Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Secretary of State Antony Blinken Holds Press Conference; White House Press Briefing. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired August 25, 2021 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:00:00]

QUESTION: That's OK. I don't expect you to have all of them.

But, then, since this whole thing began, there's been a lot of criticism of the administration over how it handled it. And there's been a lot of pushback from people within the administration about the hand that you were basically dealt or what you say you were dealt by the previous administration in terms of the deal with the Taliban, in terms of the SIV program, in terms of the broader refugee program.

But you guys have been in office for almost eight months. It's been five months since the president's decision was made. Is there anything about the shortcomings that have about been so readily identified by all sorts of people that you guys are actually willing to take responsibility for yourselves?

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Thanks, Matt.

Let me say two things.

First, with regards to numbers in these different categories, as you have seen by how I have laid out how we get to the numbers of Americans, this is both incredibly complicated and incredibly fluid. Any number I give you right now is likely to be out of date by the time we leave this briefing room.

So, what we're doing is very carefully tabulating everything we have, crosschecking it, referencing it, using different databases. We will have numbers for all those different categories in the days ahead and after this initial phase of efforts to bring people out of Afghanistan ends.

And with regard to the second part of your question about taking responsibility, I take responsibility. I know the president has said he takes responsibility. And I know all of my colleagues across government feel the same way.

And I can tell you that there will be plenty of time to look back at the last six or seven months, to look back at the last 20 years, and to look to see what we might have done differently, what we might have done sooner, what we might have done more effectively.

But I have to tell you that, right now, my entire focus is on the mission at hand. And there's going to be, as I said, plenty of time to do an accounting of this when we get through that mission.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Laura (ph)?

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Could you speak today about the future of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, whether it will remain or American diplomats will remain in Kabul after the military withdrawal on the 31st?

And, also, more broadly we're already seeing women being repressed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, people being attacked, intimidated, being kept from getting to the airport. I'm wondering if you can give us any concrete examples of steps that the United States is going to take to assure SIV applicants and other high-value -- or -- I'm sorry -- high- target, high-risk Afghans that they're not going to be forgotten when the United States military leaves.

BLINKEN: With regard to our diplomatic engagement, we're looking at a series of options. And I'm sure we will have more on that in the coming days and weeks, but we're looking at a variety of options.

And, as I said earlier, particularly because the effort to bring out of Afghanistan, those who want to leave does not end with the military evacuation plan on the 31st, we are very focused on what we need to do to facilitate the further departure of people who wish to leave Afghanistan.

And that is primarily going to be a diplomatic effort, a consular effort, an international effort, because other countries feel exactly exactly the same way.

And I'm sorry, the second part of your question?

QUESTION: Just if there are any concrete steps--

BLINKEN: Oh, yes, I'm sorry.

QUESTION: -- that you can give to people who are very worried right now, understandably, about whether they're just going to be forgotten, left behind, disappeared once the United States withdraws its military and can no longer protect their safe passage to the airport or their other livelihoods.

BLINKEN: Yes.

The short answer is, no, they will not be forgotten. And, as I said, we will use every diplomatic, economic, assistance tool at our disposal, working hand in hand with the international community, first and foremost, to ensure that those who want to leave Afghanistan after the 31st are able to do so, as well as to deal with other issues that we need to be focused on, including counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance and expectations of a future Afghan government. I mentioned a few moments ago that we got 114 countries around the

world to make clear to the Taliban the international expectation that people will continue to be able to leave the country after the military evacuation effort ends. And we certainly have points of incentive and points of leverage with a future Afghan government to help make sure that that happens.

[15:05:05]

But I can tell you, again, from my perspective, from the president's perspective, this effort does not end on August 31. It will continue for as long as it takes to help get people out of Afghanistan who wish to leave.

QUESTION: What's your level of confident today that the Taliban will actually abide by some of these requirements and expectations that the international community has put on it?

BLINKEN: I'm not going to put a percentage on it

I can just tell you, again, that the Taliban has made their own commitments. They have made them publicly. They have made them privately. And, again, I think they have a very strong self-interest in acting with a modicum of responsibility going forward.

But they will make their own determinations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andrea.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you.

The Taliban right now, focusing on the mission right now, are not living up to their commitments. People are being stopped trying to get into the airport. I'm talking about women, SIVs, others, Afghans, people with papers, and they're being stopped outside the airport now.

