Department of State Daily Press Briefing – August 19, 2021.

Transcript

Yeah. Mhm. Good afternoon. Yeah. Hello. Uh So I’ll first start with an update on the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. Uh First as you’ve heard from my counterpart at the pentagon this morning. 12 C. Seventeen’s departed within the last 24 hours with more than 2000 passengers who arrived at safe havens Since August 14. We’ve airlifted 7000 total evacuees. I can also confirm there are 6000 people at the airport right now who have been fully processed by our consular team and will soon board planes overnight. We significantly expanded how many American citizens locally employed staff? S ivy applicants and other vulnerable afghans who are eligible for departure. And we offered them to consider transit to the airport. Were aware of congestion around the airport. We are working closely with the Department of Defense to facilitate safe and orderly access for consular processing on the airport compound. U.S. military and other country flights continued throughout the last 24 hours. And American citizens and legal permanent residents will be given the first opportunity to board with other priority groups filling in seats from there. We’re continuing to rapidly deploy additional consular officers to ensure we can to ensure we can welcome Americans and others and will continue to do so over the coming days. The department is sending consular staffing teams to Qatar and Kuwait to assist with the transit effort and we’re preparing teams to surge to other processing locations as well. Additional additional consular officers have also now landed in Kabul and we will nearly double the number of consular officers on the ground by tomorrow by Friday. I can also announce that Ambassador Bass arrived in Kabul this morning to lead logistics, coordination, and consular efforts within the personnel who remain at the airport. As you heard, Secretary Sherman say yesterday, our diplomatic and military personnel are working in lockstep towards the same goal and that is to get as many people who want to leave Afghanistan and who are vulnerable to Taliban reprisals because they help the United States and our allies and partners or who are otherwise at risk because of who they are or what they do or what they believe out of the country as quickly as possible. Our diplomats around the world are tirelessly engaging with their counterparts to ensure transit and passage for Americans, vulnerable afghans and others. This is absolutely in all hands-on deck effort to ensure the safety of our personnel and citizens rally our allies and partners and organize the evacuation of thousands and thousands of individuals. Additionally, Secretary Blinken spoke today with the G seven Foreign Ministers, Canada France Germany, Italy Japan, United Kingdom and the high representative of the European union to discuss the situation in Afghanistan all years underscored the imperative of safe passage for those who wish to leave Afghanistan and the need for an inclusive political resolution that protects the fundamental human rights of all afghans. The leaders agreed that the international community’s relationship with the Taliban will depend on their actions and not their words Secretary Blinken and the G. Seven foreign ministers also exchanged views on counterterrorism, on humanitarian efforts, refugee migration. And they agreed to remain in close contact on all fronts going forward. Secretary Blinken think his foreign counterparts for their steadfast commitment to supporting the afghan people with that. I am happy to turn to your questions I ask you this is an extremely logistical question and I hope it will be a very short answer. So but does Operation Allies Refuge now include all of the categories of people who can go out? That means S I. V. E. S. P one P. Two and this other at-risk category? Or does it still just apply? Does that term Allies Refuge just only applied So operationalize refuges that briefed on different things all over town, understood, understood it is a military operation operation allies Refuge? It was a term coined by the pentagon. So I need to refer you there to speak precisely to what that operation now entails. But what I will say more broadly, of course, is that operationalize refuge in the first instance was an effort uh an airlift operation, unprecedented airlift operation that no other administration either in the No no, but I will get there, but no other administration either in the afghan contact store, Hang yourself on the back all you want. I just want to know doesn’t include all of these categories now Or is it just the lives matt? It was in the first instance an airlift operation for S. I. V. S. Now of course what we’re doing is offering an airlift operation. We’re in the midst of an airlift operation for American citizens for locally employed staff members for S. I. V. S for vulnerable afghans evacuation efforts. Is operation allies refuse. My point was that you’ll need to talk to D. O. D. To understand exactly what O. A. R. Encompasses. But obviously we have a vast airlift operation ongoing now that encompasses all of those categories so that you don’t clear secondly and I realized that the and I want to make sure that this is understood getting people. I understand that getting people out safely is the most important thing. But are there any covid protocols for these flights. So our