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Press Briefing On Afghanistan Evacuations, Withdrawal & Hurricane Ida Destruction. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 30, 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]

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What our message directly would be is that our commitment is enduring, and our commitment does not waiver, even as we bring our men and women from the military home.

And let me just outline a couple steps that are ongoing that I expect we'll give you updates on as details are finalized.

First, on the diplomatic front, the secretary of state has -- is going to be meeting with a number of his international partners.

Just over the weekend, the State Department put out a letter from 100 countries making clear there must be safe passage for citizens, for Afghans who want to leave after the 31st.

On Friday, one of the Taliban leaders delivered public remarks conveying that individuals, who wish to leave after the 31st, would be able to do so.

That does not mean we trust what they say. But that is -- but there's an enormous amount of international leverage that we will continue to work in a coordinated way with our partners around the world.

And there's also, of course, a discussion about what our diplomatic presence may look like moving forward.

As our secretary of state and our national security advisor confirmed yesterday, our current plan is not to have an ongoing presence in Afghanistan as of September 1st.

But we will have means and mechanisms of having diplomats on the ground, being able to continue to process out those applicants and facilitate passage of other people who want to leave Afghanistan.

We will have more details for that, I expect, in the coming days.

And can I add one more piece that we're working on? The other piece of this is operational, which, of course, is the airport and the airports. There are also regional airports.

And we are working with a range of partners in the region about how to keep those up and operational. We need to reopen or figure out how to work with our partners to reopen the civilian airport and ensure that is a mechanism. That is an area where there's mutual interest by the United States, by

international organizations, like the World Food Program, who want to get assistance in, and by the Taliban to get these airports operational and running.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You anticipated part of my next one because the ongoing conversation with the rest of the world about being able to get people out if they want to leave.

Is there any sense of how long Afghans, who are trying to leave, who don't leave by tomorrow, are going to have to wait for further instruction or sense of whether or not they're going to be able to go?

PSAKI: Well, I will tell you that there's ongoing, immediate, urgent conversations happening at a very high level with international partners now. And we hope to have more of an update on that in the coming days.

There are different components of this, right? The airport operations, it may take some time to get that going.

But we are working through a range of mechanisms so that there can be an ongoing effort to move people out who are looking to depart Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just one final one on this, because, again, based on things we've heard from people there.

Did the evacuation of non-Americans, SIV recipients or people who were applying or eligible to leave, effectively stop after Thursday's attack?

PSAKI: No, we have continued to work to evacuate individuals since that time. I think we've put out a range of numbers since then who make clear that we have continued to evacuate Afghan partners and other applicants.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: As the U.S. -- first of all, it's approaching midnight at the end of the 30th now in Kabul. Is that the way you view the deadline or does the White House view the deadline as some point tomorrow?

PSAKI: I'm not going to get into operational details of when we will continue our retrograde efforts. That's led by the Department of Defense and our team on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president said he believes recently and you said the same, he believed they were on pace. This was before the attack. On pace for the achievement of our objectives.

So as we approach that deadline, whether tonight or tomorrow night, whenever it is, did the U.S. accomplish its objective, knowing that there will be likely thousands of SIV applicants and others still there and certainly some Americans as well? Did we achieve our objective?

PSAKI: I think, first, we have -- we have, to date, evacuated more than 120,000 people. That's 120,000 lives that we have saved, including 6,000 Americans and their families, many of them dual nationals.

And we are continuing our commitment is enduring to Afghan partners, to American citizens who may not have decided to leave. That is their right, to determine when they want to leave. That commitment is enduring.

But we have saved more than 120,000 lives, and I would let you evaluate your -- that for yourself.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When we talk about, as the U.S. prepares to leave, whether tonight or tomorrow, there are going to be billions of dollars' worth of U.S.-made munitions, arms, military aircraft, armored vehicles that have fallen into the hands of the Taliban here, giving them new capabilities they didn't have before this.

Are Americans less safe now because the Taliban now has access to billions of dollars' worth of American-made weaponry?

PSAKI: Well, let me unpack your question a little bit, because the U.S. military, part of their retrograde effort, is to reduce the amount of military equipment or apparatus that anyone on the ground has access to.

I'm not going to get into the details of how they do that, but that is part of their effort.

[14:34:59]

I will also reiterate something that our national security advisor said just last week.

We had to make an assessment several weeks ago about whether we provide materials to the Afghan national security forces so that they could fight the fight -- obviously, they decided not to fight -- or not. And we made the decision to provide them with that equipment and the material.

The third piece, I would note, that's very important here, is that we have not assessed that any group on the ground, whether it's ISIS-K or the Taliban, has the ability to attack the United States.

