have been in that position for a long time.”
She continued, “What is regrettable is the manner in which we’re leaving and the fact that we have something like 18,000 translators seeking to be able to be airlifted out of there, and right now, only 2,000 have been. So, we have got to negotiate, as I understand has been done, with the Taliban to keep that airport under our control so we can do enough airlifts to get people who have been there to help us and the women who have been negotiators, who’ve been running the NGOs, who’ve been in elected office who want to leave, give them a means by which to get out of the country.”
Speier added that relying on negotiations with the Taliban to get people out of the country safely “is the best we can do right now. And you know, we negotiate with our adversaries all the time, and whether we’re willing to define them as adversaries, as certainly, I would, or the new leaders of Afghanistan, our obligation right now is very clear. We need to make sure those people who helped us have a way out. I have constituents that are held up in homes right now, who are American citizens, who were previously interpreters, who have no way to get to the airport right now.”
Speier further stated that she is “hopeful” that the U.S. will be able to evacuate those that are in danger.
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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