Department of State Daily Press Briefing – August 17, 2021

Transcript

Mhm. Yeah. Good afternoon. Apologies for the delay. I know that was a long two minutes. Let me just start with an update on Afghanistan. The Department of State is working around the clock to facilitate the swift safe evacuation of American citizens, special immigrant visa holders and other vulnerable afghans. We remain committed to accelerating flights for S. I. V. S. And other vulnerable, vulnerable afghans as quickly as possible. The safety and security of U. S. Government employees and US citizens overseas is our top priority as well. The Department of Defense has secured Hamid Karzai International Airport so that military and commercial flights can resume. Our staff on the ground is communicating with American citizens in Kabul who are not at the airport with instructions on wind and how to get there. We have communicated to the first trench of American citizens who have requested evacuation assistance. Our team is working hand in glove with military colleagues to help load planes safely and securely and as fast as possible. We’ve now completed our drawdown to the core diplomatic presence we need and at this time we will no longer at this time no longer need to facilitate departures for our embassy personnel. All remaining embassy staff will be assisting departures from Afghanistan. And the department is surging resources and consular affairs personnel to augment the relocation of American citizens, An Afghan special immigrants, special immigrants uh and elsewhere adding personnel to assist with P one P 2 adjudication processing. We successfully relocated many of our locally employed staff and are in direct contact with the remainder to determine who is interested in relocation and the process for doing so. Ambassador john Bass, a seasoned career diplomat and former ambassador to Afghanistan, Turkey and Georgia is heading to Kabul today to lead logistics, coordination and consular efforts. A career member of the senior Foreign service, Ambassador Bass brings decades of experience from from service at seven U. S. Missions overseas and in leadership positions including Executive secretary here in Washington. Ambassador Wilson who has remained in Kabul will continue to lead our diplomatic engagement at the same time. There is intensive work by our Afghanistan task force with colleagues working 24/7 here in Washington and it posts around the world. This is a whole of government effort and we will continue to respond quickly to evolving conditions. Secretary Blinken has been in constant contact with his foreign counterparts just today. He spoke with Qatari, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Abdulrahman al Thani and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al Mohammad al Sabah, thanking them for assistance and facilitating the transit of U. S. Citizens and embassy kabul personnel through Doha in kuwait city. He has also continued to be in close and regular contact with the president in the broader national security and foreign policy team. So with that, happy to take questions just extremely briefly on ambassador basket. So what exactly he’s going to oversee the evacuation. So this is in addition to everything the steps of what it is that why didn’t he go, You know several days ago. So this is a massive logistical undertaking. Uh the our presence, our diplomatic presence in Kabul, this is a focus of theirs. Obviously there is a lot of other important business that needs to get done from management to engagement with the uh with afghans. Uh And so what Ambassador Bass will be doing is overseeing the logistics of this uh rather large, rather ambitious expansive operation he’ll be using and leveraging his managerial expertise uh and logistics experience to help Ambassador Wilson uh and the broader embassy Kabul management team with this challenge. I guess what, he’s not going there to negotiate with the taliban. He is not, he is going there to work on the nuts and bolts of this just given how logistically challenging this and then you know I’m sure you saw jake uh briefing at the White House but he said that you do have an agreement with the taliban to allow safe passage for people to get to the airport. Um My question is though, if you have such an agreement for that at one, how long does it go for? And then two, if you have an agreement for the airport, why couldn’t you have gotten an agreement for the embassy, why just leave this very expensive large compound empty and open for whoever wants to go into it. Well to your first question we have received assurances from the taliban that they will allow safe passage, safe passage to civilians transiting to the airport. Let me just be very clear about this. We take it for what it is. These are the words of the taliban. We will of course be looking for one thing and one thing only and that is followed through. It is our expectation that they allow safe passage that they allow us to conduct our operations on the Kamikaze international airport compound. Uh and that of course, uh they not target civilians who are making that transit To the airport. I would reiterate another point here and that is that it is not just the United States that is calling for this. It is not something that is merely enshrined in international law. Yesterday, I spoke about a joint statement that the United States put together with 98 signatories over the course of the past day, that has The signatories have grown. There are now over 100 countries, countries from Albania to Zambia who have signed on to this statement calling on all parties to respect and facilitate the safe and orderly departure of foreign nationals and Afghans who wish to leave the country part and parcel of that is safe passage to the HK compound, evacuating that have not left the chinese and the Russians are still there. They’re like going about day to day business. So this is a sovereign decision that every country will have to come to you when it comes to the United States. You have heard us say before that this president