first priority is to get as many people out as we can. What we are doing uh depending on where these individuals go. And as you know there are several transit countries. Uh We as they’re sometimes we’ll be testing uh in uh those third countries. But our first priority right now is to bring as many people to safety as we can. So there isn’t a protocol at the airport if they if they are lucky enough to get through and get on, there isn’t any there’s no testing that happened beforehand because you know if you look at the pictures A pack transport plans whenever one or 2 people who are infected too, you know that could be disaster. Right, Especially when they arrived some place. Um so what is it you’re saying there are, when it comes to the transit countries, it is, we’re abiding by the regulations of those transit countries. So there isn’t any testing that happened before you get on a plane in Kabul at the airport. We don’t at present have the capacity to test everyone on them to be really brief because it was kind of answered last night. But you know, there were a bunch of reports last evening about this contingency crisis Response bureau proposal that had been made by the previous administration. And I just want to know if you guys still think that getting rid of it. Uh Well, was, was the right thing to do, Was it, what was it necessary? Was it a necessary element of the bureaucracy? Well, I just want to correct something you said, we didn’t get rid of any bureau. Uh The bureau was never created. The bureau was proposed by the previous administration in its in its final days. It was importantly, when it was conceived, it was not proposed to introduce any new capabilities whatsoever. And that may have been the cause for concern on a bipartisan basis on capitol Hill, as you know, there were holds on this idea on a bipartisan basis? Republicans and democrats opposed this. And in fact the memo that explained what this proposal was to do, actually was explicit in saying that it would not bring any new capabilities on board. So when this administration came in, we studied the issue uh and we determined just as lawmakers on a bipartisan basis had determined that a new bureau, a whole new structure was not the right way to go, that we could make improvements in other areas and that’s what we continue to do. Kylie numbers here. How many afghans? S I V E S p one P two. However, there being, You know, considered have been evacuated since August 14, I know we have the 7000 number in total for people, but how many Afghans are in that group? Well, the 7000 figure at this point, I’m not in a position to break that down much further as you know, it consists of American citizens, it consists of our locally employed staff um who are afghans. It consists of third country nationals as we have worked very closely with our partners on the ground to help bring some of their nationals of safety uh and vulnerable afghans. So right now I’m not in a position to break that down further breakdown. 6000 6000 that are waiting to board. What about them? How many of them are? So obviously there at the airport right now, so this is really data in real time that I just don’t have access to. What I can say. What I can say is that overnight we notified all Americans who had expressed an interest in being relocated to consider traveling to the airport. We notified um are locally employed staff afghans who worked at our embassy in Kabul. Uh And we also uh notified a segment of the S. I. V. Population. So of the 6000 that are at the airport. Now that is the general makeup we’re planning to give us a breakdown. Are you working on that or is that I expect we will have greater fidelity and all of these numbers as this continues. Yes. So the second question there are reports of problems with these afghans who you’ve told to come to the airport not being able to get into the airport because gates are closed. Is there anything at the State Department is doing to help them get into the airport at this time? So what I can say and I’m seeing the same reports on twitter that you are and every report of someone unable for whatever reason to reach the airport is something we take very seriously. Our imperative is to relocate as many people as quickly as we can. Uh And we’ve seen the reports of congestion. My understanding is that things are moving quite efficiently at this hour at the airport at the airport now. But every report we see of someone unable to reach the airport is of concern. We are doing everything we can mechanically logistically but then of course there’s also the diplomatic element to this as well. We are making very clear, we are making very clear together with our international partners. More than 100 countries have come together. The G seven mentioned this today as well that safe passage should be guaranteed for all of those who wish to transit to the airport. That is something we have focused on. We have focused on it in the dojo channel, we are focusing on it and by we I mean both state and the Department of Defense which now has a channel with the Taliban on the ground in Afghanistan. Uh and we have had what I would characterize as productive conversations about uh need uh the imperative of ensuring safe passage. Now of course we’re seeing some of the same reports when it comes to American citizens, we have a relatively large cadre of consular officers on the ground in Kabul right now. They