Americans in Afghanistan rescued by British military: former deputy national security advisor
Matt Pottinger says the situation 'could get worse' in Afghanistan following the disastrous pullout by the Biden administration
Pottinger on Taliban Takeover: 'We cannot abandon our citizens'
Former Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger discusses the future of Afghanistan on 'Kudlow.'
The British military has stepped in to evacuate some American citizens who were left behind in Afghanistan following the Biden administration's chaotic pullout of U.S. forces and the nation's quick fall to Taliban terrorists, according to former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger.
"The United Kingdom right now, I know that they’re running patrols into Kabul to get British citizens, Afghans and in some cases Americans that they encounter, and helping bring them to safety," Pottinger told FOX Business' Larry Kudlow on Thursday.
Former Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger said the British military has stepped in to evacuate some American citizens who were left behind in Afghanistan following the Biden administration's chaotic pullout of U.S. forces and the nati (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Pottinger, a former Marine who served four years as a senior aide in the Trump administration, said NATO allies "in some cases, at the risk of the lives of their own diplomats, have been arranging for Americans and students, journalists, Afghan staff who have been working at the American university in Kabul, for example" to flee the war-torn nation that the U.S. occupied for 20 years up until the disastrous departure of the American military earlier this month. The former Trump official said those allies have "been escorting, creating safe passage and escorting those people onto the airbase and flying them out to safety."
He told Kudlow, "So when the full story of that comes out it’s going to be quite stunning what they did when this really was not their mess to fix."
Following the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, President Biden sent back thousands of American military personnel after Taliban terrorists took over the nation in a matter of days. But Pentagon leadership said U.S. forces that have returned to the country are not tasked with going beyond the Kabul airport to retrieve stranded Americans, unlike their British counterparts who are scouring the country conducting rescues.
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Fox News national correspondent Jennifer Griffin asked Pentagon officials at a press briefing earlier on Thursday why U.S. troops weren't going into the city of Kabul to rescue and evacuate American citizens who weren't able to reach the airport as the British were doing for their own.
Gen. Hank Taylor replied, "At this time…our main mission continues to be to secure [the airport], to allow those American citizens and other civilians to come in and be processed at the airfield."