has no higher priority. Secretary Blinken has no higher priority than the safety and security of americans who are serving overseas. That is why as the situation began to change rapidly. Late last week we made the decision to begin relocating our embassy presence to the airport compound. Of course that was accelerated as the conditions continue to evolve. Uh in the ensuing days some media reaction from you on Taliban press conference. I’m sure you’ve seen they’ve made a number of assurances and the world obviously takes it with a pinch of salt. Um J. Sullivan spoke to it a little bit. He also said that he wanted the team to be able to talk to Taliban. What does that exactly mean? What is the US plan in terms of engagement? You know, what is the bigger strategy going forward in terms of recognizing them And I want to squeeze in the second one while I can Kosovo Albania have said they’ll take in S. I. V. Applicants North testimonials. Did Uganda did um could you give us a few details about the plan here um for these countries in terms of numbers And what is the latest in the negotiations with kuwait in terms of? Great there’s a lot there. Let me try and remember all of that and I will remind you. Okay, I’m sure you will. So when it comes to our engagement with the Taliban, we made clear yesterday that even as the situation on the ground began to change markedly. Over the course of the last week, we remain engaged, remained engaged with Taliban interlocutors in Doha. This is the channel that had been operative for some time, that we used together with the international community to support the intra afghan dialogue of course, through our support for the intra Afghan dialogue, we took part in separate discussions on a regular basis. Every time the special Representative for uh for afghan reconciliation was in Doha. Uh he would meet separately with representatives of the Islamic Republic. That is to say, uh the government of Afghanistan uh and Taliban representatives um that has continued uh that continued over the course of the weekend. Now, as the situation began to change of course. So so too, did the focus of those talks. It became less narrowly focused on achieving a a political outcome and supporting that. Uh and it became much much more focused on the safety security of our people on the grounds of civilians on the ground. Everything that we could be in a position to do to limit any violence to limit any bloodshed uh in Kabul. So, that is the channel in Doha. We have also said that there has been engagement with the Taliban on the ground in Kabul. This is a military led channel. It is a channel that is tactical, that again is focused rather squarely on issues like safe passage for civilians. That is what we are working on concertedly right now, it is manifestly in our interest to have these open channels of dialogue with the Taliban again. Uh as as you heard from the National Security adviser, we have received assurances but what matters, the only thing that matters to us our actions and not necessarily just words we’re gonna be looking through the fall. We’re gonna be looking for the follow through will be looking for the deeds uh I mentioned in the context of uh safe passage, a statement that the United States galvanized and released about 48 hours ago, a little less than that regarding safe passage for civilians in Kabul. Uh there’s another notable document that I call your attention to yesterday but is still rather noteworthy in this regard. And that’s the statement that emanated from the U. N. Security Council. Uh the unanimous statement of the U. N. Security Council uh calling for the immediate cessation of all hostilities in the establishment through inclusive negotiations of a new government and a new government that enshrines that protects that, upholds the basic rights of all afghans. So this is something we continue to support a political resolution to what we are seeing unfold. Perhaps even more importantly, this is something the international community continues to support in very tangible ways, including by speaking unanimously as the Security Council, which as you know, is often not an easy feat. These are some of our that’s right. What about the press conference today, Which element of it? Well, I mean what is your reaction to it? You’ve heard them give a number of assurances. How are you going to perform your strategy? Are you thinking about recognizing them all of this is like I get it. But you said very similar things. Almost identical yesterday. Again, any future relationship between the taliban in the United States or the taliban and much of the international community for that matter, which is what we saw reflected by the U. N. Security Council is going to matter is going to be predicated on deeds. Words Matter words are important. Words can be reassuring, Words can signal. But what we are going to be looking for our deeds. We want to see the follow through. If the taliban says that they are going to respect the rights of their citizens, we will be looking for them to uphold that statement to make good on that statement. Just as importantly, the world is going to be looking for them to make good on that statement. The United States will be watching closely. Uh and the broader international community will be watching closely uh with us. Yes, Christina point. Uh you have an agreement with them to let civilians past checkpoints into the airport. We’ve heard from multiple afghans. My colleagues are interviewing a family right now who were stopped at checkpoints by the taliban and prevent it from getting to the airport. This is not a singular case. Furthermore, President biden yesterday said some of the afghans who qualified for smb status chose not to leave. When jen Psaki just spoke, she said there was a contingent that did not take advantage and depart. That’s a different thing. And what we’ve heard from afghans on the ground is they didn’t depart because they couldn’t get to the airport. Is it my understanding that the U. S. Is still not providing any transportation either to americans