are in regular and constant contact with American citizens. I can tell you that they have received as of a couple hours ago, a small handful of reports from American citizens who weren’t able to reach the airport for whatever reason, what we do know is that 6000 people are now at the airport, 6000 people have been able to make it have made it through the processing and as of a couple hours ago we had received only a small handful of reports otherwise from American citizens tomorrow just to follow up on that and you say you’re doing everything you can. But also, yesterday Defense Secretary Austin said the United States does not have the capacity to extend the operations into Kabul and help people get to the airport. Is are you considering seeking help on this from any other country who may have better reach on the ground? Or are you just going to leave this to the people who are trying to get to the airport Humira? What I would say is that no country has more capability inside of Afghanistan in the United States. And in fact, we are working with this is one thing you can’t do and like Defense Secretary has said this and you know, it was a fair and square statement. So I’m asking if the United States does not have this capacity, Are you asking other countries who may have better reach on the ground to do something about this or is this going to be left to my point is that you will be hard pressed to find a country that has the capacity on the ground, if any such country exists in a position to do that. We have been working very closely with our partners on the ground at HK to many of them have come to us asking to have their people go out on our planes for example. So the United States military is undertaking a gargantuan airlift operation right now, that itself is a major undertaking. You’ve heard from the Secretary, you’ve heard from the chairman of the resources that are involved in that at this point we don’t have the resources to go beyond the airport compound. Final thing, how many more Americans left in Afghanistan? This was raised in pentagon and they referred to them well we have been consistent uh in uh in in explaining that in every country Americans register with the embassy. So it’s a voluntary, it’s a voluntary thing. This is a question that also defines the length it does. It does. And the president has been very clear that we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can in our first priority is the safe repatriation of the American people. So what we did overnight was to send a message to all American citizens who have expressed an interest in repatriation. We have already repatriated Many Americans uh just today there are 6000 more people, many of whom are American at US citizens at the airport compound. And I would expect in the coming days people you said they’ve been processed, are they clear to continue on once they land in Qatar or do they have to be held in that facility? So these are these are different categories of individuals. Some will be American citizens, some will be afghans, some will be third party nationals. So it really depends on where they fall on that scale Processing and Qatar, you know the deal, you said today, you’ve got five tonight. The capacity, the aspirational capacity is 5-5 9000 a day. All those people are flying in, they’re being held at the base. My understanding is processing there is very slow, it’s triple digit heat. They have cameras only there are limited places to sleep. What is the status of getting those people processed and out the door and where are they going? And if you can’t say or you don’t know how is that possible at this point? So Christina, ultimately the final destination will depend on if you’re a U. S. Citizen, you’re coming back to your home country. If you are a third country national, you’re going back to your home country. If you’re an afghan national. We are we have heard generous offers. Uh Well first I should say uh those S. I. V. S. Who have special immigrant visa holders who have completed the rigorous security vetting process, they will come here just as 2000 of them have under operation Allies refuge. So when it comes to S. I. V. S. Who are not at a particular stage when it comes to vulnerable afghans who aren’t part of the S. I. V. Program. We have heard generous offers from countries around the world. Let me just give you an update on where we are first. Uh the U. S. Embassies in Doha in Kuwait they have been working with the military uh and their Qatar and Kuwait counterparts receptive respectively to receive flights and to ensure the safe transit of passengers to onward destination. As I mentioned, we’re sending additional consular officers to both Qatar and Kuwait to help with this processing. We’re very grateful to both countries that they have offered their territory for this processing when it comes to Europe. Secretary Blinken had a good conversation yesterday with Albanian Prime Minister Rama about Albania’s offer to host afghans in need. Uh The secretary thanked the Prime Minister for continuing Albania’s proud tradition of sheltering people in need and they affirmed the close partnership between the two countries. I mentioned the statement yesterday, but for those of you haven’t seen it. The Prime Minister’s explanation for why Albania was doing this. Predicated on his own country’s history is quite powerful. Quite moving. We are we are in discussions with