Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) blasted the Biden White House on Tuesday for “letting the Taliban call the shots” and concluded that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is “either a liar or just as clueless as Biden” on the situation in Afghanistan as Americans remain stranded.
“Joe Biden set a hard deadline with no plan in place to get Americans and our Afghan partners out by that deadline — and now he’s letting the Taliban call the shots,” Blackburn said following news of Biden agreeing to keep the August 31 deadline to complete evacuations after the Taliban said there will be “no extensions”:
She also took aim at Psaki, providing the definition of “stranded” as the press secretary claimed the administration is “not leaving Americans who want to return home.”
“Jen Psaki is either a liar or as clueless as Biden on how dire the situation in Afghanistan has become,” Blackburn added:
On Tuesday morning, Psaki attempted to offer what she described as additional context on American citizens remaining in Afghanistan.
“We are committed to bringing Americans, who want to come home, home. We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via e-mail, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home,” she tweeted.
“We are not leaving Americans who want to return home. We are going to bring them home. And I think that’s important for the American public to hear and understand,” she added:
Despite those claims, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), prior to the Taliban warning of “no extensions” to the August 31 deadline, admitted Monday that evacuations would extend beyond that date, indicating it is simply not enough time to evacuate remaining Americans stranded in the jihadist-run country.
“It’s hard for me to imagine all of that can be accomplished between now and the end of the month,” he told reporters, citing the number of Americans who still need to be evacuated as well as “the number of SIVs, the number of others who are members of the Afghan press, civil society leaders, [and] women leaders.”
On Monday, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby refused to offer the number of Americans evacuated from Afghanistan.