or to S. I. V. S. Trying to get to the airport to depart. I’ll tell you what we are doing. We are doing everything we possibly can we possibly can’t in a very fluid and dynamic and challenging security environment to bring to safety to bring to safety as many people who wish to do so. There are broad categories of individuals that were prioritizing in the first instance. We repatriated many of our embassy staff. That’s not my question. My question is, are you providing any kind of transportation for people who need to get to the airport? Are you considering a safe zone around the airport to make it easier for people to access these flights? If they qualify? We are doing everything we can in a challenging and dynamic security environment. We are we are we are engaging with the taliban. We’ve heard these assurances of safe passage. Again, their words are only worth uh their words. We are going to be looking for follow through. We are going to be not following through is what I’m telling you. We are we are watching very closely, Christina. This is a fluid situation. Uh As I my colleague mentioned, we notified the first trench of american citizens in Afghanistan yesterday who had uh overnight I should say who had expressed an interest in being repatriated to the United States. Uh Those many of those individuals arrived at the airport, many of them have been repatriated U. S. Military flights today. Two of them are telling us right now they can’t get to the airport and they’ve gone back home. I can’t I can’t I can’t speak to individual cases. What I can speak to is what we are seeking to do. We are doing everything within our power to affect a passage, affect a corridor of safe passage for civilians. Of course that includes american citizens who are seeking to make their way to H. Kaaya for repatriation, safe passage for other civilians. Whether those are afghans who have been referred for P. One for P. Two for the S. I. D. Program for our locally engaged staff at the embassy, we are going to continue to do all we can. This is a dynamic. It’s a fluid security environment. If we’re if we’re in a position to do more, I can guarantee you we will do as much as we can. The limiting not something you can do at the moment. At the moment. At the moment we are doing everything we can to allow civilians to be able to transit to the airport. Uh Our message remains for american citizens and for others who have expressed interest in relocation out of Afghanistan shelter in place until and unless you receive a communication from the U. S. Embassy. As I said, we notified the first tranche of american citizens overnight who had expressed interest in being repatriated in those messages. We provide specific information about precisely where they should go on the airport compound and it tells them precisely when to go. This is again a challenging security environment. So unless and until individuals are instructed by the U. S. Embassy to make their way to the hK a compound. We are asking them to remain in place. But these are people who have been instructed and they can’t get there. So what is your advice to the americans who have been notified? They have the email from you. They have the instructions, they can’t get there. They went back home, they’re hiding an airport. We tell them in our in our communications that their safety needs to be their top priority if they feel that it is unsafe for them to make their way to the airport, they should not seek to do so we will continue to do all we can to uh we will continue to be in touch with them. I should say to provide clear guidance about when and how they should make their way to the airport compound. Andrea sorry, what was what was the question? You guys are having all of these talks with Kosovo Albania. And what is the latest with kuwait Secretary had a phone call with Foreign Minister. So the secretary did have a phone calls today, plural with Coe with his Canadian Cuttery counterparts. He took advantage of those calls to think them for their willingness to allow safe transit of individuals who we are relocating from Afghanistan. We have had, we’ve received in recent days, even recent hours, we’ve heard very generous offers from a number of different countries. Some of those offers have been very public. Um as in the case uh you referenced of course our neighbors to the north Canada has demonstrated extraordinary generosity in opening their doors for individuals who wish to relocate from Afghanistan. We are in touch with a number of countries who may be interested in hosting or in some way facilitating the safe passage of individuals seeking to depart Afghanistan. We are also um asking, we are asking countries around the world to step up to demonstrate their goodwill, their generosity of spirit to these vulnerable afghans that the United States and I should say the Department of State working hand in hand with the Department of Defense is doing everything we can to relocate the number for Albania. Kosovo kuwait or in total. I don’t have a number to give you right now. Andrea a couple just first of all uh what confidence do you have in the Taliban statement that women would be invited into the government and can have certain freedoms. But under Sharia law, what does that mean to you? Well, it I think what will matter is what that looks like is what that looks like uh when and if we see it put into practice throughout this process, whether it was in Doha, whether it is now on the ground in Kabul, whether it is us parsing Taliban’s the taliban’s public statements. We have never taking them squarely at their work. We have listened to what they have had to say. We have assessed what they are saying publicly and privately, a ring that against everything else we know and have heard and have learned. But throughout this process we have never taken them squarely at their words position just by their words, Consign women to a different category than other workers and the government or others that they are talking about. Andrea it is a we’ve heard quite a bit from Taliban officials over the