other European allies on this? Same on the same basis. I’m not in a position to name them right now. But um stay tuned. We also deeply appreciate Uganda’s generous offer of assistance to host afghan evacuees on a temporary basis in the Western hemisphere. Of course you’re all familiar with a very generous offer from our neighbor to the north. The Canadians have expressed a willingness to open their doors to vulnerable afghans were extraordinarily grateful. Mexico and chile as well have announced their intention to aid vulnerable afghans with refugee status or or resettlement. Yes in in Doha like hell if 5 to 9000 are coming in, how many of those people who need processing who don’t have visas who can’t get on a plane? How many can you process per day? And then secondly, are you asking for any kind of humanitarian assistance either at the airport or at that facility in Doha where we’re hearing especially at the airport, even Americans who got in are saying there’s no separate line for us citizens, there’s minimal toilet facilities, there’s nowhere to sit there sitting outside. It looks pretty bad. So our goal is to move individuals through those facilities as quickly as we can. That’s part of the reason why we’ve searched consular officers to both places. Uh you know what your capacity is. And are you asking for humanitarian assistance? So we are able to process hundreds upon hundreds of afghans in each in each facility per day. As I said, there are other generous offers. I expect our capacity will be able to speak to a much greater capacity in the coming days as well. That will allow us to process thousands of vulnerable afghans per day. Yes, please. Uh see you nice to see you again. I come back again. I have application and the Afghanistan and the other issue too. And on the allies, our allies concerned about the U. S. Security credibility. How do you think the Afghanistan crisis impacted the credibility of the United States security commitment to its allies? 2nd 2nd last time is President Biden mentioned about that the United States military would be sacrificed without the national interesting what if there is no interested in the United States and the country is that have made a security commitment with the countries such as Korea Japan and Taiwan. Do you have any comment on? Could you repeat the first part of that? 2nd question. 45. The second question. What if there is no interest in the United States and the countries that have made a security commitment with countries such as Korea Japan Taiwan? Such things great. Um so let me take your first question first. I it is safe to say that this administration has prioritized our system of alliances in partnerships in profound ways and we’ve done that because we recognize them as a profound source of strength in the context of Afghanistan. And I spoke to this a bit yesterday. Uh It is precisely why Secretary Blinken on one of his, I believe it was his second trip overseas, went to brussels and went to consult with NATO allies together with Secretary Defense Austin. Uh It’s precisely why we returned to brussels just a couple of weeks later because there’s always been the mantra, the NATO mantra when it comes to Afghanistan in together, adjust together out together. That’s always been the understanding we have uh we did all of this and have continued to do all of this in close coordination with our NATO allies just today. Secretary Blinken met with the G seven. Uh This was the topic of discussion at the leaders level as well. When President Biden was in Europe meeting with the G seven with the EU with NATO as well. I think the other the other point is that our strategic competitors would love nothing more than to see the United States bogged down in a conflict for another Two years, four years, 20 years. A conflict that has come at a tremendous opportunity cost for the United States. Um what we are doing is focusing on um the threats and the opportunities that matter most to the American people, to our safety, to our security, to our prosperity. Um It’s part of the reason why you’ve seen such a focus of this administration on those partners and alliances, alliances around the world but also in the indo pacific uh and the commitment we have made to our system of alliances in that region. The first countries that Secretary Blinken visited were the Republic of Korea and Japan we have invested deeply in Asian Ambassador Sherman was uh in the region recently we have met with Asian as a block also individually with member states. So um what I can tell you is that this administration values our alliances and partnerships uh for what they are but also for what they represent, they represent a source of strength for us. As I said yesterday, there’s there a source of envy for our adversaries. Uh We recognize that it’s precisely why we’ve invested section them uh imagine security advisers, Taliban. He took my occasions that Tuesday what he said that the court, the president, as he said, that repeatedly has no intention of drawing growing down our forces from South Korea or from Europe. And where we have sustained the truth presences for a very long time, not in the middle of a civil war, but there with the potential of an external enemy and to protect our allies against that external enemies. So it is fundamentally different kind of a situation from one of under we are presented with in Afghanistan. So, so do you think the