Fox News accuses Biden of abandoning Americans in Afghanistan amid mass evacuations

Peter Doocy, a White House correspondent for Fox News, on Monday accused the Biden administration of leaving Americans in Afghanistan “stranded,” even as tens of thousands have been evacuated from the region.

During a White House briefing, Doocy asked press secretary Jen Psaki, “Does the president have the sense that most of the criticism is not of leaving Afghanistan, it’s the way that he has ordered it to happen, by pulling the troops before getting these Americans who are now stranded?”

Psaki responded that she thought it was “irresponsible to say Americans are stranded,” noting, “We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home.”

Doocy then asked if her reply meant it was the White House’s “official position” that “there are no Americans stranded.”

She responded, “I’m just calling you out for stating that we are stranding Americans in Afghanistan.”

Doocy’s accusation comes a day after the Department of Defense reported that at least 37,000 people had been evacuated from the region since Aug. 14, with 10,400 of those evacuations happening Saturday and Sunday.

President Joe Biden told reporters on Sunday that the United States is currently executing a plan to transport Americans in Afghanistan to the airport in Kabul for evacuation. U.S. forces have expanded the existing perimeter of the “safe zone” around the airport in order to accomplish the mission, Biden said.

From the Aug. 23 White House press briefing:

PETER DOOCY, Fox News: Does the president have the sense that most of the criticism is not of leaving Afghanistan, it’s the way that he has ordered it to happen, by pulling the troops before getting these Americans who are now stranded? Does he have a sense of that?

 

JEN PSAKI: First of all, I think it’s irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home, home.

 

We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via email, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans to get them home if they want to return home.

 

DOOCY: There are no Americans stranded is the White House’s official position on what’s happening in Afghanistan right now?

 

PSAKI: I’m just calling you out for stating that we are stranding Americans in Afghanistan when I said – when we have been very clear that we are not leaving Americans who want to return home. We are going to bring them home, and I think that’s important for the American public to hear and understand.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.