past hours and and even several days. Uh this is we’re taking stock of everything that they have said. Most importantly we are going to be looking for how they, how they comport themselves at the way they treat they’re people at how they fulfill the obligation, the solemn obligation they have to respect the basic and fundamental rights of all of their people including half of their citizens, the women and girls of Afghanistan. But I will say it is not just the United States that is watching closely. What is even more important here is that the international community is doing that. You saw that expressed in no uncertain terms by the U. N. Security Council and you have seen any number of countries come forward to say that they may be able to work with the taliban if they guarantee these fundamental and basic rights of their citizens. Conversely but conversely and this is important, any government that denies those rights that ignores the freedoms the liberties in the basic rights that every person on earth should enjoy. A government that harbors terrorists, a government that takes hostages. Uh Those are that is not certainly uh an entity that the United States could work with. And we’ve heard countries around the world say something very similar. Let me parse that because you’re talking about the Security Council, a member of the Security Council china is moving towards recognition of the Taliban already. Well uh look without any guarantees of human rights or any other guarantees. Uh It just so happens that china the people’s Republic of China is a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council. So I can tell you precisely what they said when They signed on to the statement on August 16 what they’re doing today is moving towards recognizing the Taliban. I am going to have to defer to officials in Beijing to speak to what they’re doing. I can tell you precisely what they signed on to precisely what tell you about their intent. I’m not here to divine the intent of the PRC government. I am here to point out precisely what they have signed their name onto the PRC government uh signed off on the resolution. Well and and it’s an important uh it is an important piece of paper because not only uh the PRC government but other permanent uh and other members of the Security Council also signed on to it. But let me just make the point on the PRC uh and other governments. It is not only this U. N. Security Council statement we have spoken including in recent days of a number of groupings of countries that have uh over the course of months or even longer uh lent their voices and their efforts to supporting an intra afghan dialogue supporting a political settlement between the parties. When it comes to the PRC, they are a member of the extended troika. The extended troika. Uh as recently as recent days has spoken with one voice um about the need for a negotiated political settlement through a process that is owned and led by the afghan people, a forceful takeover that ignores uh the basic and fundamental rights of those very Afghan people would not be consistent with what we have heard from any number of countries including the P. R. C. But that’s the situation on the ground. Well, let me ask you another question. The statements highly unusual statement from President Bush and Laura Bush. Joint statement about the urgent need to take care of refugees, including a much larger population. They’re calling for a much more expansive refugee program. They say that we have a responsibility, a moral responsibility of legal responsibility. We have the resources. Members of Congress say they passed the legislation on the defense supplemental. It’s all there and they’re talking about the kind of broader refugee program that goes well beyond the categories you have identified. That is closer to what we saw after Vietnam and the Cuban migrations. And in talking to leon Panetta today and other former officials. Uh huh trump many administrations. Those migrations deeply enriched our country with people of great intellect and vigor and abilities such as the afghans. So is the State Department going to go beyond these these categories. And according to the bushes cut the red tape. We have an obligation to get rid of all this bureaucratic red tape And with that supplemental and what Congress passed, Members of Congress, many democrats are saying that you guys are being way too bureaucratic in the requirements to get the people out of there and then process them. Uh Andrea that is precisely what we are trying to do. Our goal is to bring to safety as many afghans as we possibly can for as long as we can. Uh And we have spoken to the broad categories of afghans uh for whom we are going to extraordinary links to uh bring them to safety. Uh We have spoken about the afghan special immigrant visa holders, we have spoken about uh those so called Priority One referrals to the U. S. Refugee assistance program. Uh The new category uh for afghans. Uh These are afghans who have helped the american people over the years who have worked closely with us organizations. Ngos your program. How do they get to Kabul? Ngos? These people ever get to Kabul no less in Ngos and media organizations as well. This was a broad and new category that we announced to resettle and even larger universe. But we are also working to do all we can for a category of afghans were calling afghans at risk. And afghans at risk refers to women. It refers to girls to human rights defenders, journalists, other civil society actors who might not otherwise qualify for the S. I. V. Program for the P. One referral or for the priority so called priority to referral. So again we are going to extraordinary links. We are um gratified to have a partner in Congress that in the course of over the course of several weeks now we have worked with especially in the context of the S. I. V. Program to cut some of that red tape as you know, the S. I. V. Program, It is defined by statute. Uh if memory serves, there are 14 steps uh that were written into statute. Uh that an S. I. V. Applicant