NSA Jake Sullivan says the Taliban has “a fair amount” of our weapons and they probably won’t give them back
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that a "fair amount" of U.S. weaponry had fallen into the hands of the Taliban since the hard-line Islamic militant group's rapid takeover Afghanistan in recent days.
During a White House press briefing, Sullivan was ask what will happen with the billions of dollars in equipment, including guns, ammunition, helicopters, and more, given to the Afghanistan government in the two decades before its collapse.
"We don't have a complete picture, obviously, of where every article of defense materials has gone," the Biden adviser answered briefly. "But certainly, a fair amount of it has fallen into the hands of the Taliban, and, obviously, we don’t have a sense that they are going to readily hand it over to us at the airport."
According to Jake Sullivan, Biden’s top National Security Advisor, he says “the Taliban have informed us that they are prepared to provide the safe passage of civilians to the airport. And we intend to hold them to that commitment.”
When asked if he believed the Taliban would keep their word, Sullivan ignored it and went to the next question, which was about any deadlines that are being discussed for this ‘safe passage’. Sullivan suggested that it should go until August 31st, but they are discussing that with the Taliban.
While this is certainly the worst possible scenario in which to evacuate our people, the Biden administration must do everything they can to get our people out. What’s unfortunate is that when Sullivan claims we will hold the Taliban to their commitment, our reputation has just been trashed in the biggest way possible and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Taliban offer’s safe passage and then tries to pull the rug out from under us as we attempt to evacuate our people.
Tags: Afghanistan, Jake Sullivan
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