Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration is “obviously concerned” about Americans left behind in Afghanistan, but did not “foresee a military role” in rescuing them.
In an interview with CNN, Kirby said there was “a mixture of relief” and concern as the withdrawal effort was completed hours before an August 31 deadline imposed by the President and the Taliban.
“Although we don’t think the numbers are large, we’re still obviously concerned about our allies and friends and fellow American citizens that are still there,” he said.
General Kenneth McKenzie had estimated the Biden administration left behind “very low hundreds” of Americans in Afghanistan.
RELATED: Trump Has An Idea For The Billions In Weapons Biden Left For The Taliban
General McKenzie added that while many Americans did not want to be left behind in Afghanistan, “none of them made it to the airport.”
He suggested that even had they kept working up until the August 31 deadline and beyond there would have been Americans remaining behind enemy lines.
“We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out, but I think if we stayed another 10 days, we wouldn’t have gotten everybody out who we wanted to get out,” McKenzie lamented.
Kirby, who has said the number of Americans left in Afghanistan is closer to 100, explained why he was concerned about their fate.
“There is no question that the threat environment in Afghanistan remains high,” he said, noting the “potential for Taliban retribution going forward.”
Americans or Afghan allies facing ‘Taliban retribution’ is a frightening thought, but not frightening enough to get the military involved to save them.
Kirby suggests the United States could take diplomatic measures instead.
We “have other tools available to us as a government to help the safe passage of Americans get out of that country or any other country,” he said adding that he did not “foresee a military role” in their evacuation.
It was just under two weeks ago that the President of the United States looked into ABC News cameras and promised he would not leave Americans behind.
“If there are American citizens left, we’re going to stay until we get them all out,” Biden said.
We didn’t.
During that same interview, President Biden knocked on wood and tried to downplay the risks in Afghanistan saying, “God forgive me if I’m wrong … but no one’s being killed right now.”
People were killed.
Aside from ‘hundreds’ of Americans being left behind, reports have surfaced that the Biden administration left dozens of military dogs in Afghanistan.
“I am devastated by reports that the American government is pulling out of Kabul and leaving behind brave U.S. military contract working dogs to be tortured and killed at the hand of our enemies,” American Humane president Robin Ganzert said in a statement.
Lara Logan shared disturbing but unconfirmed reports that audio “appears to confirm reports of ‘house-to-house executions'” as the Taliban takes control of the area.
Kirby, meanwhile, made perhaps the most stunning comments.
“We have Americans that get stranded in countries all the time,” he said in an interview with MSNBC.
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