would need to go to to go through before he or she could be considered a special immigrant uh and be granted access to uh the United States. Um But let me just offer a bit more context because I think it’s I think it’s important as to what we’ve done when this administration came into office. Uh let me just take a step even further back. We have spoken of the S. I. V. Program of course in recent days in recent weeks, but this is a program that has existed for years now. The United States government over the course of those many years has welcomed more than 76,000 Afghan special immigrants. That is to say Afghans who a great personal risk to themselves or to their families has have helped the United States government over for years. In recent days alone, we have brought 2000 of them to the United States. Uh and most of them have now begun their new lives through refugee, through through through Christina. I promise. I’ll come back to you. We all have questions about today. So you guys, my colleagues want to go that’s fine. But we we know this history net. We do. We’ve got limited time. We’ve got a lot of questions. I will come right back to you but let me just because I think the context is not unimportant. Um what is also true is that when we came into office there was a large backlog of S. I. V. Applicants of S. I. Ve. Applicants who had waited months or even longer. We have gone to extraordinary extraordinary links since the earliest days of this administration uh to shorten that backlog to cut some of that red tape. We have worked with Congress way behind not you personally, but the State Department Lagged terribly on this and that they had to force this legislation. This was a backlog Andrea that we inherited when we came into office in January 20, there were there were thousands upon thousands of special immigrant applicants who were in this backlog. We have been gratified to find a partner in Congress. We have worked with Congress to cut some of this bureaucratic red tape. Again it’s a 14 step process. So on top of that as the security situation began to change, of course, our embassy went on order departure on April 27 even with the order departure, we were able to surge additional resources to Kabul consular officers specifically to take on some of this backlog and to make progress just as we did that we moved some of the functions that previously were being conducted in Kabul to the United States so that we could have even greater resources dedicated to that With those steps we were able to cut many, many months off the average wait time for S. I. V. Applicants. Our embassy in Kabul I should say did all of this under uh stressful and tense circumstances. And amidst a covid outbreak of covid of course uh played a limiting factor uh in terms of how much not only the last administration I was able to do against this backlog but also for us, especially as Covid uh took a particularly um Severe turn at our embassy in Kabul. Over the course of April May June July. If you look at the average processing times, we shaved significant processing times off of each of those applicants. 2000 people. That is not true to what you just said. 2000 2000 if you would let me finish. So on top of all that, we started an ambitious aggressive relocation effort. Operation Allies Refuge. Uh We have relocated 2000 afghan special immigrants through Operation Allies Refuge. Uh Many more hundreds more special immigrants were uh traveled to the United States Before Operation Allies Refugee, correct? So since Allies Refuge, you’ve gotten 2000 people out 2000, You now have less than 14 days to get how many 40,060,000 with a limited staff at a tiny embassy that you’re operating out of the airport. I’m not impugning the difficulties for the State Department employees. I’m sure they’re working hard. I’m sure they’re trying their best. But you really think logistically it is possible to make any kind of a dent in that and get those people out furthermore. What is the order for who is coming out of the airport? Is it you said it’s not embassy staff anymore. So it is american citizens then S. I. V. S. Then refuse who is coming out in what order? And if I’m a woman or a girl and I show up at the airport, does that qualify me as a P. Two as a person of special consideration? So a couple things we are going to do and we are doing as much as we can for as long as we can to relocate to bring to safety whether that is to the United States or elsewhere vulnerable afghans, whether they are s ivy applicants, whether they have refugee status, whether they fall into other vulnerable categories. You’ve heard from D. O. D. That the Department of Defense has been in a position to relocate tremendous lift capacity. Uh So now that the airport is under the control of the Department of Defense. Uh Not only US military aircraft have been able to land and take off but also charter aircraft. It is also a goal of the United States and our international partners to see to it that the commercial flights are able to take off and land. This is something that we are working on very closely with our partners with afghans on the ground. The the re initiation of commercial operations will add tremendous would add tremendous capacity to those seeking to relocate from Afghanistan. In terms of prioritization. Of course our first priority, our our first responsibility is always going to be to the american people. So we’ve spoken of our uh relocation repatriation of our direct hire staff that has now completed for the time being. I told you today that we have notified the first trench of private american citizens who have expressed an interest in being repatriated to the United States. So those americans uh we’re not offering numbers but it’s the first tranche and I expect uh several tranches of americans and their families uh given them explicit instructions about where and when to go. Um and we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can for refugees or other vulnerable afghans who may be interested in relocation. Nick. Mhm. The embassy staff that are still