We clearly need to -- sorry, that was an aggressive bug. We need to ensure that remains the case. But that is not a capable that we have assessed to be the case at this point in time.

There's a difference between the threat that is posed to U.S. men and women serving or people who are gathering outside of the gates in Kabul and whether these individuals can attack the United States. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So I guess the simple question is,

acknowledging that you're going to try to limit what access they do have to some of the weaponry in ways that you can't communicate here.

But at the end of the day, whether it's not the United States that's under risk as a function of this, are Americans around the globe, I mean, are Western interests now more at risk because the Taliban has new access to all this weaponry?

PSAKI: Well, again, Peter, I would say that we -- the world will be watching. We have an enormous amount of leverage, including access to the global marketplace, which is not a small piece of leverage, to the Taliban, who are now overseeing large swaths of Afghanistan.

Certainly, our objective was not to leave them with any equipment, but that is not always an option when you are looking to retrograde and move out of a war zone. But that is our clear leverage we have with the Taliban.

And again, our capacities are over the horizon capacities which, by the way, killed two ISIS terrorists just last week and continue to be utilized by our men and women on the ground remain in place and remain in place in the region.

There are other parts of the world, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, where we don't have a presence on the ground, and we still prevent terrorist attacks or threats to U.S. citizens living in the United States or around the world from growing.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last here, is the U.S. more or less safe today than we were before the Taliban took over?

PSAKI: Well, again, we are not going to do anything that's going to allow terrorists to grow or prosper in Afghanistan or any terrorist organization.

That continues to be the president's commitment and his order to his U.S. military over the past several days and the actions that CENTCOM have announced show that he's going to deliver on that promise.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there disappointment here that China and Russia didn't sign on -- (INAUDIBLE)?

PSAKI: It remains an open letter that they are welcome to sign on.

I will tell you, though, that it will be important and we will continue to engage with a range of partners, including those where we have, at times, adversarial disagreements with about the need to maintain safe passage for individuals who wish to leave Afghanistan.

There are a range of international organizations and mechanisms to have those discussions and they're ongoing.

Go ahead, Jack. Sorry, go ahead. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: One other question, unrelated to this, by the

way.

PSAKI: Sure.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The IAEA has put out a report that indicates the North Koreans' main nuclear reactor may be restarting. They say it's a matter of serious concern. What's the White House reaction?

PSAKI: We are, of course, aware of this report and are closely coordinating with our allies and partners on developments regarding North Korea.

This report underscores the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy so we can achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. We continue to seek dialogue so we can address this reported activity and the full range of issues related to denuclearization.

Go ahead, Jackie.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, Jen.

I wanted to go up to this "New York Times" report about the students from the American University in Afghanistan.

The "times" reported that they had been left behind and they were contacted, apparently, to try to get out, safe houses for a period of time and then were told that the evacuation had stopped.

And that separately, the university president apparently told these students and their parents that their information had been handed over to the Taliban, obviously, to get them safe passage, which has not yet happened.

But my question is, as this sort of draws down, don't we sort of owe a group like that, where we have given out their information, their passport numbers, their names, aren't we obligated to ensure they get on these last flights?

Given the fact that the Taliban soon after coming into Kabul posed at the front of the university saying that this is where, you know, the Americans trained people. And they're obviously threatened and scared by that.

PSAKI: Absolutely. Well, first, let me say that there have been reports that we provided or the U.S. provided lists of people who want to leave Afghanistan to the Taliban. That's inaccurate. That's misreported and misconstrued.

We have also confirmed, repeatedly, that we have had to coordinate with the Taliban.

And so there have been limited, limited cases where it is possible that when buses or individuals are at a border checkpoint and they're trying to get through, in order to get them through to evacuate them successfully, we have had to coordinate and provide details. [14:40:10]

I don't have confirmations of those events but that is the scenario and the limited cases where that would happen. And in the vast majority of cases, not aware of any that hasn't been, those individuals have been evacuated.

I understand what the president of the school said. I don't have any confirmation that that has actually happened on the ground or any -- from anyone who is leading the effort on the ground.

And certainly, our commitment remains to American citizens, to Afghans who want to leave, like these individuals and these young people who have been courageous to get them out of the country. And we are in touch with all those individuals on the ground.

I would also note, as they know, it is scary, and it is a -- it is a very dangerous situation on the ground. Another attack could happen at any time.

And when we give these security briefings or security warnings, or tell people to move away from the gate, it is because we also want to save them and protect them.

So what we've been trying to do is work with individual cases, with families, with groups to get them evacuated if and when we can.

