Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Jake Sullivan Gives Briefing on Situation in Afghanistan; White House Holds Briefing on Harris Trip Abroad, Infrastructure Deal. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired August 23, 2021 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
JAKE SULLIVAN, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We have developed a method to safely and efficiently transfer groups of American citizens onto the airfield. For operational reasons, I'm not going to go into further detail on this.
Many people have asked, reasonably, why we cannot provide a precise number of American citizens still in-country.
Let me explain. When Americans have come to Afghanistan over the years, we ask them to register with the embassy.
Many have left without deregistering. Others never register at all. That is their right, of course. And it's our responsibility to find them, which we are now doing hour-by-hour.
In the days remaining, we believe we have the wherewithal to get out the American citizens who want to leave Kabul.
This operation is complex. It is dangerous. It is fraught with challenges, operational, logistical, human. And it's produced searing images of pain and desperation.
But no operation like this, no evacuation from a capital that has fallen in a civil war, could unfold without those images.
The question is, are we on track to fulfill our objectives of this operation, to bring out our people, so many of those Afghans who helped us, and so many of those Afghans at risk? And we believe we are.
As we conduct these operations, we are sustaining the highest level of vigilance for an attack against the airport by ISIS-K or another terrorist group.
Our commanders on the ground have taken every step they can to prepare for such an attack.
Our president has authorized every capability that those commanders have asked for to protect the airfield against such an attack. We remain in close touch with allies and partners to coordinate the
evacuation of their own citizens and their priority personnel, as well as to respond to the ongoing political and security situation in Afghanistan.
The president has spoken twice now with the British prime minister. He has spoken with the German chancellor, the French president, the Spanish president, the Italian prime minister, the emir of Qatar and the crown prince of the UAE.
Tomorrow, he will participate in a G-7 leaders meeting on Afghanistan to ensure the world's leading democracies are aligned and united on the way forward.
We are working with partners to address the acute humanitarian needs of the Afghan people.
And we will remain persistently vigilant against the terrorism threat in Afghanistan and in multiple other theaters. We have proven in other places that we can suppress terrorism without a permanent military presence on the ground, and we will do the same in Afghanistan.
Finally, we are deeply moved by the outpouring of support from so many Americans, so many of them veterans, to help Afghan evacuees, those Afghans at risk, our Afghan allies, settle here in the United States.
This is the best of the American spirit, and we look forward to working with them in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
And with that, I would be happy to take your questions.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, Jake.
A Taliban spokesman has said that it would be a red line for the U.S. to keep troops in Afghanistan past its own August 31st deadline.
Are you engaged in talks with the Taliban overextending that deadline, and how are those talks going?
SULLIVAN: We are in talks with the Taliban on a daily basis through both political and security channels. I'm not going to get into the details of those discussions here to protect those discussions, which are covering a wide range of issues.
We are also consulting closely with our allies and partners on the issue of the evacuation and its progress.
In fact, the president just got off the phone with the British prime minister a short time ago.
We are taking this day by day. We believe we are making enormous progress.
And taking a step back, a week ago, I don't think almost anyone in this briefing room would have thought we'd be standing here today with 37,000 people already evacuated from the country. We believe we're making progress. We're going to keep making progress.
And the president will ultimately make his decision about the precise shape and scope of the operation.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Has the president decided whether he is going to need more time beyond August 31st to get all U.S. personnel and Afghan people out of the country?
SULLIVAN: As I said, the president believes we are making substantial progress. Dozens of flights, thousands, now tens of thousands of people evacuated from the country.
We believe today will be an efficient and effective day, and tomorrow and the next day as well.
And as I said, he is taking this day by day and will make his determinations as we go.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just to follow up. Does the administration think that they need Taliban agreement to extend beyond August 31st?
SULLIVAN: As I said, we are engaging with the Taliban, consulting with the Taliban on every aspect of what's happening in Kabul right now.
On what's happening at the airport, on how we need to ensure that there's facilitated passage to the airport for American citizens, SIVs, third-country nationals, and so forth. We'll continue those conversations with them.