in Kabul, is it your expectation that they will remain in Kabul indefinitely? And would they potentially return to the U. S. Embassy or would that constitute recognition of whatever government comes next? Are you thinking that they will leave once all these priority groups have been taking care of right now. Nick. We’re focused on the mission enhance. And the mission at hand is precisely what I was describing to Christina. Um That is an effort to relocate in some cases repatriate to the United States and other cases to relocate to third countries, as many individuals as we can over as much time as we might have right now. Uh we are thinking about this in terms of August 31 if it is safe and responsible for us to potentially stay longer, that is something that we may be able to look at the meeting, the diplomatic presence that’s on the ground. Now, I’m sorry say that again, diplomatic presence that’s on the ground now you’re referring to them potentially staying longer. Look, we are the first our first responsibility has to be to the safety and security of our team on the ground. That is precisely why our embassy went on order departure on April 27. It’s precisely why we conducted successive drawdowns of the embassy team After April 27 is precisely why last thursday we began the relocation to the Hamid Karzai international Airport and why we accelerated repatriations of our embassy staff after that we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can uh for vulnerable afghans. Okay, so then on Doha, just given what you said earlier about priorities shifting from, you know, negotiations with the taliban to the other priority of reducing bloodshed given that senior taliban leaders are now returning to the country. Um Is it your expectation that Doha is essentially dead and it’s time to shift those conversations to some other format. Um I mean what what more can be gained out of Doha if senior Taliban leadership are now back in the country and apparently or seemingly would have no incentive to negotiate power sharing when they basically control the entire country? Well, we believe that continued dialogue has the potential to be constructive. As I said yesterday, dialogue to date has had constructive elements. We have heard things that were welcome, we are going to be looking to that follow through. So not the entire political office, the entire political office has not relocated uh to Kandahar, other parts of Afghanistan just yet. There are still Taliban representatives on the ground uh in Doha. But you are right that in many ways the center of gravity is shifting from Doha to Afghanistan. We will continue to adjust. As I said before, we adjusted the focus of our dialogue as the conditions on the ground began to change rapidly in recent days and we’ll continue to do that going forward. And then one last one for me, just following up on your issue of mention of vulnerable groups and women being included in vulnerable groups. Would women in Afghanistan automatically qualify for P two status, given their gender and the threats that the Taliban have made or the way that they’ve treated women in the past. So there are really two different things um there is a so called priority to referral status for those who are referred to the U. S. Refugee admissions program. Uh And that is defined in a set of categories. Um uh to be uh to paraphrase it’s individuals who have worked for us based NGos, individuals who have worked for us based media organizations, I should say on that score. I think as many of you know, we expanded the definition of employment to see to it that stringers and contractors and those working on assignment can also qualify for the P. Two program. But then nick, there’s a separate category of so called vulnerable afghans. These are afghans who because of the course of their work, their advocacy, uh their name recognition, what they have done over the years to stand up for the rights of their fellow afghans who may be especially vulnerable. That’s what we mean. What about their general? I’m sorry. What about their gender? Well in many cases uh they have stood up and been forceful advocates for their fellow afghan women and girls who was the process for that. People need to referral some kind at this point. You know, and if you’re committed to safely evacuating them, why have them still go through this sort of paperwork in order to get out of the country. Uh So when it comes to you, when it comes to referrals, i there are we are and will be looking to uh relocate as many afghans who may fall into the P. One and P two categories as quickly as we can. Uh we are going to continue sending very specific communications uh to american citizens. Uh and we will provide guidance to others who may fall into these other categories about when and how they should seek to leave the country. In some cases that maybe through the U. S. Military in some cases there may be charter operations. I can tell you that there are a number of american Ngos, private organizations that are seeking to charter flights to bring to the United States or bring elsewhere um individuals with whom they have worked on the ground over the course of of many years. So yes, the United States Government is has mounted this ambitious large operation to bring the safety as many afghans as we can for as long as we possibly can. But we have also been working very closely, including many people here at the State Department working very closely with private american organizations with Ngos who are also engaged in an effort including in some cases with potential charter options. Yes, the U. S. Was unable to perceive the speed of the fall of kabul even with the taliban down the road when it comes to spotting an emerging threat from Al Qaeda for example, shouldn’t your allies now expect substantially less from the U. S. Government. We talked about this uh some yesterday but it is especially important to us uh in some ways. Uh It uh it is it is especially important to us because it has a direct bearing on our top priority and that is a safety and security