I would also note our commitment as enduring. I just -- this is a very fluid and dangerous situation on the ground. And I just don't have a detail on this -- the current state of this particular case.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

And then on the drone strike, it seems that we're witnessing these happen, you know, with more frequency. Obviously, we have the over the horizon ability to get this done and we have the intelligence to do it.

But my question is, you know, why is it that we weren't able to do -- use similar action to prevent the attack that happened on Thursday?

And then, part of that is, because we now are, you know, hearing reports of how these have been carried out, why the drones had to fly, I think, eight hours from UAE, is there any concern that we're limited in our ability to respond in a timely manner if we've got 8 hours of flight time.

And then they can only hang out over the target for like four or five hours before they've got to turn around and go back. Is there a future on going worry that we're going to be behind the eight ball again?

PSAKI: Well, first, I would say the fact that we have had two successful strikes confirmed by CENTCOM tells you our over the horizon capacity works.

In terms of specific threats, what we had with respect to the Kabul airport, we had been warning about for days, which was the potential for the rising threats, the rising threats from ISIS-K, that such an attack could take place and could take place at any moment in time.

What we can do and what our commanders on the ground do, who have access to all this information as well, is mitigate risks. We can't eliminate risk.

And if we were going to continue to evacuate tens of thousands of people, American citizens, Afghans, our partners, we had to mitigate risk. We couldn't eliminate it. And that's how we proceeded.

Now, the president has been clear to his military and to the commanders on the ground that force protection is of utmost concern.

And I know my colleague at DOD confirmed the closure of gates earlier today. There have been steps that have been taken.

And obviously, as we've gone through the retrograde process over the last couple days, and it has been incredibly dangerous, there are steps that have had to be taken as these threats have increased.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The last one, just on overland routes. As I understand, we're looking for other ways after our military pulls out to get people back and out.

But has this been at all hampered by Putin, you know, rejecting a U.S. effort to put counterterrorism forces or bases for drones in Central Asian countries bordering -- I know Putin in that reported meeting spoke for China in that.

Did we ever get an answer from China ourselves on their position on this?

PSAKI: I can't speak to these private diplomatic conversations from here. But I can tell you we have a range of partners in the region who we continue to work with and have discussions with, so that we can maintain the over the horizon capacity.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

Going back to the president's meeting the families at Dover. The sister of one of the Marines killed in the airport attack told "The Post" that the president's comments struck her family as scripted and shallow.

And she said, quote, "You can't F up as bad as he did and say you're sorry. This did not need to happen and every life is on his hands."

Can you talk a little bit about how the president thought the meeting with the families went and also what responsibility, if any, for these deaths does he think he bears?

PSAKI: Well, I think the president made clear, as the secretary of state and our national security advisor made clear, we're all responsible, and they're responsible -- they feel responsibility, and the buck stops with the president.

And I think you heard him say that on Thursday when we -- he spoke to the loss of life of these servicemen and women as soon as it -- shortly after it had happened.

[14:45:02]

It is certainly the right of any individual who met with the president yesterday to speak publicly about their experience. But I'm not going to speak about the president's experience beyond what I have said already.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Following up, you mentioned that the president absolutely plans to stay in touch with those families. Is there the possibility he may attend any funerals or speak at any funerals?

PSAKI: Well, I will say what's important to remember here is that this is the worst thing that's happened, ever, in the lives of these family members. And last Thursday or Friday was the worst day of their lives.

And what role the president plays or doesn't play is probably not front and center for them. But he's only going to do things that are of comfort to the families, are supportive of remembering the lives that have been lost, and he is going to continue to look for ways to do that.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two questions. First on Afghanistan. The drone strike that the United States conducted appears, according to family members in Afghanistan, to have killed seven children.

Does the president feel the same sense of responsibility and loss for those lives as he does for the American servicemembers?

PSAKI: Well, first, let me say that we take efforts, take steps from the United States to avoid civilian casualties in every scenario, and probably more than almost any country in the world.

I can't speak to or confirm the numbers or cases of civilian casualties in this case. There's an investigation.

I will note that in the CENTCOM statement they put out yesterday -- last night, I should say -- what they noted is that there was also the explosion -- there were explosives in this vehicle that could have led to additional damage. There's an investigation to determine how this happened.

But of course, the loss of life from anywhere is horrible and it impacts families no matter where they're living, in the United States or around the world.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: My second question is about American families. And 7.5 million Americans are set to lose unemployment benefits next month, not just the federal supplement but all benefits. Given the expiration of the eviction moratorium, what's going on with

the Delta variant, has the president considered asking Congress to extend those benefits further?

PSAKI: If Congress were to vote to extend the eviction moratorium, the president would sign that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The unemployment benefits.