[14:35:06]
Ultimately, it will be the president's decision how this proceeds. No one else's.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just checking, Jake. You said we have the wherewithal to get Americans out, but you didn't -- forgive me if I didn't get the quote right, in your statement.
You didn't say that we have the ability to get them out in the time frame, by August 31st. So, is that --
SULLIVAN: As I've said before, as the president has said before, we believe that we have time between now and the 31st to get out any American who wants to get out.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. I wanted to ask, you said that -- you have said multiple times and the president has said that you could not leave Afghanistan without these chaotic scenes no matter when you left, that would happen. I guess my question is, why didn't the administration prepare the
American public and say to the American public, there are going to be very chaotic scenes, you are going to see -- it's going to be rough, there's going to be a rough couple weeks before this happens?
Instead, you had the president saying, don't worry, we're not going to be, you know, evacuating ambassadors or diplomats from the roof of the embassy, don't worry about that.
Why, if he knew there would be chaos, did the administration not prepare the American public for the chaos?
SULLIVAN: So, first, I'm glad you asked this question. And I want to take a step back and address the nature of an evacuation in a circumstance like this. And then I'll come to your specific point on messaging.
Whether Kabul fell in August or September or December or next August, the fact is, whenever it fell, there were going to be American citizens in Kabul who needed to be evacuated.
There were going to be third-country nationals in Kabul who were going to be evacuated, have to be evacuated. There were going to be Afghans still in the fight, who had supported the U.S. war effort over the last 20 years, who were going to have to be evacuated.
So, an evacuation operation in a dangerous situation was going to have to happen at some point.
And when you run an operation like that, when you are trying to position assets to go in and secure an airfield in a city that has been taken by opposing forces with a government that's collapsed, your contingency plan is going to hit head-on with reality.
And there are going to be complexities and challenges and difficulties, and you work through them. You make adjustments and you ultimately get an operation going that is moving out thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people daily.
That is what we have accomplished over the course of the week. It has not been without its immense difficulties. And we are very mindful of those difficulties. We are clear-eyed about those difficulties.
(CROSSTALK)
SULLIVAN: But that is how we have watched the last week unfold.
Why the president didn't walk out and say, let me explain to you exactly what is going to unfold in Afghanistan?
All along, the president has been clear that the United States was not going to enter a third decade of American military deployment in the middle of another country's civil war.
And in his speech in April and in his speech in July, and in comments he has made since then, he has been clear that that could mean difficult times in Afghanistan. We have been clear-eyed about this from the start.
But what we were not prepared to do, what the president was not prepared to do, was to say that, for that reason, we need to keep American men and women fighting and dying in this civil war.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes, Jake. Whether it's August 31st or shortly thereafter, it's clear that all of the eligible Afghans who worked for U.S. forces and the U.S. government are not going to be able to get out.
For those watching, what do you say to them? What advice do you give? Should they try to get to a third country on their own? Should they wait for some diplomatic solution?
SULLIVAN: So, first, we're in touch with the Afghans at risk, eligible for special immigrant visas and other categories of support from the U.S. government.
We are trying to get as many of them to the airport as quickly as possible to get them on flights home.
And as I said yesterday, in comments on the Sunday shows, we will continue to get Afghans at risk out of the country even after U.S. military forces have left.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, sir.
The president has criticized his predecessor. He's criticized the Afghan army, the Afghan government for all of their failures. One group that he has seemed to criticize at length, though, is the Taliban. Why is that?
And then also, why does the president continue to say that the Taliban is facing an existential question about how they'll be viewed on the world stage?
I mean, they're going door-to-door, going after the families of these translators, don't they already know who they are?
SULLIVAN: So, first, the president has been very clear about his views of the Taliban. You've asked him, repeatedly, do you trust these guys? And he has told you repeatedly, no, I do not.
[14:40:05]
Of course, he does not. Of course, none of us do. Because we've seen the horrific images from the last time they were in power. Because we've seen the way they've conducted this war.
Because we've seen the fact that they have been responsible for the deaths of American men and women through two decades of war, a war that the president was not prepared to continue for a third decade. So, we have no illusions about the Taliban.