of the american people. We know a couple things to be true over the course of the past 20 years, Terrorist groups that have been active in Afghanistan, principally al Qaeda. The group that the United States military went into Afghanistan in October of 2001 to pursue has been degraded and decimated. Uh that is absolutely true. Ah The terrorist threats that have emanated from Afghanistan in recent years have certainly not been on the scale of what we saw pre 9 11 or in the years post 9 11. And there is there’s a couple of reasons for that. But the overriding reason for that is the fact that our military and our broader U. S. Government partners conducted their mission to degrade and to decimate that al Qaeda network. They’re extraordinarily effectively they accomplished the goal that successive american presidents set out for them. It is also true that when our service members special forces um intelligence agencies first went into Afghanistan in the early part of this millennium, they were operating with a set of tools that were far less effective than what the US government can muster now Over the course of the past 20 years, technologies strategies, tactics have been honed have been refined and we’ve seen the results of those in the degree over those tactics and techniques last week as Kabul fell. These are two separate things you’re talking about. Um let me just talk about the terrorist threat. Uh and then I’ll go to what you’re referring to. Yeah. Um when it comes to the terrorist threat, we have heard from our intelligence community uh that we have the capacity to observe and to respond decisively. Uh if we see a threat emerge uh in Afghanistan that poses a threat to the United States because you’re not there, Andrea, Andrea, Andrea, there are many places where we don’t have american forces on the ground where we can and where we have responded decisively to terrorist threats that have emerged. Yemen is one example, Parts of Syria is another example, I could give you a litany of countries where we don’t have service members where we have responded effectively and the service members in Syria, in parts of Syria, I said uh where we have responded effectively and decisively. Now, what you’re referring to is something entirely different. What you’re referring to is the fact that uh we were taken by surprise. It is undeniable that we were surprised at the pace by which the Taliban uh we’re able to uh uh huh pursue their territorial advances and the speed with which they encroached on Kabul. But the decisive factor there was the way in which the Afghan national security forces, a force that on paper, far out matched what the Taliban had to muster by at least 3-1, 300,000 trained, well equipped Afghan forces that had an air force, that a heavy equipment that had special forces that had um received technology from the US government. Uh there was not the capacity or the will, they could not find the capacity or the will to take on the Taliban advance. On top of that. There was a political question that was also unexpected. Um as you know, President Ghani and some of his uh colleagues left the country, they left the country quite suddenly uh with that, with those two elements converging. Uh it is absolutely true that we were surprised at the speed at which the Taliban were able to um approach Kabul but that but that has but that has nothing to do with the ability that we have and that we will retain to take on terrorist threats that may seek to threaten the United States. The Taliban today said they will know uh huh foreign fighters to launch terrorist attacks abroad. Do you believe them again? We are going to listen to their words. What we will be looking for are their actions? It’s their deeds that matter to us, especially on a matter of utmost importance like this Connor non afghan good. Can I get a non afghan question relatively force of atrocities in other cities that the Taliban home when before before the fall of Kabul, the embassy was corroborating some of those reports. Do you have anything to say about that? You have any confirmation of whether or not some of these atrocities have been committed, extrajudicial killings, harassment of women, things like that. We are going to be watching very closely right now. As we said, this is a fluid situation we of course had seen um uh and the world had seen atrocities occur over the course of weeks and months, as the Taliban’s campaign progressed Over the past 72 hours, the conditions on the ground have have changed dramatically. We are going to be watching very closely for a couple reasons. Number one, we are going to be working with the international community to do all we can to provide humanitarian assistance, to provide support to vulnerable afghans, afghans who may be at risk going forward from the Taliban. Now, of course they claim otherwise, but we are going to be poised to work with the international community to pull every lever we can to use every tool at our disposal with the international community to provide support and assistance. But to there’s the question of what comes next. The question, not only of what the United States does vis a vis a future afghan government, but what the international community does. And so this is another reason why we’re watching very closely, we have made very clear our expectations of any government with which we could be expected to work in Kabul if that government doesn’t respect the basic rights of its own citizens, including the rights of its women and girls. That is not a government that we would be expected to work with? Importantly, it’s not a government that the rest of the world, or at least much of the international community would be expected to work with. And finally, but there’s there’s a tangible element to this and it’s a it’s a point that is quite important because it has practical implications. Uh It is more than a matter of political recognition or diplomatic connectivity. It is a matter of uh in some ways, uh It’s an existential question. It has the potential to be an existential question for any