Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Wednesday press conference that the U.S. does not have the ability to evacuate a large number of people from Afghanistan.
“We don’t have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people,” Austin told a reporter. (RELATED: REPORT: At Least 3 Dead After Taliban Open Fire On Afghan Protesters Attempting To Raise National Flag)
SEC AUSTIN: “We don’t have the capability to go out and collect large numbers of people.” pic.twitter.com/k4cZESUav2
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 18, 2021
Austin said earlier in the press conference that the U.S. was nowhere close to where they wanted to be in terms of evacuations from Afghanistan.
“As I stated earlier, we’re gonna push more military assistance down to the entry points to facilitate these efforts, but we’re really working hard to get as many people through as possible,” he said. “And, quite frankly, it’s obvious we’re not close to where we want to be in terms of getting the numbers through.”
He promised that the U.S. would work around the clock to “get everyone that we can possibly evacuate, evacuated.”
“And I’ll do that as long as we possibly can until the clock runs out, or we run out of capability,” Austin said.
The Taliban managed to take control of the country just days after President Joe Biden ordered American troops to withdraw. Chaos ensued at the Kabul airport as crowds of people desperate to escape the Taliban chased planes down the tarmac, some even going so far as to cling to the side of American planes and fall to their deaths.