And from our perspective, what we need to do right now is focus on our task at hand. And our task is to get thousands and thousands of people out of the country as safely and efficiently as possible.
That is what we are doing and what we believe that we can achieve.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you, Jake.
So, Friday, the president said that we got rid of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Sunday, the secretary of state said there is al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
So, are you presenting the president with the full picture, or is he just misapplying the intelligence when he makes these public statements?
SULLIVAN: The president was referring to al Qaeda's capability to attack the United States, which the Intelligence Community tells us today is not present in Afghanistan. But today, it is not present in Afghanistan.
What is present in Afghanistan, right now, to our forces at the airport, is a serious threat from ISIS-K, which we're trying to deal with.
And of course, there's the possibility that al Qaeda could reconstitute an external plotting capability in Afghanistan.
That's why you've heard from the president about the need for an over the horizon capability that would allow the United States, working with partners, to continue to suppress the terrorism threat in Afghanistan, from al Qaeda or ISIS-K or anyone else.
Just as we work to suppress the terrorism threat from al Qaeda and ISIS in Yemen, in Syria, in Somalia, in the Islamic Magreb and many other countries.
And let me just finish by saying, the president has been clear that from his perspective, American counterterrorism capabilities have evolved to the point where we can suppress that terrorism threat without keeping thousands or tens of thousands of troops on the ground in a country.
We have proven that out in other countries, and that is exactly what we intend to do in Afghanistan. And the president has spoken about the terrorism issue in Afghanistan repeatedly on multiple occasions.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Does anyone regret not moving quicker to evacuate more Afghan civilians who worked with the United States?
SULLIVAN: Again, I'm very glad you asked that question. This refers to the special immigrant visa program.
The special immigrant visa program has been around for a significant number of years. And it was never designed as conceived by Congress for a mass evacuation circumstance.
Your individual applicant for a special immigrant visa typically took, under the law the way that it was applied by the various agencies in the U.S. government, through multiple administrations, 18 to 24 months per person to get through the various vetting and other requirements to get their visas. Sometimes longer, sometimes multiple years.
When we took office in January, the Trump administration had not processed a single special immigrant visa since March of 2020. In nearly a year.
So, what we did when we came in was move as rapidly as possible to process as many applications as possible as fast as possible.
Trimming months and months and months off of that process, working with Congress to get them to actually change the law over the summer to relax the requirements so we could move people forward.
Even then, we put in place an evacuation operation using charter aircraft starting in July to begin moving SIVs and their families out.
Now, as I said the last time I was at this podium, we did contemplate a big, gray tail move of Afghans and others in the July, early August time frame.
We made the determination not to do so because not just Afghan government officials but supporters of the Afghan government in Afghanistan, including many of the people who want to come out now, said that doing so would trigger a complete crisis of confidence in the government.
As it turns out, not taking out the -- not doing that evacuation didn't exactly save the Afghan government. We acknowledge that. But that was a considered judgment at the time.
Once we faced a circumstance in which we needed to move rapidly to secure the airfield, to help get those folks out, that's precisely what we did, and that is precisely what we are doing now.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake, does the president intend to fire, reassign or ask for the resignation of any White House personnel or administration officials who handled the situation in Afghanistan?
SULLIVAN: I have not heard him say so. It's, of course, your job to ask those kinds of questions. It's my job just to keep doing what we're doing, which is, every day, trying to get as many people out as possible.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What if the U.S. can't get Americans and Afghan allies out of the country by August 31st? What happens then if the Taliban says they are not willing to extend? Is the U.S. going to abide by their red lines?
[14:45:02]
SULLIVAN: So, I'm not going to take this on as a hypothetical question.
What I'm going to say is what I said at the outset, which is, we're in touch with the Taliban daily. We're in touch with our allies and partners.
We're reviewing our progress in this particular operation, which we feel has been substantial over the past few days, and the president will make his own determinations.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake?
SULLIVAN: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you say approximately the number or percentage-wise the number of evacuees that are American citizens thus far?