PSAKI: I think he made a decision based on where things stand.

There's additional assistance that continues to go out to people across the country, which you are very familiar with and know well. Whether it's the child tax credit or additional funding that is still being distributed by the American Rescue Plan.

Our objective continues to be to work with states and localities to keep people in their homes, make sure people have the assistance they need.

That's why there's a range of programs and a range of assistance the president advocated for, fought like hell for and signed into law that is going to be implemented over the course of the next year and not just ending this summer.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

PSAKI: Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The president regularly talks about the fact that he -- he made a point to say he called President Bush. I'm wondering has he been in touch with President Bush, President Obama -- going to assume he hasn't been in touch with President Trump, but I'll ask anyway -- about the last few weeks?

PSAKI: I'm not aware of any calls he's had with those presidents over the last few weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Jen, on the E.U., voted to implement the new travel restrictions. It's obviously up to the individual countries on whether they want to allow U.S. citizens and U.S. travelers into their countries.

Obviously, we have not been letting many of those same people from the same countries come to the U.S. But what's the administration's reaction to the E.U. taking that step?

PSAKI: Well, I think it's, first, important to note that today's announcement by the E.U. impacts people who are unvaccinated. And not people who are vaccinated.

I mean, continue to encourage people to get vaccinated. And the fastest path to reopening travel is for people to get vaccinated. To mask up and slow the spread of the deadly virus.

We continue to work across federal agencies to develop a consistent and safe international travel policy. This includes travel from Europe.

This will involve stepping up efforts to protect American people, including by potentially strengthening testing protocols for international travel.

And may also involve ensuring that over time, foreign nationals coming to the United States are fully vaccinated with limited exceptions.

No decision has been made yet, but these internal discussions have benefitted greatly from our engagement with our international partners.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Just a smaller thing related to the hurricane. Are you anticipating that the president will visit Louisiana at some point? Do you think that will likely be later this week?

I know things are obviously closed at this point but do you have the Homeland Security secretary going there tomorrow.

PSAKI: It is different, as you all know, for the president of the United States to travel somewhere from the secretary of Homeland Security.

Given the footprint, the president would not want to go if it were to impact -- until it does not impact recovery and rescue efforts on the ground.

[14:50:01]

So I don't have any prediction of that at this point in time. We will see how the next few days go.

Go ahead, Karen.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, Jen.

We have had reports of hospitals in Louisiana that are full of COVID patients trying to evacuate some patients, they're having issues of roof damage, some generators failing.

Can you having roof damage can you give us scope and what the federal government is doing about that?

PSAKI: I know there's been a range of reports out there. Hospitals had run out of oxygen as of late last night. That's something we're watching very closely.

We have -- prior to the storm, we had more than 300 federally deployed health care personnel on the ground supporting COVID surge response in Louisiana and Mississippi.

On hospitals, we have 39 facilities, as I understand. We are working around the clock to get power back on where we can.

This is an area where we not only did the president speak purposefully over the last few months and many of our high-level officials have spoken out about the need for people to get vaccinated.

But we have worked to put in place generators, equipment, emergency personnel to help address and we'll determine what additional assistance we can provide.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you give us more details on what's being done in the shelters?

PSAKI: In are step, including social distances wherever possible, which I know sounds challenging, but that is being worked to implement masking wherever possible. Made a strong case for individuals to get vaccinated.

Go ahead, George.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you give us any update on American hostage that the president mentioned the other day?

PSAKI: It's a case that's been raised repeatedly by our officials from the State Department and also managed -- the State Department is working closely with a special representative, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs and the special representative for Afghan reconciliation.

They continue to press the Taliban for his release, continues to raise the status in senior-level engagements in Doha and Islamabad.

Obviously, that is overseen -- is of great importance but is overseen in the day-to-day operations by the State Department who would have any additional updates, if there are any.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thanks, Jen.

So President Biden has said that is a security vetting process at the public airport for everyone who is not a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. So he said that anyone will have undergone a background check.

Can you verify that this vetting process is taking place? Because our sources have said that the president has instructed ambassador to be more permissive and just get as many people on the planes first and then vet later.

Can you confirm that?

PSAKI: I mean, I don't think that's a secret. That's something we conveyed clearly.

That's also why we're so grateful to several dozen countries out there, some of whom are serving as lily pad countries where individuals are going as, for many of them, their screening process is continuing before the proceed to the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you respond to allegations from groups assisting evacuations that it's very difficult to get deserving Afghans out because procedures given to the Marines on the ground and officers on the ground changed constantly, sometime even in days.

PSAKI: I would say it's an incredibly difficult and challenges security situation on the ground. It's evidenced by 13 men and women gave their lives Thursday and there were rockets overnight.