There are total bottlenecks, which seem to rise to the level of what the president said were the contingency -- contingencies if the Taliban is not complying, if the flow can't continue.

We're loading planes, but some planes are leaving without -- and some people are people who have private planes waiting for them with landing rights, but can't get into the airport, as well as, beyond the SIVs, there are lawyers, there are judges, women lawyers, judges, educators.

We have told them for 20 years you can live up to your potential, and now they feel abandoned.

And, then, finally, I would like to ask you about the local hires. We evacuated our embassy. And there have been cables back that I know you must be familiar with or your teams are of people who feel completely betrayed. And these are thousands of people that we rely on in embassies, embassies around the world.

The message is going forward that we will not be loyal. They were not told about the evacuation. They were not put on those choppers with our American staff. And they were forced, many of them, to find their own way through the Taliban checkpoints and then get turned away at the airport. Some even got turned away once they were inside.

So what is the message to people working for the U.S. government? Veterans groups are angry about the SIVs. And then there are all the millions of Afghan women who have told their daughters and been raised under this promise of a future, which the Taliban are already, according to Ambassador Verveer today, is -- are denying.

There are horrifying examples from provinces and from inside Kabul of people being targeted door to door, people in safe houses being sought out. And all this promise of you, will be safe, the Taliban spokesman said, stay in your homes because we haven't taught all of our people how to treat women, how to respect women.

They also say, you can go to school, you can work as long as you comply with Sharia law, which under their interpretation is the most extreme example of Islamic code that is seen anywhere in the world.

BLINKEN: Andrea, a few things.

First, of the 82,000-plus people who so far have been evacuated, about 45, 46 percent who have been women and children. And we have been intensely focused particularly on making sure that we can get women at risk out of out of harm's way.

Second, with regard to women and other Afghans at risk going forward, we will use, I will use every diplomatic, economic, political, and assistance tool at my disposal, working closely with allies and partners who feel very much the same way, to do everything possible to uphold their basic rights. And that's going to be a relentless focus of our actions going forward.

Locally employed staff. Along with American citizens, nothing is more important to me, as secretary of state, than to do right by the people who have been working side by side with American diplomats in our embassy.

And I can tell you, Andrea, that we are relentlessly focused on getting the locally employed staff out of Afghanistan and out of harm's way. And let me leave it at that for now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rosalind (ph).

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you.

[15:10:00]

I wanted to ask a more fundamental question about the Taliban. Your spokesperson indicated in recent days that, de facto, the Taliban are in charge in Kabul.

But there is no legal recognized government by the United States at this moment. And it kind of begs the question, why does the United States even have to pay attention to what the Taliban wants? It's an SEGT (ph).

It's sanctioned by many organizations. It's already losing access to Afghan government resources because of its past and current behavior. Why should the United States even care what the Taliban wants to be done at the airport or, frankly, anywhere else in the country, since they are not, in the U.S.' eyes, a legally recognized government?

Thank you.

BLINKEN: Thank you. Thank you.

Our focus right now is on getting our citizens and getting other -- our partners, Afghan partners, third country partners who've been working in Afghanistan with us out of the country into safety.

And for that purpose, first, the Taliban, whether we like it or not, is in control, largely in control of the country, certainly in control of the city of Kabul. And it's been important to work with them to try to facilitate and ensure the departure of all those who want to leave.

And that has actually been something that we have been focused on for -- from the beginning of this operation, because, as a practical matter, it advances our interests.

Second, we have been engaged with the Taliban for some time diplomatically going back years in efforts, as you know, to try to advance a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan. There's still talks and conversations under way even now between the Taliban and former members of the Afghan government with regard, for example, to a transfer of power and some inclusivity in a future government.

And I think it's in our interests, where possible, to support those efforts.

Going forward, we will judge our engagement with any Taliban-led government in Afghanistan based on one simple proposition, our interests, and does it help us advance them or not?

If engagement with the government can advance the enduring interests we will have in counterterrorism, the enduring interest we will have in trying to help the Afghan people who need humanitarian assistance, in the enduring interest we have and seeing that the rights of all Afghans, especially women and girls, are upheld, then we will do it.