And then secondly, I know you don't want to get deep into operational details, but the president's made clear that the area around the airport, there's been an expansion in the safe zone.
Does that mean American troops are operating outside the perimeter of the airport?
SULLIVAN: American troops are not operating outside the perimeter of the airport.
What has happened is, through these military channels of communication with the Taliban, they have extended the perimeter from the point of view of their checkpoints to allow Americans through, to allow third country nationals through, to allow SIV holders through.
That is what is happening now. Not right at the gate but rather a substantial distance away from the gate. I'm not going to get into the precise details of those distances.
But that is what he was referring to with respect to the extension of the perimeter.
On the question of relative ratios, the significant majority of those coming out are Afghan e evacuees because the total number of Americans in-country was a relatively limited number of folks.
So in terms of the percentages of the 37,000, the substantial bulk of them are Afghan evacuees. But there also have been a few thousand Americans who have already been evacuated and we're working on the rest now.
Yes? (CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have anything more specific? Are people traveling with passports or other kind of documentation and is that why you can't answer that question more specifically? I mean -- (INAUDIBLE).
SULLIVAN: Again, the reason we can't give you a precise number is because not every American who comes into Afghanistan goes and puts themselves in a database at the U.S. embassy. They don't have to. Many of them choose not to.
So, it's our responsibility to put out the call to every means we know how, try to work through to get in contact with them and ultimately build as credible a list as we can of folks who are holding those passports so that we can bring them to the airport.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- the number of Americans who are in Afghanistan waiting to get out. How many Americans have you so far taking out?
SULLIVAN: Oh, I see. We can get you the precise number on that.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake, one, just a clarification. You had said that all Americans in Kabul who want to get out can get out. Did you mean Kabul or did you mean the entire country?
And second, one of the things that you all bragged about over the weekend was the rapidity with which you guys negotiated over the last several days with third countries the ability to bring flights in to -- you know, to expand the number of places throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Why wasn't that done months ago? I mean, you yourself have just said, you knew exactly that this chaos was going to erupt at some point.
Why would there be the need to negotiate on the fly with these countries if -- couldn't that have been done before?
SULLIVAN: I'll take your second question first.
I have to tell you, I bristle at saying we bragged, OK? I haven't bragged about anything. I'm trying to give you the straight dope from here, the good and the bad, and that means a lot to me.
Secondly, it is certainly the case that we have had to add countries and tried to add capacity in places. We did spend months negotiating transit centers to set up as part of our contingency planning in both the gulf and in Europe.
As it turns out, we have been able to produce a throughput that exceeded even our optimistic expectations in terms of the number of folks who could get out.
So the fact is, we are actually overperforming in terms of the evacuation numbers, and therefore, we need a higher ceiling in terms of the number of beds and other facilities at transit centers, so we're simply adding capacity.
But you can't go from a standing start. You can't go from zero to yes in 24 hours.
This is something that we have prepared, prepositioned, engaged with allies and partners on over the course of time.
So that when we pick up the phone and call, they don't say, what are you talking about? They know what we're talking about. They know that the ask has gone from a 5,000 cap to a 10,000 cap. They adjust accordingly.
And that reflects the work of painstaking diplomacy over the course of many months.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The first question? The first question about Afghanistan versus just Kabul.
SULLIVAN: Oh, I see. Yes, we are trying to get Americans out wherever they may be in Afghanistan.
Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On SIVs, how many SIVs are being brought to the United States? Is there a goal for how many you intend to bring to the United States? What's their long-term plan?
And outside of that designation, what else is the administration doing to expedite the process of getting SIVs out of Afghanistan.
[14:50:02]
SULLIVAN: We're not putting an exact number on it. The program doesn't put a precise number on it. There isn't some cap on the number of SIVs or some target. So we are working to get as many out as we possibly can.
If you think about the fact there's been 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, the sheer number of Afghans who, in one way or another, have worked for the United States.
I'm not going to put a precise number on it. I'm not going to put an estimate on. I'm only going to put a principle on it. The principle is we're working to out as many Afghan allies as we possibly can.