Korean war is a civil war or and invention by an external enemy? Just like North Korea? What the United States thought this couldn’t work well? Uh we’ve been very clear about what matters most to us when it comes to the Korean peninsula. In fact, we did an entire policy review uh and the outcome of that review, as we’ve said before was that our focus will continue to be on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. Uh the denuclearization which will work to advance our national security interests, but also uh the interests of Japan and the Republic of Korea. We have stood together with our allies, not only in the context of uh North Korea’s the Dprk s nuclear capabilities, but also its ballistic missile capabilities which of course are profound minutes to both Japan and the Rok we’ve also said when it comes to uh animosity, when it comes to the relationship between South Korea and the Dprk. We are firmly on the side of engagement. We are supportive of the inter-Korean dialogue. We are supportive of efforts to forge better relations between South Korea and between the Dprk. Um all the while we are focusing on the humanitarian issues, the humanitarian plight of the people of North Korea. Uh those are that’s what matters most to us. That’s been the focus uh and that’s what we’ll continue to focus on. Yes, well that’s probably okay, there’s some concern that vulnerable afghans who helped the U. S. Forces, especially if they’re not near Kabul will have trouble getting out. And I’m just wondering why the State Department didn’t surge more effort toward the S. I. V. Program. We’ve talked about some of the details but obviously this administration inherited a plan to exit Afghanistan followed through on that plan granted there was some backlogs but we were still getting pretty small numbers of SMS coming through in March. Why didn’t this administration surge that earlier? Why wait till summertime before? Before getting larger numbers of those processed? Well, you mentioned the backdrop and and that’s where I’ll start because it’s worth explaining a bit of the context of the S. I. V. Program, what we inherited. Um So before January 20th of this year. Um This would be June of 2020. There was actually an inspector general report into the state of the S. I. V. Program Over successive administrations. This was a program that began in 2008. As I recall what the inspector general identified was chronic shortages and staffing a lack of a coordinating official uh and a bureaucratic 14 step process that was enshrined in statute. So that’s what we inherited by the time this administration took a took office on January 20th. There had not been a single S. I. V. Interview uh in months. Uh In fact the last interview was on March 20th of 2020. Uh And that of course was due to the covid protocols. Within two weeks of this administration taking office S. I. V. Interviews in Kabul had resumed um uh They were reestablished on February 2nd on February 4th just to demonstrate the commitment and to signal the commitment and to jumpstart this effort President Biden issued an executive order uh and he directed the Department of State to undertake a review of the program we did. So that review allowed us to identify uh and to take remedial action on process improvements. Uh And we found ways we could direct additional resources to the S. I. V. Program and I’ll give you a couple examples of that on April 1st. Additional s ivy adjudicators were dispatched to Kabul uh And the embassy significantly raised its goal of how many interviews that could conduct per week. Later that month of course the embassy did go on ordered departure as the security environment and the broader environment began to change. So as you know it goes without saying we brought people back to the United States but we actually surged at that time additional consular officers because even as we were reducing the overall footprint of our embassy, we wanted to ensure we were doing everything we can to actually augment the capabilities for R. S. I. V. Processing at that time by the end of May, given these steps we had shaved more than a year off the average processing time for the S. I. V. Program. Other challenges arose as you recall, the embassy in Kabul was struck by um a a fairly profound outbreak of covid 19. Um Even despite the covid 19 outbreak at the embassy, the embassy was able to issue more than 1000 visas during the time of the outbreak. That was roughly mid-June to early July on July 14 we announced something as I said before that something no administration had done before an actual airlift operation. The S. I. V. Program was designed to give visas for these afghans who had stood by us but it was never contemplated. Uh And if not why didn’t you stay longer in Afghanistan to get these people out. So this is going to be a success. How many people are going to come out And so will it is our intention to bring to the United States as many s ivy applicants as we possibly can. And we put in process the steps that actually enabled us to process at a much greater clip we went from what what what point they need to be in the S. I. V. Process to either get through the gate or get on the plane. I am happy to tell you that. Let me just give you 11 data point. Um That with the augmentation of consular staff in the embassy in Kabul and also back here uh in the Washington D. C. D. C. Area, the number of visas were able