But, fundamentally, the nature of that engagement and the nature of any relationship depends entirely on the actions and conduct of the Taliban. If a future government upholds the basic rights of the Afghan people, if it makes good on its commitments to ensure that Afghanistan cannot be used as a launching pad for terrorist attacks directed against us and our allies and partners, and, in the first instance, if it makes good on its commitments to allow people who want to leave Afghanistan to leave, that's a government we can work with.

If it doesn't, we will make sure that we use every appropriate tool at our disposal to isolate that government and, as I have said before, Afghanistan will be a pariah. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Francesca (ph).

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

What will happen on September 1? Will the U.S. keep any diplomatic and/or any other kind of presence in Kabul at all? And who will run the airport? Is there any progress in the discussions with the Turks (INAUDIBLE) withdrawal -- the military withdrawal with the Qataris and when -- the Taliban on the airport?

BLINKEN: Thanks.

There are very active efforts on the way -- under way on the part of regional countries to see whether they can play a role in keeping the airport open once our military mission leaves or, as necessary, reopening it if it closes for some period of time. And that's happening, happening very actively right now.

The Taliban have made clear that they have a strong interest in having a functioning airport. We and the rest of the international community certainly have a strong interest in that, primarily for the purpose of making sure that anyone who wants to leave can leave past the 31st using an airport.

[15:15:13]

And so that's a very active effort that's under way as we speak. And, again, with regard to our own potential presence going forward after the 31st, we're looking at a number of options.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary.

BLINKEN: Thank you all very much.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, you have been listening there to Secretary of State Tony Blinken bring us updated numbers, which I think we have all been waiting for, to know exactly how many Americans, well, not exactly, roughly how many Americans are still in Afghanistan, how many have gotten out.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Approximately.

CAMEROTA: I found that very helpful.

So, he said that, on August 14, their analysis was that 6,000 U.S. citizens were still there who wanted to leave. Since then, he said 4, 500 have already evacuated. And they are working, he said, aggressively to be in contact with the remaining 1, 500.

BLACKWELL: Yes, 500 of those 4, 500 have been evacuated from the country in the last 24 hours.

Now, of the 1, 500 still in the country, they believe -- they're still trying to get in contact with those 1,000 contacts that they had of Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan aggressively trying to reach them, he says, multiple times a day through multiple channels of communication.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's bring in now our panel to help us understand everything that we have just heard.

We have national security correspondent Kylie Atwood, Pentagon correspondent Oren Liebermann, international security editor Nick Paton Walsh, global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier, military analyst Colonel Cedric Leighton, and Brett Bruen, the former White House director of global engagement under President Obama.

I watched you all listening to Secretary of State Blinken there.

Kylie, let me start with you.

It does seem like he was pressed to answer a lot of questions. And he provided a lot of answers.

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

And this main question as to how many Americans are still in the country who want to leave was key here. What we have learned is that the United States believes there are no more than 1, 500 Americans who are in the country and want to leave.

There are 500 of those that the State Department has been in contact with, given them directions for evacuation. And then there's another 1,000 in that group who they have tried desperately to get in contact with.

But they don't know if those are all Americans, if all of those Americans want to leave the country. They're still trying to figure out just how many in that group of 1,000 want to leave. But we know that 500 Americans are part of the system right now and do need flights out of the country.

Now, he also told us that what they hope is that those Afghans who want to leave the country after the U.S. military leaves the country will be able to do so. But we still don't know how that will be possible, because he talked about the United States being in touch with regional countries to try and keep that airport open once the U.S. military leaves on August 31.

But there is no agreement as of yet. Those Afghans can't get to the airport if the Taliban doesn't let them. And even if they do get to the airport, they can't get out of the country if there are no flights.

The other notable thing that the secretary of state said was, "I take responsibility."

I think that is significant, because he was asked about the criticism of this administration, what they should have done to prepare for this better, what they didn't do enough of. And he says he does take responsibility for that. He said President Biden has taken responsibility, though I think we have seen a slightly different tone from the president and from the White House on this. But what you didn't hear the secretary of state say was that this was

all completely inevitable. He said, however, that, right now, he's focused on this effort at hand, getting out these Americans, and that there will be time to look back and say, what more could they have done to have made this process better than this complete nightmare that we have seen?

But they are really digging in, trying to get this evacuation up and running before that August 31 deadline.

WALSH: Nick, I'm going to say that I might have to cut you off to go to the White House.