(CROSSTALK)
SULLIVAN: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Prime Minister Johnson has said he's going to ask President Biden to extend that August 31st deadline. Did he make that ask in the call? And what did Mr. President Biden tell him -- (INAUDIBLE)?
SULLIVAN: I'm not going to speak for Prime Minister Johnson or read out the precise details of the call.
All I'm going to say the president continues to consult with the prime minister and our other allies how the evacuation should proceed from here and he will ultimately make the decision.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: -- what Prime Minister Johnson says, reportedly, for the ask? That is the reporting I got -- (INAUDIBLE) -- to ask the president.
SULLIVAN: So, I'm not going to preview what the president will say in the G-7 meeting tomorrow. At the moment, he's focused on private conversations with foreign leaders.
He will have the opportunity to have that engagement in the private session with the G-7 leaders tomorrow.
I'm not from the podium going to read out what are sensitive conversations among leaders between the United States and others.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there a determination how the administration determines who is still left, what Americans are still left -- (INAUDIBLE)? Because, as you said, there is some people who did not deregister with the embassy.
How can the administration try to determine who is there, who is not?
SULLIVAN: Sure. So, what we have done is we have put out, through multiple different means, telephone, email, text, and publicly on radio, online, through every possible broadcast and targeted means possible to Americans who may potentially be in Afghanistan.
Please respond. Please contact us. Please tell us your location. Please tell us if you'd like to leave. Please tell us how many there are with you. So, we've gone through that process.
And then we've done a series of calls through all of the folks who responded to then have a refined conversation with each of them.
We have tried to take that and then match it up against a plan to, as I said before, put Americans into groups to officially transfer them on to the airfield.
But, of course, when you're trying to ultimately determine a precise fixed number that is a dynamic and ongoing process. It's ongoing today and it will be ongoing tomorrow.
(CROSSTALK)
And I'm just going to take one more question.
(CROSSTALK)
Yes?
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What about the response are you asking to make sure they're not incapacitated or captured or something like that? For those who didn't respond, are you matching it up to make sure they're not there?
SULLIVAN: So, we have gone --
(CROSSTALK)
SULLIVAN: We have gone through our list of everyone who we believe is in country and reached out and tried to communicate with them in every way we know how.
And as far as we're concerned, there's two universes. One universe is the people who did register. We've gotten in touch with all of those people or reached out to all of those people.
The second list is folks who responded to the call, which doesn't necessarily match that first list. That is a different group of people, some of whom never registered in the first place.
And we're negotiating -- negotiating -- discussing with them, the best way to get them to the airport, if, in fact, they want to come to the airport.
(CROSSTALK)
SULLIVAN: Last question.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you so much.
Two questions. With the communication with the Taliban, would President Biden consider himself speaking with leaders of the Taliban?
And the second question, President Biden seems to be keeping the America First policy on Afghanistan. How can you say that America is on a lower stage after seeing the scenes in Afghanistan?
And how do you think the world is looking at the United States right now?
SULLIVAN: So, on the second question, you look at the scenes at the Kabul airport, and what I see is the United States securing an airfield at the risk of several thousand American troops to facilitate not just the evacuation of Americans but to facilitate the evacuation of third-country nationals, from friends and foes alike.
And to facilitate the evacuation of tens and thousands of people, who, for humanitarian reasons, want to leave Afghanistan.
This is an enormous logistical, diplomatic, security, humanitarian undertaking. There's no other country in the world who could pull something like this off, bar none. That's what I say to the second question.
With respect to whether or not President Biden is likely to speak with the leadership of the Taliban, that is not in contemplation at the time.
Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jake?
(CROSSTALK)
SULLIVAN: Thanks, everyone.
(CROSSTALK)
JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Thanks, everyone, for coming.
Thank you, David.
(CROSSTALK)
PSAKI: Just let me just do another topic. Then we'll take plenty of questions, OK?
[14:55:02]
Today, a group -- on another topic -- a group of over 70 leading economists, led by Austan Goolsbee, announcing in a letter their support for both pillars of the president's economic agenda, the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the Build Back Better Plan.