to issue went from 100 in March 2 813. Uh this month 813 visas per week. That just shows you the commitment we have now Christina to your question uh when it comes to S. I. V. S. And and who precisely we’re relocating at this time we have sent uh messages to those who have completed a certain stage of the security vetting procedure. Um Matthew do they have to have consular approval or have completed the vetting procedures? Who have completed the vetting procedures that they should consider uh coming to the airport and we’d be in a position to um relocate them pentagon, your counterpart in pentagon today. You know there’s a number of 5000 to 9000. And then yesterday 2000 have been people have been evacuated. So there were questions about why that number was less. And then he said there are he said obviously there are a number of steps regarding the visa application before putting people on planes which suggested that at the moment you are not using these planes at full capacity because of bureaucratic red tape. No and if that is the case or if it’s somewhere even close to that will these consular officers finally sort of speed that process up? When do you think you will get up 5-9000. So as we said by tomorrow we will have just about doubled the consular capacity. We have available at the embassy at the airport compound in Kabul 1000 people. It means we are going to process as many people working with the military as we possibly can Matt since since this effort has begun. Yes we’re asking for numbers and I realize that they’re difficult to get but it’s always in flux. But you just talked about how there’s 6000 people waiting at the airport. Which is one thing the military side of the airport really have enough to Space for 6000 people to live hygienically for 12:24 hours. We expect about 20 flights. We expect about 20 flights to go out tonight tonight. Tomorrow. So the 6000 they got in today. That’s that’s the good today today 6000 people have been processed into the airport tonight and early I guess we expect 20 flights D. O. D. A. Said well we’ll go out tonight. This is an operation that will continue um at as fast a clip as we can possibly manage. I think you’ve heard me say that um as we increased have increased our throughput throughput capacity at the airport. We have reached out to more and more individuals instructing them to consider traveling to the airport if they are able to do so. So that is why you have seen more people process today. Our hope is that tomorrow will be able to process even more. But ultimately the metric we care about most is how many people were able to repatriate here to the United States or bring to third countries. That is our goal. Our goal is to maximize that figure. Conor it is uh the S. V. Programme does not apply to Afghan security forces only to the interpreters and folks of that kind. Um There are reports credible reports that they are being hunted down. There are Air Force pilots, you know, pleading in audio messages for help. There are commandos that the U. S. Government has spent years training who are being assassinated. What are you doing for them? And are you aware of these reports? Can you confirm any of these reports that they’re being hunted down? We know that at least one NGO. I’ve seen a report that at least one NGO has put together with this. I’m just not in a position to confirm those details? As I said every time we see a detail like this, we take it extraordinarily seriously and we do what we can uh to follow up uh to follow up on it. Uh You’re right that in most instances uh someone who for example has served in the Afghan military or the Afghan police force probably would not qualify for S. I. V. S. I. V. Status. But S. I. V. Status is not the only status that we’re factoring into our calculus. There are other forms of uh there are other pathways to safety either through UNhcr the United States. One of our partners, we’ve talked about priority one refugee status. We’ve talked about priority to refugee status. There are individuals who, over the course of many years have worked closely with Ngos with partner governments. Uh and those Ngos and partner governments are referring them for various refugee status is that may be available um uh elsewhere. So there are different avenues for people who don’t qualify for S. I. V. And we are doing all we can to support as many people as we can. There are skirmishes today over the afghan national flag being raised. Today’s Afghan Afghanistan’s Independence Day. There are also folks calling for resistance including First Vice President Saleh, what do you say to the folks who say that they want to resist Taliban control of the country including through force. What do you say to the folks who were in the streets protesting today? Because they don’t want Taliban government? Well we certainly don’t want to see a government that denies the rights that are guaranteed to people everywhere. We don’t want to see that either, but it’s not just about us. In addition to the other elements that the geese haven’t discussed today, one of the key points of discussion was about the expectations of this forum for any future afghan government. We have seen consensus within the G seven, we have seen consensus within the U. N. Security Council. We have seen consensus from the dozens of countries who signed onto a statement just a couple nights ago about the status of women and girls. So