government. We know that the government that had existed uh in Kabul over the past 20 years could not have endured. Were it not for the support of the United States, the largest bilateral donor, were it not for the support of the United Nations, were it not for the support of the international community? The same could well be true of what comes next? It is a question of carrots. We certainly have carrots in terms of the assistance that any future government in Afghanistan might be expected to need. But also the sources of leverage that we’ve talked about the fact that working with our partners in the international community, working with uh the U. N. Uh there are significant costs uh that collectively we would be able to impose on any government that does not respect the basic rights of its people and that’s something we’re prepared to do bigger than Yeah, what matters, what happened to the idea that any government imposed by the barrel of a gun is what matters. We’ve we’ve always said that we, like our partners in the international community supported a political settlement. We believe uh present tense, we believe that a political settlement uh stands the best chance of offering protection, offering inclusion for the people of Afghanistan. We continue to believe that uh if you take a look at what the members of the U. N. Security Council said, they continue to believe that, but this group has seized power by force now and they’re not they don’t care about those statements of what you believe. This is a terrorist organization that now has control of the country. And you’re saying that their future behavior is what your way. How does how does what has happened for the last week and a half months? Not matter more. All of this absolutely matters. All of this absolutely matters. And what we’re saying now will matter, it will matter to any future government. Not so much because the United States is saying it, but because as you’ve seen over the past couple of days, the international community, a broad swath of the international community. The countries that are in many ways will be most important Afghanistan’s neighbours, important stakeholders in the region, some of the most generous countries on the face of the earth, The countries that Have allowed had allowed the Afghan government to endure over the past 20 years when we’re speaking with one voice and we’re talking about assistance, potential assistance that we’re talking conversely about the tools, the implications, the sources of leverage that we are prepared to wield against any government that does not respect the basic rights of its citizens. Those are more than worse. Those have practical consequences. Map you answered positively. Sure, that’s correct. Do you believe that the Taliban has taken power by force? There has not been, there has not been a formal transfer of power? Of course, it’s a it’s a fluid dynamic. There are there are ongoing discussions between Afghan leaders following. So, the but the question, the question was, you said, you would never recognize or deal with the government that it sees power by the barrel of a gun. You’re not prepared to make that statement that the Taliban has seized power, right? We’re taking stock of what has transpired there continues to be dialogue between Afghans between representatives of the Taliban and representative of the Islamic? You say that so that the center of gravity has shifted from Doha to Afghanistan. Isn’t it clear from what’s happened over the past couple of months at the center of gravity was always in Afghanistan and never in Doha. And it was basically a waste of time. I’m not, I will uh look, we’re not prepared to say that we’re not prepared to say that for because what happened in Doha has accomplished a great deal? What I mean, matt, when you just want to know, I mean, do you think that anything that has been achieved in 2020 is actually the intra afghan dialogue, the discussions between the Afghans in this case, the Taliban, uh and the representatives of the Islamic Republic, those are ongoing. Uh It matters very little whether that happens in Doha. Whether that happens in Kandahar. Whether that happens in Kabul all along. Our goal has not been to be prescriptive. Our goal has not been to forge a consensus to create a consensus. Our goal has been to support uh that intra afghan dialogue and it’s an intra afghan dialogue remains ongoing. Can I ask why I just did you get an answer to my question about our rain from the week and if you don’t have it right there, I can get it later from you. But then secondly, the Secretary, are you put out a statement semi late last night about the secretary? Well, it was a comment from the Secretary about the uh legislation of Poland, and I’m just wondering if anything has changed since then, because the Israelis seem to have a stronger reaction. Um then you did at least on the restitution part. And I’m wondering and suggesting that the U. S. And is that they and the U. S. Would be taking some kind of joint action. So, is there anything new on that since the statement from last night? Well you’re right. We did issue uh quite a strong statement from secretary Blinken. What he made clear is that we are deeply disappointed by amendments to the code of administrative procedure uh that restrict compensation for property wrongfully confiscated during Poland’s communist era. We have said all along that Poland is an important NATO ally. Uh The alliance we have with Poland, the alliance we share with Poland and our other NATO allies is based on among other things mutual commitments to uh democratic values and the prosperity. And so with that in mind the secretary uh and the broader department um we have urged the government to pull in to demonstrate its commitment to these very shared principles uh these very shared principles um and to make good on that to make good on that. Indeed. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Can you if you do have something about rings and someone get it too, yep. And yeah yeah other people going to the airport. Yeah. Mhm. This