And of course, force posture and the protection of our troops in going to be a top priority.

But I would note that we still evacuated, if you subtract the nearly 6,000 American citizens, that's 114,000 people, many of whom are Afghans. Others are partners, who we've evacuated from the country, SIV applicants and others, and saved their lives.

So that would be my response to that person.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many of those people from 114,000, when will you give breakdowns of nationalities, how many are SIVs, how many are internationals? When can we --

(CROSSTALK)

PSAKI: I would expect that would come from Department of Homeland Security. And they're working through that now.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Regarding the wildfire in California right now. Is the administration tracking its advance? What plans does it have for this? And what are your thoughts on the fires on the ground there?

[14:55:08]

PSAKI: Yes, absolutely. We are tracking the wildfires and ones that have, unfortunately, continued in different parts of the west, it seems, for the past several months.

I would note that, even as the president did regular briefings on hurricane preparedness that have made us equipped to deal with the moments we're facing on the gulf coast, we also prioritized preparing for fires and ensuring that communities have the resources they need and we have the response needed.

I can check with our FEMA team and see if there's specific resources being deployed there at this moment and time and get back to you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is this administration -- (INAUDIBLE)

PSAKI: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is the administration confident the resources are what's needed, given that initiative?

PSAKI: That's our objective. But we will continue to assess if additional resources are needed. Again, I would note that, when the president came in, he looked at the

impact of wildfires and the fact that, in the past, there has been cases where we didn't have the resources needed and he wanted to preemptively take steps to prepare for that, to make sure we had those resources, as we went into fire season.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER:

Thank you so much, Jen.

Why are Afghans that helped the United States, U.S.-funded NGOs and contractors, is there any estimate on how many may be left behind?

PSAKI: I think what we're working through is, how many left behind who have applied for programs or?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How many left behind after the deadline?

PSAKI: I would say, first, I want to make sure I understood your question.

Our commitment to working not just any American citizen who has not yet decided to leave but others who is stood by our side, fought by our side, that's enduring. That's that will continue.

That is one of the reasons why our secretary of state has been so focused on working with international partners, assuring the statement by 100 countries out there, sending a clear message.

I also noted the statement earlier from the Taliban about safe passage.

And why we're working through the mechanisms and modes are will be for our diplomatic presence, even as we're not anticipating having one directly on the ground after the first.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is there no number? It seems to me that you're not being -- (INAUDIBLE). And I wonder

PSAKI: I think the difficulty of getting to a number is there may be people who haven't applied yet. So we can't count those people. If they're eligible and they want to depart, we will work with them.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Related to that, what is the president's message to veterans who have feeling hurt or embarrassed, who say they feel like there are people who helped them and, even in some cases, saved their live, who are being left behind after the deadline whether it's tonight or tomorrow.

What's the message from the president to these veterans?

PSAKI: First, we have been closely engaged with a range of veterans groups because we are grateful for their service and for their advocacy for so many of these brave translators, interpreters and others, tens and thousands of whom we have evacuated.

But you're right, there could be some that are still there, who may not have applied or who have may not been able to depart the country yet.

Our message to them is we remain committed. These are our partners and our allies that have courageously stood by our side for the last 20 years.

That's why we're so focused on ensuring we have means and mechanisms of having diplomats on the ground being able to continue to process applicants and facilitate the passage of other people who want to leave Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: On the hurricane, Louisiana will see highs of 80s. There's reports of no water, no power.

How -- what's the plan to get to people who may not have cell phone service or access to the Internet who are stuck in their homes given the circumstances that they may be dealing with?

PSAKI: This is why I did such an extensive lay down in the beginning. As you know, it's not just one thing.

We're working with companies to get the power back on. That could take weeks. We don't know.

We have also preemptively had set up a range of resources. Food, water and other resources that we can get to people on ground.

And we have deployed an across-government, entities and resources, whether it's from FEMA to Health and Human Services to the Coast Guard, to get out to communities, to save live, to recover, to get people food, water and assistance they need.

Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

PSAKI: Last one. You got in under Darlene's thumb there.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

Two quick ones. "The Washington Post" reports the Taliban offered to stay out of Kabul and what the United States -- we told them we only needed the airport. Is that reporting accurate?

PSAKI: I have not seen this reporting. I have to look at it.

[14:59:48]

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And then, I want to go -- you said some of the reporting about the United States giving names, of Afghans or SIVs or Americans, to the names was inaccurate and, at times, misconstrued.

I'm wondering if you can just clarify a little bit more. Because last week, the president said there's sometimes been instances where maybe it's coming through and names have been given.