again the international community is united on this. No one resistance. Look no one wants to see a government that is that will deprive the rights of its people the rights of its women and girls. We know that no society can thrive or potentially even uh continue to exist if it ignores the rights of half of its population. That has been our point sean pull over. It is called the United States to actually send arms saying that the US is the Arsenal. Democracy. Does United States have any contact with him in Panjshir? Does United States 70 any interest in sending a military relationship? We have uh without speaking to uh this individual specifically. We have been in contact with stakeholders who are engaged in the inter afghan negotiations as you know, um the Afghans, that is to say, representatives of the Islamic Republic, Representatives of the Taliban continue to hold discussions continued to discuss the political settlement. We have continued to be in touch with Representatives Islamic Republic as well as Representatives, the Taliban. Uh Ambassador Khalilzad remains in Doha. Much of the Taliban delegation, if not all of it has relocated from Doha to Afghanistan. We’ve continued to be in touch with those representatives over the phone. We’ve been in touch uh directly on the ground with them as well as well as with the Islamic Republic Representatives, President Ghani, you mentioned yesterday Deputy Secretary assurance that he’s no longer a factor. Is he one of these stakeholders that you see is having an interest in the future of Afghanistan. My understanding is that we have not had any contact with President Ghani since he fled the country. You had you have to read a couple days ago of the Secretary talks with Foreign Minister Qureshi Pakistan obviously has a complicated relationship in Afghanistan. Uh what’s your what was the nature of your talks? What are you looking for from Pakistan now that the Taliban is effectively in control? Well, we we did issue a readout of that. The point we’ve made to all of Afghanistan’s neighbors is that it is in everyone’s interest to do what we can to secure or to help facilitate stability, security, some sort of political settlement uh country’s on the countries that border Afghanistan um also face a particular challenge when it comes to refugees. And we have continued to encourage countries in the region to be welcoming of the most vulnerable uh those who are seeking um uh seeking a better life. Uh whether it is Pakistan, whether it is the PRC, whether it’s other uh countries in the region that have a stake in Afghanistan, we have continued to have constructive conversations with all of them on this. I think the fact of the matter is here that when it comes to the PRC, um obviously our interests are rarely aligned, but we have had what we would call constructive good um uh conversations about how about the situation going forward? Um We’ll continue to discuss not only with our closest allies and partners, but partners in the region about what together we can do to support humanitarian needs of the people of Afghanistan. Okay. I just I know we’re dwelling on this, but I think it’s important. So does the State Department believe that the surge that you guys are putting forth and consular affairs officers to the airport will be sufficient to boost the processing so that you guys are able to reach the Pentagon’s capacity of getting out 5-9,000 people or are you still looking for more people to actually get to that capacity. So by the time we will have doubled our consular capacity. Uh It is our current belief that we will have the capacity that we need to process as many individuals as we can to fill the flights. Um but we’re always going to be evaluating what we could be doing differently, what we could be doing more effectively if it turns out that we need additional consular capacity in Kabul, we won’t hesitate to do that. But right now we are confident that we have and with the additional reinforcements, we’ll have what we need. We heard from the Secretary of State this week, uh the Secretary of State this week, you heard from him on Sunday, You have heard and seen that he has been working the phones with his counterparts. He has been at the White House the past few days now. He was just there this morning, he’s been meeting regularly with the president. He’s been regularly meeting with the broader national security team. He has been deeply engaged on this and I expect you’ll have an opportunity to hear from you again soon. The talks with the Taliban on the ground have been constructive in allowing people access to the airport. But this is day four, day five now of people having trouble including U. S. Citizens U. S. Lawful permanent residents. How can you say that? It’s been constructive if you’re still having problems that people are still facing violence when they’re trying to make their way to the airport. Every single report of someone being blocked from access to the airport? It’s a cause for concern when it comes escalate when what here here the data points I can give you We we see I’m sure the same reports you’re seeing on twitter um when it comes to American citizens we have had as of earlier today only a handful of reports. Our consular staff on the ground has had only a handful of reports from American citizens who have been unable to reach the airport. For whatever reason, we are continuing to do all we can with