But Secretary Blinken said that they had assurances from the Taliban that Americans, third country citizens, Afghans who want to leave will be allowed safe passage.

How much credence should the U.S. give that promise?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: I think we had a lot of assurances here that things are going to be OK.

We heard it definitely from the Taliban yesterday.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: All right, Nick, as I said, I have to interrupt you.

Here's Jen Psaki at the White House.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I know you were all interested in what our secretary of state had to say.

Just to note, and I know all of you have been following this quite closely, but, to reiterate, a total of approximately 19,000 people were evacuated from Kabul over a period of 24 hours. That, of course, ended early this morning.

[15:20:00]

This is the result of 42 U.S. military flights, which carried approximately 11, 200 evacuees and 48 coalition flights, which carried 7, 800 people, for a total of 90 flights out of Kabul, which, if I get my math right, that's approximately a flight every 39 minutes. I believe the Department of Defense gave that statistic.

And just to reiterate, since August 14, we have evacuated, the United States has evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 82, 300 people on U.S. military and coalition flights as part of one of the largest airlifts in world history.

Since the end of July, we have relocated approximately 88,000 people on U.S. military and coalition flights.

Two other items unrelated to that topic. Today, we are -- also announced -- we have announced new actions to help protect vulnerable tenants and landlords. For months, the administration has worked to speed up the delivery of emergency rental assistance, as we have talked about quite a bit, and here -- and help keep American families safe and in their homes.

And, as the president has made clear, no state or locality should delay in distributing resources that have been provided by Congress to meet family's critical needs. And we want to continue to take steps to make that easier.

So, today, the Treasury Department is strengthening existing guidance and implementing new policies to ensure that state and local grantees can further accelerate the distribution of ERA funds to struggling landlords and renters most at risk of eviction.

Specifically, they're providing explicit permission for grantees to use self-attestation without further documentation of their economic circumstances, to give you a specific example, in order to speed the delivery of assistance to households in need during the public health emergency.

There are also a number of steps that are being taken by USDA, HUD, the VA and HHS, including USDA -- USDA is working with owners of 400,000 rental units and USDA-backed properties to mitigate all evictions. HUD will ensure tenants in public housing first have the opportunity to access emergency rental assistance money before facing eviction.

And HUD will extend the eviction notice period from 14 to 30 days during the COVID national emergency period. And the VA will expand rental support to at-risk veterans and their families from just seven states to now all 50 states and the U.S. territories.

So this is just some of the examples of steps we're taking.

(INAUDIBLE) go ahead.

QUESTION: On Afghanistan, there seems to be a disconnect.

Veterans organizations, refugee advocates are saying that Afghans with visas are risking death and facing beatings at the airport. And I don't know if I'm framing this right, but there's been a sense that I have heard, I think, from you and others in the administration that the Taliban has, by and large, met its commitment to allow people with the right papers on to the report.

Can you try to help Americans that are seeing and -- what seems to be a disconnect between these two different statements of what is happening?

PSAKI: Well, first, let me say I wouldn't see it as a disconnect. And let me explain to you why.

I noted earlier that -- or we put out earlier today that 19,000 people were evacuated. The vast majority -- in the last -- in a 24-hour period. The vast majority of those were, of course, Afghans, as you know by the numbers that the secretary of state just put out. That does mean that a great number of people are making their way into the airport and onto flights to evacuate from the country. There are certainly cases and incidents, and we have heard, you have reported, where individuals are not getting through that should get through.

And we are approaching those and addressing those on a case-by-case basis as those are raised. But I would note that, again, 19,000 people in a period of time, the vast majority of them are Afghans, SIV applicants, individuals who are -- have the appropriate paperwork to evacuate, and that was just in a 24-hour period.

QUESTION: Can you give us an update on where things stand with the president and the coronavirus origins review?

PSAKI: Sure.

QUESTION: I understand he's gotten a copy of the 90-day report. Was there any conclusions that the I.C. was able to come up with?

PSAKI: Sure.

Well, let me confirm for you, as you noted, he did not just receive a copy. He received a briefing yesterday on the 90-day origins report. It was a classified briefing. So, of course, that's not information we would provide publicly.

Because of the prioritization we have given to this and the importance of this information for the public, the intelligence community has been simultaneously working on an unclassified version of summary -- a summary version to provide publicly. I don't have a timeline for you on when that will be provided. But they have been working expeditiously to prepare that.