Their letter reinforces the case we've been making to American people that these historic investments are vital for the strength of our economy and the financial well-being of middle-class families.
Writing, quote, "These once-in-a-generation opportunities will create millions of jobs, lower costs for American families and lead to significant growth. Both the bipartisan infrastructure deal and the Build Back Better agenda could likely ease inflationary pressures."
Just one other note for all of you. Vice President Harris is in Singapore. Her next step will be Vietnam.
This trip is important for the Biden/Harris administration. It's about strengthening and deepening the partnerships with Singapore, Vietnam and Southeast Asia because these relationships matter to the people, prosperity and security of the United States. I'll also note that she -- her meetings resulted in several
substantive deliverables across a range of key issues and reaffirmed the strong U.S. commitment to Southeast Asia and the U.S./Singapore strategic partnership.
Following the bilateral meeting, they announced agreements on COVID-19 and prepping for the next pandemic, climate change, inclusive growth and innovation, and resilient supply chains. Obviously, her trip will continue.
Ahmed, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's your message to moderate House Democrats who want to vote on the Biden bipartisan infrastructure deal before they'll vote on the $3.5 trillion budget blueprint?
And why not just do the bipartisan deal first?
PSAKI: I would first say that the president has every intention of signing each piece of these legislation into law. What I want to be clear about is he supports Speaker Pelosi's proposed path forward to get this process done.
I'd also note -- and you follow this closely -- but for those of you watching at home, this is a procedural vote, important one, but there are a number of different ways forward here.
And this is the debate currently, and a healthy one, and important on the Democratic caucus on what different parts of president's core agenda should be passed in what order.
In some ways that's a high-class problem to be debating. That's what they're discussing.
And it's not one that should be unexpected, given there are disagreements about a range of issues, even within the democratic caucus. That's democracy.
I would note that the president's view is, not just 36 years in the Senate, but this isn't his first rodeo. Not even his first rodeo this summer. He had one in June and July.
We're going to work closely with Speaker Pelosi. He's going to continue to talk to a range of members.
I would note that the president had multiple calls to Speaker Pelosi in recent days and also had a call with her leadership team and 15 committee chairs about how vital the Build Back Better agenda is.
Because it will lower prescription drug costs, reduce the coast of housing and education, strengthen care for veterans, take on climate change, help families afford childcare and care for older Americans.
We will continue to be fully engaged but we understand this is a healthy debate and we're cough confident going forward.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) -- moderate lawmakers who
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right, you're listening to Jen Psaki there going through other issues, including the infrastructure plan. But for about 30 minutes, we heard from the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, on the situation in Afghanistan.
Let's bring in CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's also a former assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department. And CNN military analyst, retired Army Major General James "Spider" Marks.
Welcome to you both.
General, let me start with you.
The basic question here, which is what I gave to Barbara Starr before we had to interrupt her, the question of time here.
Sullivan was asked if there's enough time to get out all of the Americans who want to get out and the Afghans who helped the Americans. He said they had the wherewithal.
Do you think this will go beyond the 31st, General?
MAJOR GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: You know, it's difficult, Victor -- first, thanks for having me on.
It's difficult to determine without being there and actually touching the issue whether it's going to be accomplished by the end of the month.
However, having gone through NEOs before, there will be a number of issues primarily in terms of those suddenly declaring that they want to depart, will come up between now and the 31st.
So the condition will be set with the Taliban -- and I'm confident, it is right now, at least the negotiations are ongoing -- to make sure, if we're not mission complete by 31 August, we will then describe what that looks like in terms of going forward.
And the only way we determine if we're mission complete is if declared, acknowledged American citizens are able to get out of the country. And we can give them a date certain when that's going to happen.
What he's really saying is everybody else becomes a second or tertiary priority. It's getting those out. That's the most difficult problem.
[15:00:00]
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Yes. You've just spelled it out, Spider, in a way that I think he's been very reluctant, the White House has been reluctant to and the State Department has been reluctant to.