the international community uh directly with our engagement with the Taliban. Uh to uh facilitate uh huh facilitate access and safe passage to the airport will continue to work on this through every tool that we have and that’s appropriate. Israel I understand we’ve established that there’s not going to be assistance for safe passage. There’s no you know pentagon you this morning or this afternoon are saying there’s no capacity for us to go and get people out of these other areas and get them to Kabul. Is there any concern that this documentation, any kind of noticed or anything like that Because of these checkpoints following up on that is going to cause more of an issue for these people to access this area. And then just to double down, I mean we have no numbers I know that you’ve mentioned the 6,000 7000. You can’t break it down. You have said specifically that you have notified all Americans that are trying to get out of state? Is there any rough idea of a number? Any character characterization that you can give? Clearly they have given you this information? Clearly they are trying to get out. Is there any idea of how many Americans are still trying to get out of Afghanistan? Uh, we have been in contact with the Americans who have requested to be repatriated. We’re just not in a position to give a number right now. We’re more broadly not in a position to offer an aggregate figure because we are putting forward offers to individuals who may be interested in relocating. Uh, in some cases, they may opt not to come to the airport, they may opt not to be relocated for whatever reason. When you guys pulled people out of different countries during Covid Christina, give us a country, we’re talking about a very different universe here. We’re talking about American citizens. We’re talking about third country nationals. We’re talking about afghan nationals, citizens were asking about American citizens, you know how many Americans have contacted you and asked to get out, why can’t you tell us you have? And if you’re making these deals to people who have not specifically reached out to you to say, hey, we’re trying to get out of here. Does that? Is that going to make this a longer process? Going back to her question is this going to extend this mission further and further past that August 31. The president has spoken to this. You’ve heard from the pentagon this morning as well. We are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can. We’re going to bring home all the Americans who wish to come home. But I just can’t put a firm number on it for you right now. But we have we have that commitment to the American people. I mean the president also said bring all the Americans back. What about S. I. V. S after it happens to go beyond august 31st is the United States willing to consider extending it not for American citizens but for again it’s not a hypothetical I want to entertain right now. Um We have a number of days until august 31st we are going to do as much as we can for as long as we can. Um We are our goal in all of this is to relocate as many people to safety as we possibly can at the same time. There’s also the imperative that we not expose our diplomats are service members other Americans to undo risk. And so we are always going to be keeping an eye on the security environment. The threat situation weighing all of these things. But what I can tell you resolutely is that we’re going to do as much as we can for as long as we can for as many people as we can. Yes. U. S. Credibility overseas because of events in Afghanistan. Some of your allies have been questioning whether Washington will actually come to the defense in the event of a crisis. And apparently um Chinese state media have been using this um to sort out in the minds of Taiwanese people. I know both you and national Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan have reiterated your commitment to allies including Taiwan. But my question is um is the U. S. Prepared to go the extra mile and offer greater clarity on your commitment to Taiwan. That is um getting rid of the decades long um strategic ambiguity policy and relating to that. If I may. Um would you consider sending a senior official to visit Taipei soon just to you know, um offer some sort of assurances to tell these people think well we will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross strait relations consistent with the wishes and best interests of the Taiwan people. We urge Beijing as we have before, to cease its military diplomatic economic pressure against Taiwan. And instead to engage in meaningful dialogue, we do have an abiding interest in peace and security across the Taiwan strait. We consider this central to the security and stability of the broader region of the broader indo pacific events elsewhere in the world. Whether that’s in Afghanistan or any other region are not going to change that when it comes to our engagement with the people on Taiwan. we’ve spoken to this before. We believe in deepening those connections consistent with our one china policy with the Taiwan Relations Act, with the six assurances uh, and the three communicates. Uh, that remains our policy. And you have seen within the past couple months, we issued revised contact guidance that allows us to deepen those relationships between the American people and the people on Taiwan, and that is what we will continue to do. Thank you all very much.