And we have also been doing classified briefings. But, until that unclassified version is available, I won't be able to provide any more details of the assessment.

[15:25:03]

QUESTION: Without getting into details, the broad upshot of the report, do -- is there a better understanding of what was the ultimate origin?

PSAKI: Again, I can't obviously speak to a classified briefing.

But I know you're eager to receive an unclassified summary. That is something the intelligence community has been working to produce. And, as soon as that is available, it will be put out publicly from the intelligence community, from ODNI. And we will also ensure you all have access to it.

Go ahead

QUESTION: Thanks, Jen.

Secretary Blinken just said and Jake Sullivan said the other day that, even after August 31, that the U.S. government is committed to helping Americans and Afghans who are still in the country eligible to get out to get out safely.

How do you do that if the military is gone? How do you safeguard these people and get them where they need to go without the U.S. military in the country?

PSAKI: Well, I know, Nancy, as you mentioned, that the secretary was asked that. He didn't go into detail for a reason, because we are currently having those discussions through diplomatic channels.

But what he assured, I think, the public of and I can reiterate from here is that we are looking at a range of options for how we can continue to provide consular support, facilitate departures for those who wish to leave after August 31.

And our expectation and the expectation of the international community is that people who want to leave Afghanistan after the U.S. military depart should be able to do so. We're working on that. As soon as we have more to provide to all of you, more information, we will do exactly that.

QUESTION: And then, based on the numbers that you have provided of Americans who have been evacuated, it sounds like there are at least 70,000 Afghans who have been evacuated.

How do you possibly vet all of those people in a timely fashion, when, clearly, the Customs and Border Patrol and relevant officials must be completely overloaded?

PSAKI: They are.

And I will say this is a reflection of the fact that we have hundreds of employees of our intelligence community working 24 hours a day to do the vetting necessary and reviews necessary to move people into the United States.

Now, I would remind you that there are a number of people, tens of thousands of people who are departing Afghanistan who are going to third countries, lily pardons, as we have been calling them, and where additional vetting can take place, either because they have only proceeded through certain steps of this -- of the immigrant visa process, or because their vetting process has not yet been completed.

I can give you a little bit more detail too on the vetting process, if that helps, if that is helpful.

So, the screening and security vetting is conducted by a combination of the intelligence, law enforcement and counterterrorism professionals from across government, so, the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, the FBI, State Department, the NCTC, the National Counterterrorism Center, and additional intelligence community partners.

What they are doing are they're conducting screening and security vetting for all SIV applicants and other vulnerable Afghans before they are allowed into the United States. This includes reviews of both biographic and biometric data.

And if an individual is not through that vetting process, they're not coming into the United States.

QUESTION: And are there any estimates for how long it'll take to work through that backlog? Could these people been going through the system for months or years?

PSAKI: You mean people who are in third countries?

Well, what I will tell you is that it typically takes months to go through this process. And what this is a signal of is the fact that this is a top priority for the president and the intelligence community and the individuals who oversee this vetting process who have massively expedited the process in order to move through the necessary steps, thorough steps, in order to process individuals and get them moving through the system.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Jen.

At the tail end of the president's remarks today about cybersecurity, he was asked about Afghanistan. And he made a joke.

PSAKI: I think Peter asked him that question.

QUESTION: The other Peter did. And he made a joke. So what's so funny?

PSAKI: Well, I think the question he was asked, if I remember correctly, was about when he will provide information about a decision on August 31. I don't want to paraphrase the question, if that was an inaccurate description of the question.

QUESTION: Very important to a lot of people watching.

PSAKI: Of course it's a very important question.

And I think what he conveyed, what -- is that he has not -- well, what I can convey from here, I should say, is that, as he stated yesterday, and as the secretary of state just stated, we're on track to complete our mission by August 31.

Obviously, there are discussions, and the president received a briefing just this morning. As I noted, he asked yesterday for contingency plans, and he received a briefing on them this morning. These are incredibly serious issues.

And there are discussions that are happening internally. And I would note that, in addition to the contingency plans that he requested, he also, I will reiterate, as we stated yesterday, that this is all contingent on us achieving our objectives and our continued -- and the continued coordination with the Taliban.

And the president has spoken, I would say, to this issue, Peter, as you know -- you have been -- attended a number of these -- multiple times over the last several days.